The St. Ivel Saga

Skating vest with St. Ivel logo, circa 1980

First held in 1973, Skate Canada International holds the distinction of being the oldest of the events that comprise the Grand Prix circuit today. Just five years after the first Skate Canada in Calgary, another international event cropped up that quickly became one of the most prestigious autumn invitational competitions of its day. Today we'll explore the story of the glittering rise and fall of the St. Ivel competition in England.

Rising out of the ashes of World War II, The Richmond Trophy was first held at London's Richmond Ice Rink in 1949. Sponsored by the National Skating Association, the event was a women's only affair that lasted for three decades. In its early years, many of the competitors were the international pupils of famed instructor Arnold Gerschwiler but in time, a who's who of women's figure skating from around the globe came to Richmond to compete. Olympic Medallists Dorothy Hamill, Sjoukje Dijkstra, Christine Errath, Dianne de Leeuw and Nicole Hassler were among the winners. It sparked a spin-off (pardon the pun) in the Edinburgh Trophy, an international women's event held in Scotland from 1966 to 1971, first won by Trixi Schuba.

Kay Barsdell and Ken Foster, Ruth Lindsey and Alan Beckwith, Janet Thompson and Warren Maxwell and Robin Cousins in a promotional picture for the first Rotary Watches Ice International, 1978. Photo courtesy "Robin Cousins: Skating For Gold", Howard Bass.

During the 1977/1978 season, the Swiss company Rotary Watches Ltd. sponsored the British Primary and Junior Championships. It later announced its interest in sponsoring an international figure skating competition in England, which was their biggest market at the time. Rotary Watches had provided timepieces to the British military during World War II, and they were still a major household name in the UK decades later. An important player behind the scenes in making this event happen was Arnold Gerschwiler, Richmond Ice Rink's head instructor.

The first Rotary Watches Ice International was slated for October 11 and 12, 1978, less than a month before The Richmond Trophy. Some opposed the idea of holding a new international competition weeks before the already well-established event, believing the skating calendar was already too full. Despite their protestations, the event went off... but not as planned.

The idea the organizers had envisioned was a team competition for singles skaters and ice dancers. A series of unfortunate events caused things to unravel quickly. In a report in "Skating" magazine, skating historian Dennis Bird recalled, "The original intention was to invite one man, one lady and one couple from seven countries - Canada, USA, Japan, Czechoslovakia, West Germany, USSR and Britain. The Canadian's felt the event was too close to Skate Canada and did not compete. The German's, Czech's and Japanese sent their current champions. The USA sent its Lady Champion and a strong contender for the men's event but no couple. A French couple was invited instead, abandoning the team concept. This was the first international men's event organized in Great Britain since the 1950 World Championships. Good results for the hosts were eroded, however, as one misfortune after another befell the British team. World bronze medallist Robin Cousins withdrew with a stress fracture, British Lady Champion Karena Richardson developed bronchitis, the second and third placed girls were unavailable so the fourth ranked girl competed and became ill during the free skating and withdrew. Finally, British Dance Champion Janet Thompson pulled an Achilles tendon. The organizers were faced with further problems when the Russian team arrived. Their lady skater, Tatiana Mikhailova, signed in with a different name, and proved to be a substitute - Inna Tcherkasova. The Russian male skater did not come at all. Michel Lotz of France was quickly invited and competed in his place." Sandra Stevenson recalled the incident with the Soviet woman a little differently five years later in "Tracings" magazine. She wrote, "It was discovered near the end [after she'd skated] that a Russian woman was not the listed competitor at all, but a different skater. Frustrated, the... sponsors insisted on making it clear that they would not pay for unapproved substitutions. Unfortunately, the Britons sent this forcibly-worded warning to every country with the result that the U.S. became upset and refused to send a team." Amidst this backdrop of chaos, America's Linda Fratianne, Japan's Fumio Igarashi and Great Britain's Janet Thompson and Warren Maxwell made history as the first champions of the event. Sonia Bianchetti Garbato, Jane Vaughn Sullivan, Lawrence Demmy, Sally Ann Stapleford, Junko Hiramatsu and Pauline Borrajo were among the officials.

Karena Richardson performing her bronze medal winning skate at Rotary Watches International in 1979

The second Rotary Watches Ice International was held in early October of 1979. Japan's Emi Watanabe won the women's competition, defeating West Germany's Dagmar Lurz, who would soon win the Olympic bronze medal. Future Olympic Medallists Robin Cousins and Krisztina Regőczy and András Sallay snactched the gold medals in men's and ice dance. Cousins' win over Igor Bobrin and Brian Pockar was a testament to his grit - he was suffering from a case of food poisoning and barely slept the night before the short program. He rallied in the free skate and landed four triples, debuting his new Olympic program. The next year, the St. Ivel dairy company - famous for their Golden Meadow butter and Lactic cheese - took over the title sponsorship of the event and added a pairs event.

