Top Sheffield ice dance couple Chrissy Chitwood and Mark Hanretty are putting their personalities into sport.
Chrissy and Mark, who train at iceSheffield, are helping to inspire the next generation of young skaters by supporting a city-wide Sport for £1 Week.
The Sheffield International Venues’ (SIV) scheme has been organised to celebrate the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year event, which comes to Sheffield Arena on December 13.
Sessions such as ice skating table tennis, badminton, squash, swimming and athletics are available for just £1 across SIV sports facilities in the city from December 7 – 13.
Chrissy and Mark took time out from the British Ice Figure Skating Championships at iceSheffield to support SIV’s Sport for £1 Week. They finished third in the Senior Dance category at the event, which was won by British number one couple Sinead and John Kerr.
Twenty year old Chrissy, who moved from Colorado, in the USA, four years ago to train at iceSheffield, said: “I started ice skating at the age of six in Vail but there were few opportunities for me to progress, which is one of the reasons I moved across the Atlantic to iceSheffield where the facilities are some of the best around.
“People in here are so lucky to have access to not one but two Olympic sized ice pads in one venue and the chance to enjoy a whole range of sport and activity sessions for just £1 is fantastic.”
SIV runs facilities including Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, EIS Sheffield, iceSheffield, Concord Sports Centre, Hillsborough Leisure Centre and Westfield Sports Centre.
Mark, 24, originally from Glasgow, started skating at the age of 10 in Scotland. He now trains full time with Chrissy in Sheffield. He said: “Chrissy and I are delighted to be supporting Sport for £1 Week. There are so many different sessions at iceSheffield for people of all ages and abilities and hopefully we can inspire local people to give ice skating a go.”
Sport for £1 Week vouchers are available to download at www.sivltd.com from November 23.
