The ice rink should not become “an ecological trophy”, according to its regulars

“We can’t go sliding on the grass. We have no choice but to come here”. Julien Nerat is the president of the Rennes figure skating club. Like the two other associations that use the Blizz all year round, he learned of the summer closure of the ice rink, the only one in the Ille-et-Vilaine department. A choice that is both economical in the face of soaring energy costs, but also ecological, which the municipality assumes. “Do you have to skate on the ice in 40 degrees in July? Probably not, ”questioned the socialist mayor of Rennes Nathalie Appéré in the fall. If the decision of a summer closure is rather well understood on the whole, it is the duration that makes tick. “Four months is a long time. It’s especially annoying for the start of the school year in September, that’s when we receive a lot of our new registrants, ”justifies Julien Nerat.

At the exit of the big track of the Blizz, the dance teacher does not take off. She, who has been teaching for more than thirty years, is categorical: “four months without practice, it will be dramatic for the children”. Same observation but more nuanced on the side of the president of the Cormorants hockey club. “The choice to close in the summer, I understand that. Ice sports have to accept it, times have changed,” admits Lydie Poirée. “But we would have liked to be able to resume in September. For everyone, it would have been easier. The president intends to have her hockey players resume at the start of the school year, but with physical work outdoors. An option that is less easily available to dancers, who depend on their icy track to practice.

The Le Blizz ice rink, in Rennes, welcomed more than 140,000 people in 2022. – C. Allain / 20 Minutes

Built in 2001, the Gayeulles ice rink has been the subject of major investments, in particular to replace the refrigeration units. Result: it consumes less electricity and much less water. “We also made concessions on the thickness of the ice or its temperature. We can’t do more, ”continues the president of the skating club, which has 350 members. In total, more than 700 children and adults train every week on the Blizz ice. To this must be added the 141,000 paid admissions recorded over the year. “It’s the only ice rink in the department, I don’t understand how it can be closed for so long. It is used all year round, even in summer”, denounces Stéphanie Roblin, secretary of the ice dancing club. In fact, this is not entirely correct. In July, while the heat wave was burning its roof, the Blizz recorded less than 4,000 entries, digging an already deficit financial balance sheet. Above all, it is five times fewer entries than in December.

The environmental group no longer wants the ice rink

The main fear of the three skating clubs is that the equipment will close permanently. This fear was fueled by statements from the environmental group sitting in the majority. In October, elected ecologist Lucile Koch spoke out in favor of abandoning the ice during an intervention in the municipal council. His group pleaded for a “conversion of this equipment to other sports uses” such as “gliding sports on wheels”.

“If we are shocked to see Saudi Arabia claiming to organize the Asian Winter Games, we are just as shocked to see an open ice rink in the middle of the Breton summer heat wave with more than 40 degrees on the clock,” added the elected.

“The ice rink should not become an ideology. It also has a social role for all the families who live in the buildings opposite and who have never seen the mountain. It should not become an ecological trophy, ”warns Julien Nerat.

And the swimming pools? And Stade Rennais?

Like many skaters, he can’t help but compare. “A skating rink consumes less than a swimming pool. So we close them all? And Stade Rennais, which heats its lawn for a match every fortnight, what do we tell it? “. On the large Blizz track, fifteen teenage girls (and a boy) practice dancing to a musical background. Here, the environmental argument is perfectly assimilated, even if it does not prevent a touch of bitterness. “I understand the ecological will. But two months less practice, it stings, ”slips Katell, 17. Océane, who has been skating since she was 3 years old, admits that she is “a little afraid of losing her technique” during this long summer break. Before relativizing. “It’s not like it’s closing forever.” For the moment, this is not relevant.

source site