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Young, old stick to ice for hours at Lock 3 rink for event to benefit the Akron-Canton food bank
By Mary Beth Breckenridge
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Sunday, Jan 04, 2009
Chilly fingers are merely an annoyance when your heart is warm.
Just ask the skaters who ventured out in subfreezing temperatures Saturday to help out the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank by participating in the second annual Lock 3 Skateathon. Each skater brought a nonperishable food item or donated $1 to the food bank for the chance to skate against the clock at the downtown rink and compete for prizes.
The event challenged skaters to put in a prescribed amount of time on the ice — 11/2 hours for skaters 12 and younger, 3 hours for those 13 and older. They were allowed to take breaks in a nearby, warm tent, but there was an incentive to skate on: The first 300 skaters to reach their required hours got a ''Will Skate for Food'' T-shirt.
Everyone who reached the goal was to be entered into drawings for Visa gift cards worth $100 for the grand prize and $25 for second place in each division.
The skate-athon was a way to encourage people to try out the skating venue, the largest outdoor rink in Ohio, said organizer Brittany Schmoekel of the Akron Recreation Bureau's Community Events Division.
''January tends to be a month when people stay inside, so we wanted to get them outside and get some exercise,'' she said.
Five-year-old Tyler Hall of Barberton was getting the hang of sliding on skates as he circled the rink. He and his brother, Ja
cob, 10, had wanted to try out the ice during the family's visit to First Night Akron, but their chilled parents, Ken and Lynnette, wriggled out of it with a promise to bring them back over the weekend.
During a break, Tyler pronounced his first skating experience ''good.''
What was good about it? he was asked.
''Not falling,'' he replied.
The skaters who filled the rink Saturday afternoon — not all of them participants in the skate-athon — represented a range of abilities. Some shuffled along the edge, clinging to the wall. Some glided easily around the oval.
Hannah Daneshvar, a 17-year-old from Akron, practiced the graceful turns she'd learned before the demands of the Firestone High School debate team forced her to give up figure-skating lessons a couple of years ago.
''I like to come [to the downtown rink] as much as I can, but my mom is my driver,'' Hannah said with a laugh.
Lonnie Hubbard, who turns 70 next month, was vying to defend his title as a skate-athon grand-prize winner. Hubbard had other incentives as well: He said he likes the cardiovascular workout and the opportunity to spend time outdoors.
Hubbard, a Goodyear retiree from Akron, skated as a teenager but hadn't worn blades in years before returning to the ice four winters ago. He works out regularly at the Goodyear Fitness Center, he said, but he needed another activity for the weeks when it's closed for the holidays.
He sped confidently around the ice on his hockey skates.
''You have to stay active,'' he said during a brief break. ''I believe in that.''
Hubbard was among about 100 to finish the challenge at the 2008 Lock 3 Skateathon, ''and last year was one of the coldest days on record,'' Schmoekel noted. She was hoping for a bigger turnout Saturday, when temperatures were in the high 20s to low 30s much of the day.
About 40 skaters had registered an hour and a half into the event, but there was still plenty of time to go. The skate-athon stretched from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com.
Chilly fingers are merely an annoyance when your heart is warm.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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The Great City in, OH
Posted 04:06 PM, 01/04/2009
I can't ice skate but I can roller skate; it would be nice if they were to consider a roller-skate-a-thon.
