Skater who trains at Basingstoke ice rink glides to gold

Simon Surridge won the competition, dubbed ‘the Winter Olympics for the over 30s’, in Lombardly, Italy.

The Winchester resident competed in the Masters Elite, a category reserved for former national and international competitors.

Skating to a medley from the cult classic movie Pulp Fiction, Simon delivered a crowd-pleasing, toe-tapping performance that combined technical skill with cool artistic flair, earning him the Gold medal.

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Simon, who is also the Adult National Champion 2023, started on his journey back to skating at the age of 38 after finishing his international competitive career as a 23-years-old.

Full of enthusiasm and high expectations of returning to competition, just six months into his skating adventure Simon suffered a significant injury on the ice, leaving his wrist broken in seven places.

Simon Surridge with the medal (Image: Contributed)

Surgery, two metal plates, and six months of physio later, Simon returned to the ice still undeterred and committed to achieving his goals.

Following a strict training schedule after work each day, Simon, who is taught by Stephanie Robson at Planet Ice Basingstoke, overcame his mental angst of being back on the ice and achieved what he set out to do.

He now has his eyes set on returning to compete against the UK’s best senior men’s skaters later this year.

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With so much uncertainty around the ice rink's future, Simon hopes that his recent success will help demonstrate that Basingstoke needs an ice rink.

With so much budding talent from both young and experienced skaters, Planet Ice Basingstoke has a solid track record of nurturing and developing top-class athletes across all ice disciplines.

Simon added that all those who train at Planet Ice Basingstoke hope that its long history of success could continue to grow long into the future.