Karla Quinn (2008 British Jr Ladies Champion) is getting married tomorrow (1st June 2013) | Golden Skate

Karla Quinn (2008 British Jr Ladies Champion) is getting married tomorrow (1st June 2013)

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
Karla Quinn (2008 British Jr Ladies Champion) is getting married tomorrow (1st June 2013)

In recent months we have had threads on this forum concerning (upcoming) births and (unfortunately) deaths within the skating community. So, I thought I would complete the set and start a thread concerning a marriage! ;) :biggrin:

Just wanted to let you know that Karla Quinn, the 2008 British Junior Ladies champion (and 2009 British Senior Ladies Bronze medallist), is getting married tomorrow (1st June) to her boyfriend, Gareth.

I don’t know where the wedding ceremony itself is being held (I would assume that it is somewhere near the Co. Antrim village where Karla lives and works), but the reception is being held in my hometown, Cookstown!!!

To be honest, I am not sure whether Karla still skates or not. I saw in a local newspaper that Karla took part in a ice dancing competition in her village last year (Given her height, I’ve often thought Karla would make a good Ice Dancer. So, it’s reassuring to know that I’m not the only one to think that! :laugh: ) But, I think that was just a one-off thing. Karla’s got her own fitness business now, and from what I’ve seen, it is VERY popular. So, she’s probably busy enough with that.

But, even though she may not be competing any more, us figure skating fans in Northern Ireland are still proud of what she achieved. ;) :biggrin:

All the best for the future, Karla and Gareth!

CaroLiza_fan
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
Will you be attending the wedding? :)

I confess I had to look this skater up. Here is an article from a few years back when she won a scholarship to support her training. (I do hope you realize how cool names like "Ballymoney and Moyle" sound to outsiders. ;)

http://www.ballymoneytimes.co.uk/sport/karla-s-quinn-the-big-time-1-1820076

Unfortunately I’m not attending. I don’t know Karla or Gareth personally. I had been looking for Karla on Facebook for years, but I only managed to find her recently because she had posted something on Katie Scarbrough’s wall. (Karla’s profile is in the name of her business, so that’s why searching for “Karla Quinn” was not successful. Plus, to further complicate matters, our former next-door-neighbour’s daughter has exactly the same name!)

Mind you, I might head out this evening to see if I can do any celebrity spotting at the reception… :laugh: (Only joking!!!)

Mmmm. So Karla Quinn isn’t well known outside of Northern Ireland. I wasn’t expecting that. I wouldn’t have been surprised that she was little known if winning the British Juniors in 2008 was her only claim to fame (like Katie Scarbrough). But, Karla has also finished on the podium in the British Seniors in 2009, and won the Seniors competition at the Coupe de Printemps in 2008.

Here is a link to her skating bio on Figure Skating Online:

http://www.figureskatingonline.info/skaterbio.php?id=FSGBR21509198801

You know, a few years ago, the small band of figure skating fans over here thought that we were entering into a golden age for Ulster skating. Like, we had Jenna McCorkell dominating the Seniors; Karla Quinn doing well in the Juniors and then Seniors; and Dempsey Andrews showing a lot of promise for the next generation.

2008 and 2009 in particular were great years. In 2008, we had Jenna winning the British Seniors competition and Karla winning the British Juniors. Then, in 2009, we had Jenna and Karla both on the British Seniors podium. Like, for a small country with a population of less than 2 million, and where figure skating is a practically unknown sport, that is some achievement!

I don’t know for definite, but I suspect that it was for financial reasons that this “golden age” never materialised. Like, if a sport is practically unknown, who is going to bother putting money into it?

With Jenna now at that age where most skaters are thinking about retiring, we need somebody to keep Ulster on the figure skating map. But, where are they coming from? Karla and Dempsey are now doing other things, so we have missed our chance with them. And I don’t know of any up-and-coming girls to step into their skates.

So, unfortunately, I think we’ve lost a generation or two. But, hopefully when Karen Barber and Matt Evers said that “Dancing On Ice” has generated a new interest in figure skating in Britain, it will have done the same over here in Ireland!


Hey, if you think “Ballymoney” is cool, there is a village 5 miles from where I live called “Moneymore”! (Perhaps a village with this name would be a perfect place for Ulster figure skaters to start a campaign for better recognition from the government...! ;) )

Karla’s home village has a good name too – “Rasharkin”. But, there is a village with an even better name about 10 miles from Rasharkin. It is called “Ahoghill”. The great thing about Ahoghill is that it is not pronounced anything like the way it is spelt, and so it gives us great pleasure telling off foreigners for pronouncing it wrong! If you want to know how it’s pronounced, here is a very good description that I came across in reply to a question on tripadvisor:

LondonBob said:
English people have the same problem with Irish names. There is a place in Co Antrim spelt Ahoghill. Not unreasonably, the English usually pronounce this as A-hog-hill but, to the locals, it starts with A and ends with ill but the middle part sounds like someone clearing phlegm from their throat. English people find this sound, as in lough, to be impossible but the Germans have something similar in their own language so do not find any difficulty.

