Friday the 8th Feb saw the opening ceremony of this year’s Trophy D’Ecosse take place at the Dumfries Ice Bowl, with synchronized ice skating teams from Canada, America and Europe descending on our small town to compete and to make new friends and to renew old acquaintances.
The ceremony opened with a show of highland dancing from the Karen Little School of Dancing then flags representing each country from teams to international judges where paraded on the ice by local skaters creating a really colourful spectacle to open the competition.
The first and youngest team from Dumfries to compete would be Solway Comets who won silver at the British Championships four weeks earlier competing in the elementary category, this young team certainly don’t lack confidence and relished the chance to show 
their Disneys ” Little Mermaid” routine off to a packed ice rink. With the home support cheering them on they skated superbly with their colourful shiny blue and pink dresses they lit up the ice to take the Gold Medal position and also become Scottish Champions a really great end to a great season for our Solway Comets team, it was also a great start to the trophy d’ecosse and our next team to skate would be the Solway Stars in the Junior ‘B’ section.
The Stars would skate the first of their two programmes with the second programme being skated on the Saturday, the team took to the ice and the atmosphere was electric, this was 
a team which had won every competition they had entered this season and they were still improving all the time, they did not disappoint and skated beautifully amid all the cheering the result was announced and it would mean they would take a narrow 3 point lead into the second day from the Polish team Le Soleil.
DAY 2
Saturday morning and the Solway Eclipse team arrive at 6am to get ready for their official practise session although they do not skate their routine till 14:30, this is quite typical for all the synchronized skating teams to be able to get used to different ice rinks and to run through the routine with the coaches and to iron out any problems. The Stars team would also take to the ice for a final official practise session and they would be skating their free programme at 16:00, Saturday afternoon is the busiest time for the ice rink and with standing room only the mixed age category began, the Solway Eclipse skating would be skating third, the routine was new this year and had an Adams family theme, matching 
black outfits with spiders in their hair completed the spooky look. The crowd cheered every move and the team skated the routine brilliantly and this was reflected in the judges scores as once again a Solway team took the Gold Medal spot ( Main Photo) and also became Scottish Champions, it was starting to look like a very special weekend for the Solway Club and next to skate were the Solway Stars in the Junior B category.
They followed the team from Poland, Le Soleil who skated their exciting free programme superbly wowing the audience with their speed and skill, it would be a hard act to follow, however when the Solway Stars take to the ice there is a calmness and confidence about this team honed from hours upon hours of practice and coaching, unlike their parents who were shaking with nerves.
The music to the routine is from the score to Disneys Moana and the girls skated elegantly, their long blue dresses flowing with the breeze caused by the speed over the ice, although nothing seemed rushed as they flowed with the music almost effortlessly, the team could not have given any more and with a score of 93.87 they took the Gold Medal spot and they became Scottish Champions, so all the Solway teams so far had won gold the only team left were Solway Lightning who would be skating on the final day.
Day 3
The final day and Solway Lightning would be skating the popular Mary Poppins routine, with a black skirt and crisp white shirt and red bow tie complete with tied back hair in a bun they took to the ice. No one could blame the team if they were nervous after seeing all the other Solway teams win gold but the preliminary category was one of the most competitive and only a great performance would see them in the medal positions. The home support was cheering every move and the team responded by delivering an entertaining and skilful performance and when the judges revealed the score making Solway Lightning Gold 
Medalists and Scottish Champions there were cheers and tears from parents and friends. The team also won most entertaining routine of the day a fabulous reward for all their hard work throughout the season, so all four of the Solway Synchronized teams won gold medals and were Scottish Champions a fantastic achievement for such a small club and a credit to head Coach Philip Carter and coaches Louisa Nairn, and Julie Tyson, and as the curtain falls on another Trophy D’Ecosse we are already looking forward to next year.
Remember if you or your child would like to learn to skate the Dumfries Ice Bowl runs a learn to skate UK Scheme for more information please get in touch with the Dumfries Ice Bowl on 01387 251300, E-mail [email protected] or pop in and visit the information desk at the ice rink.
