Established in 2009, Hull Synchro started with our adult team Northern Stars. From our first performance in the Christmas show, the team has gone on to win multiple medals at national and international competitions, including a gold medal at the international Trophy D’Ecosse in 2020.
We are currently ranked 5th in the country.
Our History
The idea to set up a synchro team in Hull was born when a couple of our founding members were competing at an ice dance competition in Sheffield in early 2009. We saw one of the Sheffield synchro teams practicing and were inspired to have a go ourselves as soon as we got back home, roping in other semi-willing adults from the ice dance club. We persuaded a coach to try it along with us and set up a 6-week trial starting in April 2009. By the end of it, we were hooked, and Northern Stars was born.
Spirit of Christmas
Our first ever performance was at the Hull Arena ‘Spirit of Christmas’ show in 2009. Set to the Theme from Harry’s Game by Clannad, the routine was inspired by military personnel away from their families at Christmas.
We loved the experience of performing in front of a crowd, and it was a great bonding experience hanging out together in between shows.
Capone
We then began work on our skills as a team, learning to perform elements and building up towards our first competition at the Trophy D’Ecosse 2011 – entering as an unknown team, we were elated to win the silver medal. Our ‘Capone’ routine was set to a track of the same name from Michael Flatley’s Celtic Tiger show, mixed with ‘razzle dazzle’ from Chicago.
Moulin Rouge showcase
Before retiring our sparkly red dresses, we re-purposed them for a specially-choreographed routine for an Olympic Open Day at Hull Arena in 2012. Set to a medley of music from Moulin Rouge and free of the usual competition constraints, we included lifts, props, and highlighted skaters with spectacular spins. The finale of the routine was a super-fast 2-spoke pinwheel, with the 2 daring end skaters doing a Y-spiral and a hydraglide.
Singin’ in the Rain
We changed our routine in the 2012/13 season to ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ – when we debuted the routine at the British Championships in 2012 with our largest-ever team of 14 skaters, we won the bronze. This was our first national medal. When we retired this routine in 2014, we won bronze medals at every competition – 4 in total.
York outdoor rink opening
In 2014 we were given the amazing opportunity to open the festive outdoor rink at York Designer Outlet. We only had about 3 days notice so we weren’t able to get a full team together, but 5 of our skaters put together a bespoke routine to start the festive skating season with a bang!
Iron Panda / Run Panda Run
We looked to the Far East for our next routine, skating to music from Kung Fu Panda and Woodkid. Mixed with Woodkid’s ‘Iron’, we debuted ‘Iron Panda’ in 2015. Disappointed with our results, we remixed the music to increase the drama and reworked the choreography.
Switching to Woodkid’s Run Boy Run, we dubbed version 2 as ‘Run Panda Run’ and when we debuted it at the British Championships in January 2016 we won our first national silver medal, just half a mark from the team in first position. A few weeks later, we improved our score further at the Trophy D’Ecosse and collected another silver medal.
Summer 2016 was a difficult year for the team as, due to significant changes imposed at Hull Arena, we lost our coach Adrian Jack who had been with us since the beginning. It was a worrying time for skating in Hull, but thankfully Adrian passed the coaching baton to Vicky Mayne who stepped in to take us to competition in the 2016/17 season.
Lone Digger
In 2018 we presented our fourth routine: Lone Digger. This is an upbeat electro-swing number, and was the first time we used a single piece of music. We won a bronze at the British Championships 2018, a silver at the Trophy D’Ecosse 2019 and topped the podium with a gold medal for the first time at the Trophy D’Ecosse 2020.
Sweet Dreams
Skated to a custom cut of Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics and Emily Browning, our routine for the 2021 season features a dreamer who falls into a nightmare filled with dark shadows of herself.
The concept for our latest routine had been brewing for a while, but was cemented during downtime at the Steel City Trophy in March 2020. Of course, world events took over with the first Covid 19 lockdown. Worryingly, as the world began to open in the summer, our rink stayed closed and for a time its future was uncertain. Thanks to a huge community effort, funding was confirmed for a refurbishment and complete overhaul of the ice pad. Our skaters learned choreography and did off ice exercise on Zoom, and in April 2021 we were able to begin training on the small rink at Grimsby, with a handful of sessions on full-size ice to place the elements.
After a difficult and uncertain 18 months, we were so proud to perform our routine for the first time at the grand re-opening of Hull Arena in November 2021. Just a few weeks later, we competed at Skate London held at Alexandra Palace, our first time at this event.
And of course, our story continues! If you want to be part of the next chapter, why not join us?