Elizabeth Manley, Jill Trenary and Inga Gauter on the St. Ivel podium in 1986. Photo courtesy Elaine Hooper, BIS Archive.

Despite the proliferation of many new international competitions in the same period that St. Ivel International emerged, the competition proved to be a huge success year after year, consistently drawing some of the best skaters in the world to England to give their new programs a 'test run' early every season.

Left: Brian Pockar. Right: Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini. Photos courtesy Elaine Hooper, BIS Archive.

Among the winners from 1980 to 1987 were future Olympic medallists Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, Brian Boitano, Brian Orser, Tracy Wilson and Rob McCall, Paul Wylie, Debi Thomas, Maya Usova and Alexander Zhulin and Elizabeth Manley. World Champions Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini and Elaine Zayak were also St. Ivel Champions. 

Over the years, St. Ivel International played host to many dramatic moments, both on and off the ice. Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean received perfect 6.0's for their "Mack and Mabel" free dance in 1981, including one from the Soviet judge. Brian Orser submitted his music on cassette the same year and was informed it was almost a minute too short. With a hastily re-edited program, he won anyway. When Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin were no-show's at the event in 1984, a rumour circulated that Bestemianova was pregnant. Lyudmila Pakhomova set the record straight. She was the Soviet ice dancing queen that was expecting, not Bestemianova. In 1987, Bestemianova and Bukin finally made the trek to perform exhibitions for the appreciative St. Ivel audience. Perhaps most famously, ice dancers Anna Pisánská and Jiří Musil refused to return home to Czechoslovakia after the 1980 event and were granted political asylum.

Kurt Browning at Skate Electric. Photo courtesy Elaine Hooper, BIS Archive.

In the autumn of 1988, St. Ivel International was reincarnated as Skate Electric. Kurt Browning won the inaugural men's competition at the event, despite missing his bus to the practice the day of the free skate.

Charlene Wong after winning Skate Electric

Canadian skaters Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler, Charlene Wong, Norm Proft and Christine Hough and Doug Ladret also scored Skate Electric victories in the event's final years. At the 1988 event, Michelle McDonald and Mark Mitchell finished sixth in the compulsory dances but second in the Charleston OSP - an extremely rare instance of drastic 'movement' in ice dance during that era. 

Perhaps most interesting is the fact that during the 1989/1990 season, Skate Electric was the only major autumn international competition to include school figures. Knowing that their elimination was imminent at the 1990 World Championships, many federations took advantage of an ISU rule that allowed organizers to cut the unpopular three's and eight's in hopes of attracting more skaters.

How did it all end? Well, Skate Electric's sponsor was the Electricity Council, which oversaw the electricity supply industry in England and Wales at the time. As part of a commitment to sponsor figure skating events in the UK, the Council not only sponsored the Skate Electric competition, but also the Welsh Open, a Sport Aid Ice Gala in Birmingham, the British Ice and Roller Skating Championships and speed skating champion Wilf O'Reilly. In late July of 1989, the Electricity Act was signed, privatizing the industry in England and putting an end to sponsorship dollars. 

The final Skate Electric was held in the autumn of 1990, with a planned 1991 competition quietly cancelled. The last event in 1990 bore witness to a defining moment in figure skating history. When the competition began, there were representatives from both East and West Germany. An ISU meeting held during the event ratified a proposal from both the East and West German federations that there be only one German federation within the ISU. Ronny Winkler made history in the men's event as the first skater in decades to win a medal in international competition representing a unified Germany. The fact that a peace-defining moment for German skaters was made on British ice did not go unnoticed.

MEDALLISTS AT ROTARY WATCHES/ST.IVEL/SKATE ELECTRIC

MEN

Year	Winner	2nd	3rd
1978	Fumio Igarashi	David Santee	Miroslav Šoška
1979	Robin Cousins	Igor Bobrin	Brian Pockar
1980	Brian Pockar	Scott Hamilton	Fumio Igarashi
1981	Brian Orser	David Santee	Rudi Cerne
1982	Brian Orser	Norbert Schramm	Tom Dickson
1983	Heiko Fischer	Gary Beacom	Falko Kirsten
1984	Brian Boitano	Viktor Petrenko	Grzegorz Filipowski
1985	Brian Orser	Grzegorz Filipowski	Christopher Bowman
1986	Daniel Doran	Oliver Höner	Richard Zander
1987	Paul Wylie	Kurt Browning	Heiko Fischer
1988	Kurt Browning	Christopher Bowman	Ronny Winkler
1989	Todd Eldredge	Grzegorz Filipowski	Vladimir Petrenko
1990	Norm Proft	Ronny Winkler	Erik Larson

