Corporate spin

I’ll always remember my first time on the ice. I was six years old and my mother told my older brother to take care of me. He took me skating: he put my skates on, took me to the boards and left me there while he went off to play hockey. Eventually I let go of the boards and here I am today, in my 50s, still skating.

I’ll always remember my first time on the ice. I was six years old and my mother told my older brother to take care of me. He took me skating: he put my skates on, took me to the boards and left me there while he went off to play hockey. Eventually I let go of the boards and here I am today, in my 50s, still skating.

I never competed as a child. There just weren’t enough partners for ice dancing, which is basically ballroom dancing on ice. There are lifts and spins, but no big jumps.

Three years ago, in 2004, they started adult competitions for the over-25s. The first Skate Canada Adult Championships were being held in Vancouver, and people suggested that I team up with my current skating partner Geoff Squires to compete.

We entered with a European waltz and a tango in the gold-level dance class. We got a bronze medal! I was totally nervous, but the more you compete, the less nervous you are. It’s about getting all the butterflies going in the same direction. Now we compete about three or four times a year. This month we’ll be at the Western Regional Championships in Calgary.

We train about 10 hours a week: weekend mornings, Monday night, Wednesday early morning and lunchtime, and Friday evening. It’s not cheap. The boots cost about $800 and the blades are about $400. Plus, we have a coach and a choreographer and a costume designer.

But it’s worth it. I like the discipline and the physicality of it. It’s a mental release because when you’re out there on the ice, you’re not thinking about anything else. You’re focused.

And to be a certain age and still wear sparkles is lots of fun. People tease me that that’s the real reason I do it.