Up North: The “Super Bowl” of figure skating returns to Duluth

Up North: The “Super Bowl” of figure skating returns to Duluth

Up North: The "Super Bowl" of figure skating returns to Duluth

Figure skating in the Northland is big, but have you ever heard it described as “Super Bowl” big?

“Somebody said today that Northland is the Super Bowl of Minnesota skating because all of the clubs here,” said Lea Scudamore, part of the Duluth Figure Skating Club. It’s just really fun. Kansas City, Oklahoma City. We’re not a little figure skating competition. We are the second largest in the U.S that’s non-qualifying. So it’s a big deal. Everybody knows this competition. Everybody wants to get there.”

Three arenas, over 1,100 volunteer hours, and over 600 skaters later, the 45th annual Northland Figure Skating Competition was a success.

For some, the competition is about getting your feet under you, literally and figuratively, before some of the bigger showcases come up.

“I think it’s a really fun experience to get to support all my friends and go around and cheer everybody on, and especially competing ourselves. I think it’s a really fun experience to get a good intro into the season and see how things go,” said the Duluth Truthy’s.

The beauty of the event is that no matter the city you came from or your ability, skating lives on in the Northland, at all ages.

“If you want to learn to skate, there is not a too young age or too old age,” said Scudamore. “We have skaters that compete starting at 3 years old, right through 86. So it’s a lifelong sport. You can build your own competition because you take your elements that you’re good at to put together your program. Then find the right level to compete against in that program and skate your whole life. It’s the only personalized sport out there.”

With the help of volunteers from all over the map, the 45th Northland Figure Skating Competition has a very bright future ahead of it.

“We’ve had three arenas running at some moments between The DECC, AMSOIL and Mars Arena. We’re really, really, really thankful to our arena and our ice crews. They are the unsung heroes of figure skating. They have been so great. I literally can’t do this without The DECC, AMSOIL and Mars Arena and their team. They’re amazing, plus our parent volunteers. I’m almost weepy over our parent volunteers. They’ve been amazing. Because it’s all volunteers that are doing this.”