Synchronised skaters return to Nottingham this weekend

This weekend the National Ice Centre will play host to the annual British Synchronised Skating Championships, with over 700 skaters from all corners of the UK descending on Nottingham. With 58 teams competing for national glory, among those will be Nottingham based Junior Icicles, who claimed the national title at the 2015 event in January last year. Fresh off the ice, we caught up with 13-year-old Alex Lewsey and 15-year-old Aimie Copson ahead of this weekend’s synchronised spectacle... How big are the British Figure Skating Championships within the synchronised calendar? Alex: The British Championships is the biggest synchronised competition of the year in the UK, with each team competing to gain the title ‘British Champions’. Aimie: The British Championships is one of the biggest competitions. Winning the title ‘British Champions’ is a great achievement and means you’re the best team in your category in the UK! How many hours a week do you train at your ice rink? Alex/Aimie: We train around 15 hours a week, including off-ice and on ice-training, but leading up to competitions we often train more to perfect our routines. At the 2015 event, held at the National Ice Centre for the first time last year, what was your highlight? Alex: My highlight was definitely seeing how many people had come to watch the event at the National Ice Centre, our home rink. It felt so good performing our programme in front of so many people. Aimie: My highlight was scoring enough points and qualifying to go to Croatia and represent Great Britain at the ISU World Junior Synchronized Skating Championships. It was here we finished 14th out of 24 world teams! How are you preparing for the competition? Alex: We are preparing for the competition by practicing our programmes at every ice session and are keeping our fitness up by also doing off-ice exercise and flexibility at home. Aimie: We are preparing ourselves by pushing ourselves to the maximum! We claimed the national title at the 2015 event and so want to hold onto our crown! In your spare time, away from the ice, what do you like to do in Nottingham? Alex: Away from the ice I like to relax and get anything from outside of skating done because we don’t get too much time away from the rink. Aimie: In my spare time I mostly like to socialise with my friends; going to the cinema and eating out. I'm also really passionate about my art. If you’d like to watch the Nottingham Icicles and 57 other teams in action this weekend, tickets are available to purchase from motorpointarenanottingham.com and from Nottingham Tourism Centre on Smithy Row in Nottingham.