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| Forum Home > General Discussion > Best British Skater Ever...? | ||
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Site Owner Posts: 46 |
It seems the site is generating some interest already. Some of the "golden oldies" have already spoke to me or emailed me - Ray Whortley, Roy Lowe, John E Fry (surprisingly!! - he doesn't even know where the "ON" button is!), Danny Kelly, Les Woodley...to name but a few. I aim to keep adding to this, so feel free to send me your thoughts and ideas... ....so, to kick things off, who was the best British skater YOU ever saw or came up against? For me, the best British skater I ever saw was my old man, Fry Senior (but then I AM biased and don't mind saying it)....but the best skater I ever came up against is a tough call betwen Ashley Harlow and Tony Marriott, but I suppose I would have to say Tony Marriott. His collection of wins in any one season stands out as probably the most dominant in the sport when there were lots of good skaters still around...Ashley Harlow, Rohan Harlow, Ian Ashby, Mark Tooke, Sean McGeough, Hugh Doggett....to name a few. Ashley always ran him close but the judges more often than not prevented us witnessing any real show down against the two...and I ended up racing against Marriott more often than not because Ashley was serving some sort of (undeserved - I should point out) ban. | |
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Member Posts: 1 |
Tony Marriott stands out in my mind from that era I remember him winning the Senior Mens the first time he moved up to that age group (I think) | |
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Member Posts: 1 |
was tony marriott a skater from one of the alexandra palace clubs.and did his dad skate there.i remember a chap we used to call muscles marriott from there.john fuller | |
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Site Owner Posts: 46 |
I'm not entirely sure John. His dad was John Marriott...although I suspect it's not the same person as I don't think his dad raced (although his mother, Gwen, did). Tony was from the North London club. I've added his profile to the site if you want to get a better insight.... | |
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Member Posts: 3 |
I am surprised that you have not had a confirmation from the Marriotts but John and Gwen's offspring is definitely Tony. John was known to race occasionally. As for the best of British skaters I was unfortunate to race in an era of cream, earliest races aginst Geoff Wright, Ken Rawlings, Dennis Stafford etc going through Les Woodley, Leo Eason and the along comes Danny Kelly, Ricky May, John Folley and Bill Sharman, followed by John E Fry, Mick McGeough etc. Talk about difficult to win and when you think that at one period most of these guys were racing at the same time. That really was an era of excallence Ron Hawkes
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Member Posts: 10 |
I think Ron Hawkes had it right as the number of top skaters that were around in the fifties seemed unfair to most average skaters like myself, i was big fan of Leo eason but I think that Les Woodley was the best in my time, probably not the most stylish but a real winner, only saw John Fry snr as a junior but his potential was obvious, John foley was the best when i retired from the sport in the late sixties but i can't comment on anything after that period. Roy Lowe | |
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Site Owner Posts: 46 |
It's funny...I was reading back through ths thread and realised just how male orientated it is. When we are talking greatest British skaters let's not forget the women. Chloe Ronaldson as to stand out amongst the elite with nearly 40 British titles and two world medals...but one cold argue that Lisa Smith should take top spot. Double junior European champion, European junior medallist at 12 years old and senior European medallist at 15, triple world medallist... Her success in an era when the skating world was reaching all corners of the globe has to stand out as one of the all time great British performances. Watch the video on this site of her in the 500 metres junior Europeans at Birmingham and tell me I'm wrong... | |
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