Ice expert plans figure skaters’ workspace

Mr. Freeze is coming to Spokane.

Mike Clayton will create a sheet of ice at the Convention Center for the 2007 U.S. Figure Skating National Championships.

Along with senior ice technician Donald “Scooter” Mosher and a crew of about a dozen, he will build a regulation 200-foot-by-85-foot temporary ice rink in the Group Health Exhibit Hall.

It will be used as the secondary rink and practice facility at the Jan. 21 through 28 championships.

The main rink will be in the Spokane Arena.

The cost to local promoters Toby Steward and Barb Beddor of Star USA for the rink is about $200,000, which averages out to $11.75 per square foot of ice that will be used for less than two weeks.

Clayton is also known as “the king of the frozen water,” according to his business card, and his family company is Ice Rink Events.

Ice Rink Events, based in Houston, also constructed the temporary ice for secondary venues and practices at the 2003 World Figure Skating Championships in Vancouver, B.C., and at the 2005 Nationals in Portland.

Its most recent major event was the Frozen Tundra Hockey Classic in February, where the crew put down ice at the Green Bay Packers’ famed Lambeau Field.

Clayton has made several visits here since his company won the bid and likes what he sees in the new facility, which he described as “the ideal situation.” Star USA also earned his praise.

“This is probably the most organized, methodical planning process that we’ve been affiliated with,” said Clayton, who has been in the ice business since the mid-1970s.

The company will use a 300-ton air-conditioning unit, or “chiller,” 27 miles of poly-plastic tubing, 17,000 gallons of water and 30 tons of sand and 2,500 gallons of coolant solution. Construction starts with building a sand-base floor, which will be frozen like concrete.

Mosher said creating a good rink depends on humidity and the sport. Speed skaters like the ice at 28 degrees, figure skaters at 26 degrees and hockey players at 22 degrees. The colder the ice, the harder.

Ladies first

Promoters Steward and Beddor would like to shake up the schedule at the Spokane event.

Instead of opening Sunday, Jan. 21, with novice division short programs, which don’t draw excitement or a crowd, Star USA is lobbying to move up the ladies’ junior short program to Sunday night at the Spokane Arena.

“Our goal is to start the event out on a very vibrant tempo,” Steward said.

Novice programs tend to attract a smaller audience.

Steward said he hopes to get an answer from U.S. Figure Skating within a few weeks.

CdA pair up to senior level

Two-time national competitors Kalie Budvarson, 20, and Chris Anders, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, passed the senior-level skating test and are planning to compete at the Pacific Coast Sectionals in Seattle on Nov. 14 through 18.

The top four finishers will qualify for Nationals.

Before taking the test, Budvarson and Anders skated at a junior challenge in Indianapolis and finished a strong fourth.

Two years ago at Nationals, Budvarson and Anders finished 11th in novice. Last year, the pair withdrew after Anders fractured a bone in two places and tore ligaments in his right thumb during the short program.

Ticket update

Star USA has sold more than 94,000 tickets out of about 150,000.

The ticket sales record is 125,000, set at the 2002 Nationals in Los Angeles.