The stands were packed on Thursday night inside Chapman Hill Ice Rink for Durango Figure Skating’s Spring Ice Show: Hits of the Eras.
Fifty-six local figure skaters participated in the show from ages three to 64. Skaters did numbers with music from the 1950s to the 2020s.
The skaters had six weeks of preparation for the show. The group numbers have been prepped in the last two weeks.
“These guys are only on the ice for five and a half months a year so it’s incredible what they accomplish,” coach Ali Wegrzyn said.
Wegrzyn along with coaches Samantha Sorber and Meghan Wells have seen participation grow from only six figure skaters four years ago to 56 on Thursday. Fifteen of those skaters competed in U.S. Figure Skating sanctioned competitions.
In addition to the spring show, Durango Figure Skating hosts a winter show in December but Wegrzyn said for noncompetition skaters the spring show is the main event.
The kids have full choice over their music as long as it’s approved by the coaches to go along with the theme of the event.
“It’s an individual sport so there are a few of the girls who are doing duets, trios or quartets,” Wegrzyn said. “The majority of the numbers tonight are individual skaters.”
Unfortunately for Durango Figure Skating, Chapman Hill Ice Rink isn’t open year-round and competition season runs from March to October when local skaters don’t have ice time usually past April.
So Wegrzyn composes a backward schedule where the competition skaters compete in the Aspen Invitational in December and the Denver Invitational in March. If the ice goes long enough, the competition skaters can take part in the Santa Fe Invitational in May.
Wegrzyn said proposals to make the rink usable for the entire year have been in the city’s masterplan for over a decade but it hasn’t been a high enough priority for anything to have been done.
The number of skaters has grown so much that Wegrzyn said next year she will have to tweak the schedule of the show so all skaters can do their routine in a timely fashion.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
