Russian Champs Coach Ice-Skating & Ice-Dance Clinics 2007, Maryland

If you're near the DC area this summer, you may be interested in the ice-dance clinics being coached by:

• Alexei Kiliakov (ten times Russian gold medalist),
• Elena Novak ("Cup of USSR" Champion), and
• Dmitri Ilin ("Cup of Ukraine" Champion).

The instruction takes place at the Wheaton Ice Arena, in Wheaton, MD. The clinics are 4 hours a day, for 5 days, and cost a mere $260! Times are Mon-Fri, 8am - 12 noon.

Unfortunately the 'adults only' clinic is already halfway done this week (July 9th-13th), and the last one scheduled for the summer is, I assume, for children. Perhaps if you're an interested adult you can contact them and request a second adult clinic. Looking at the leaflet, the program includes plenty of ice time, with a dryland session each day, too.

This news came to me via AthensAnnie, veteran A2A inline roadskater, who only just found out about it herself after taking a spin around the Wheaton Ice Arena. If there were something like this available at my local ice arena I'd probably find a way to have 5 mornings off work to take part! What a great value for money!

The Wheaton Ice Arena's phone number is 301-649-3640.