WOMEN

Year	Winner	2nd	3rd
1978	Linda Fratianne	Emi Watanabe	Dagmar Lurz
1979	Emi Watanabe	Dagmar Lurz	Karena Richardson
1980	Sandy Lenz	Tracey Wainman	Sanda Dubravčić
1981	Tracey Wainman	Jackie Farrell	Karen Wood
1982	Elaine Zayak	Tracey Wainman	Cornelia Tesch
1983	Tiffany Chin	Manuela Ruben	Karen Wood
1984	Kathryn Adams	Cynthia Coull	Claudia Villiger
1985	Debi Thomas	Susan Jackson	Joanne Conway
1986	Elizabeth Manley	Jill Trenary	Inga Gauter
1987	Caryn Kadavy	Patricia Neske	Joanne Conway
1988	Charlene Wong	Joanne Conway	Beatrice Gelmini
1989	Tonia Kwiatkowski	Simone Koch	Patricia Neske
1990	Holly Cook	Lisa Sargeant	Surya Bonaly

PAIRS

Year	Winner	2nd	3rd
1979	Nellie Cherkvotina and Victor Teslia	Christina Riegel and Andreas Nischwitz	Susan Garland and Robert Daw
1980	Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini	Inna Volyanskaya and Valery Spiridonov	Susan Garland and Robert Daw
1981	Lorri Baier and Lloyd Eisler	Vicki Heasley and Peter Oppehard	Susan Garland and Ian Jenkins
1982	Lyudmila Koblova and Andrei Kalitin	Melinda Kunhegyi and Lyndon Johnston	Susan Garland and Ian Jenkins
1983	Birgit Lorenz and Knut Schubert	Cynthia Coull and Mark Rowsom	Lea Ann Miller and Bill Fauver
1984	Inna Bekker and Sergei Likhanski	Katy Keeley and Joseph Mero	Laureen Collin and David Howe
1985	Natalie and Wayne Seybold	Christine Hough and Doug Ladret	Yulia Bystrova and Alexander Tarasov
1986	Christine Hough and Doug Ladret	Michelle Menzies and Kevin Wheeler	Gillian Wachsman and Todd Waggoner
1987	Denise Benning and Lyndon Johnston	Peggy Schwarz and Alexander König	Gillian Wachsman and Todd Waggoner
1988	Peggy Schwarz and Alexander König	Elena Bechke and Denis Petrov	Cheryl Peake and Andrew Naylor
1989	Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler	Kellie Creel and Bob Pellaton	Radka Kovaříková and René Novotný
1990	Christine Hough and Doug Ladret	Elena Nikonova and Nikolai Apter	Radka Kovaříková and René Novotný

ICE DANCE

Year	Winner	2nd	3rd
1978	Janet Thompson and Warren Maxwell	Liliana Řeháková and Stanislav Drastich	Natalia Karamysheva and Rostislav Sinitsyn
1979	Krisztina Regőczy and András Sallay	Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean	Natalia Karamysheva and Rostislav Sinitsyn
1980	Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean	Elena Garanina and Igor Zavozin	Karen Barber and Nicky Slater
1981	Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean	Karen Barber and Nicky Slater	Wendy Sessions and Stephen Williams
1982	Judy Blumberg and Michael Seibert	Karen Barber and Nicky Slater	Elena Batanova and Alexei Soloviev
1983	Karen Barber and Nicky Slater	Carol Fox and Richard Dalley	Wendy Sessions and Stephen Williams
1984	Tracy Wilson and Rob McCall	Natalia Annenko and Genrikh Sretenski	Susie Wynne and Joseph Druar
1985	Natalia Annenko and Genrikh Sretenski	Suzanne Semanick and Scott Gregory	Klára Engi and Attila Tóth
1986	Kathrin and Christoff Beck	Sharon Jones and Paul Askham	Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay
1987	Maya Usova and Alexandr Zhulin	Sharon Jones and Paul Askham	Lia Trovati and Roberto Pelizzola
1988	Maya Usova and Alexandr Zhulin	Sharon Jones and Paul Askham	Suzanne Semanick and Ron Kravette
1989	Angelika Krylova and Vladimir Leliukh	Jeanne Miley and Michael Verlich	Isabelle Sarech and Xavier Debernis
1990	Stefania Calegari and Pasquale Camerlengo	Sophie Moniotte and Pascal Lavanchy	Lisa Bradby and Alan Towers

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.