Bofrost Cup On Ice 2003
Part 4
Text
by Joy and Mireille Geurts
Photos © Joy
Sunday's
first event was the Free Dance, where we heard quite a few tangos and
in which the Canadians surprisingly beat Winkler/Lohse.
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You
could feel the disappointment going through the mostly German audience,
but despite this overwhelming feeling of disillusion, everybody clapped
and cheered for Dubreuil/Lauzon, just like they would have done, when
there wouldn't have been a favourite German couple. This made such an
impression; really, this skating audience must be one of the most sportsmanlike
audiences ever. This was truly something that caused goose bumps.Praise
to the Bofrost-audience!
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Final
standings were: first Dubreuil/Lauzon, second Winkler/Lohse, third Faiella/Scali,
4th Domnina/Shabalin from Russia, 5th Hungarian Hoffmann/Elek,
6th Galler-Rabinowitz / Mitchell from the USA and 7th British O'Connor/
O'Dougherty.
A
final Victory Ceremony for the ice dancers
followed.
As
we are used to by now, another press conference:
*** QUOTES *** Ice Dance
Marie-France Dubreuil/Patrice
Lauzon (CAN), 1st: "We were happy about the invitation
to come to Gelsenkirchen. It was a great opportunity to skate
in front of a German crowd. After all, the next World Championships will
be carried out in Dortmund." (Dubreuil)
Kati Winkler (Berlin/GER), /2nd:"We're so well prepared as never before.
But René touched my skates. It was bad luck, just like yesterday. We have
to look ahead and I believe that the result here in Gelsenkirchen will not affect the marks at the upcoming
Grand Prix events or even at the World Championships."
René Lohse (Berlin/GER),2nd:
"It's a pity because we were in such
a good shape. But with two falls you just can't win a competition. We
hope that we achieve a place on the podium, among the best three skaters
at the Cup of Russia and the NHK Trophy."
Federica Faiella/Massimo
Scali (ITA), 3rd: "Today it didn't work out so well.
We had problems with some of the lifts but we're happy with the third
place. Now we'll concentrate on the Cup of Russia. We hope that we're able to improve
our performance there." (Scali)
After
this we got a break. The ice had to be resurfaced, but first some time
had to be killed between the free dance and the Exhibition, so a group
came on the ice to entertain the audience. It was a singing group called
No Limit, probably referring to having no limits for the music volume.
All respect to the organisation, but this didn't really work. It would
have been okay and could have brought the spectators into some kind of
celebration mood, if it hadn't been so loud it practically drove the audience
to flee the arena or cover their ears. Unfortunately this didn't come
out the way it was planned.
And
finally the Exhibition:
The
organizing committee invites the top 5 placed skaters and couples to participate
in the Gala Exhibition.
A show program would
be highly appreciated.
The exhibition takes places on Sunday,
November 9th, 2003 at 16:45 h
All exhibition participants are required to attend the scheduled
practices on Sunday morning.
Daniel
Weiss presented the gala.
During the exhibition, for the first time since Friday, references were
sometimes made to the jumping competition. Daniel 'ordered' some of the
participants from the jumping event to repeat one of the elements they had
performed then. When they complied, the same music as Friday night was played
and instantly the feeling of joy of that night returned.
Daniel also talked to some of the skaters or gave some information about
him/her/them.
Overall
speaking, and not just after the jumping event, but the rest of the competition
as well, it was a great weekend! It was really fun and the price of tickets
very affordable. It was certainly worth our while and if Bofrost Cup on
Ice will continue to exist in this format it's only recommendable to all
of you to go and join in on the remarkable atmosphere of the entire event.Â
"Bofrost
Cup on Ice " a model for the future"
President
Mirmseker: "Positive resonance at first time"
At
the closing press conference on Sunday the responsible persons for the
"Bofrost Cup on Ice 2003" call this first time a success: "We were able
to put our ideas into reality and the general response was positive,"
is stated by DEU-president Reinhard Mirmseker and head of organisation
Ingrid-Charlotte Wolter. However, both of them know that they have to
"get together one more time, to make this new kind of competition even
more interesting and appealing to the audience and media." For the athletes
is this integration of jump competition in the entire competition an achievement.
"They can show jumps, which do not succeed in the regular program, to
a large crowd and because of that under pressure." Ingrid-Charlotte Wolters
declares with these words the 'Bofrost Cup on Ice' as it is now a model
for the future.
Also
Reiner Nerowski, manager of the Sportparadies, shows himself to be touched
by this 'world-première', as the 'host' of the event. "We took together
with the DEU this jump into deep water and came through. Despite the only
five weeks of preparation time, we were able to sell 64 % of the tickets.
We led the way and of course, we will be the place of competition when
it will be repeated."
Everybody
concerned is interested in a returning competition next year. "We are
thinking about doing the "Bofrost Cup on Ice" as a
independent competition for invited skater before the beginning of the
Grand Prix series. This will increase our chances of getting top-skaters
to appear at our competition and to increase the level." is the opinion
of Ingrid-Charlotte Wolter and Reinhard Mirmseker. However the Grand Prix
theme still exists in the minds of the DEU. Mirmseker: "I am thinking
about a principle of rotation of locations" But of course that is in the
hands of the ISU."
Go to Photo Gallery
*** Previously published by Europe on Ice