Source: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTo...id_pronunciation_question-London_England.html

I could be here all day giving examples of Ulster place names, but I will end this discussion with another village which is about 5 miles from me. It is called “Coagh”. Now, thinking of words that are spelt similarly, there are a number of ways you could pronounce this. But, the correct pronunciation is “Coke”, as in the drink!


As we’re getting so far off topic, I think I’ll end this message here!

Good luck on the big day Karla and Gareth! :biggrin:

CaroLiza_fan
 

skatel80

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
Good for them :) glad to hear she has had a successful life outside of skating :)
Northern Ireland has indeed produced a number of successful skaters over the years! Jenna McCorkell, Karla Quinn, Neil Wilson (anyone else remember him?) . Clara Peters Irish senior ladies champion seems to have trained there before moving to Delaware to train. as per his Isu bio conor stakelum The irish junior mens champion trains in the dundonald ice bowl In northern Ireland. I don't know of any other international skaters skating there today?
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
I hope she is happy. Though it is kind of funny to see or hear about some obscure skater when it seems so random- we could have all kinds of posts with the obscure- maybe the obscure's mom posting lol???? . Hmmm whatever happened to Kayla Ohs or Mira Leung or Sydne Vogel... (I think they might be more famous than Quinn - at least Mira and Sydne).
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
^ They're not obscure when they are your next door neighbor, or when they represent a country or region that aspires to raise its profile in the figure skating world.

Edited to add: Here is what Keyla Ohs is up to these days. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psypy4KwPRY
 
Last edited:
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
I love the Brits, the Scots, the Irish, and the Welsh...they still give their kids names like Gareth, which is right out of Arthurian legend.

You folk in Northern Ireland should take heart: remember how unlikely it was that anyone from Korea would ever have a world-class skater...I know it's hard to keep a program going in a smaller country with not much funding (or even in a bigger country with a history of skating, like the U.S.!), but things wax and wane, and I'm sure someone will pop up in good time. I know how disheartening it can be to wait for that good time, though.
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
^ They're not obscure when they are your next door neighbor, or when they represent a country or region that aspires to raise its profile in the figure skating world.

Edited to add: Here is what Keyla Ohs is up to these days. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psypy4KwPRY
thanks mathman though I am a little more up to date with Ms. Ohs. Seen her recently by fluke. I am talking about the majority of the world or NA centric lol. It is obvious we all have our biases but certain skaters regardless of nation they come from will stick out ie. Denis Ten because he won the world silver medal. even non medallist can stiand out for not so good reasons but some of these skaters may be known by those around them but not more than a block or two lol
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
I love the Brits, the Scots, the Irish, and the Welsh...they still give their kids names like Gareth, which is right out of Arthurian legend.

Well, my name is Gordon, so I guess I fit right into that category! :laugh:

You folk in Northern Ireland should take heart: remember how unlikely it was that anyone from Korea would ever have a world-class skater...I know it's hard to keep a program going in a smaller country with not much funding (or even in a bigger country with a history of skating, like the U.S.!), but things wax and wane, and I'm sure someone will pop up in good time. I know how disheartening it can be to wait for that good time, though.

Well said, Olympia! You hit the nail on the head with pretty much everything there! Personally, because of the economy being so bad on the whole of this island, I can’t see either part of Ireland being “the next Korea”. Even if we did have “the next Kim Yu-Na”, they would need serious funding to just go skating outside our island. But, you never know! :biggrin:

TKANK YOU skatel80 for mentioning that Neil Wilson is from Northern Ireland – I never knew that!!!

For years I was wondering if we had any top male skaters, because it was only ever the female skaters that were talked about in the media. And now it turns out that we have a 3-times British Senior Men’s Champion!!!

Mmmm. Now I’m feeling kinda guilty for being a bit harsh on Kevin Reynolds in my “parallel universe” thread, now that I know one of his team is from Belfast…! :laugh:

A few months ago, I was chatting privately to a GS member from Southern Ireland, and I was asking whether there were many figure skaters down there. Because, although we hear quite a bit about Clara, even us fans just across the border don’t hear about anybody else. So, I asked whether there were any skaters from “Down South” that I should keep an eye out for. And he suggested Conor Stakelum.

So, given that I have now heard two different members talking about him, I think we should maybe keep an eye on Conor…! ;)

But, for all I know, at least one of these two members might be Conor…! :laugh:


^ They're not obscure when they are your next door neighbor, or when they represent a country or region that aspires to raise its profile in the figure skating world.

Thank you for pointing that out, Mathman.

For figure skating fans in Northern Ireland, Karla and Dempsey are as much household names as Jenna is. Dempsey in particular, as she is regularly featured on children’s TV programmes such as “Blue Peter”. So, it is perhaps hard for us to realise that they may not be as well known further afield.

It’s like when the North American members on here talk about American and Canadian skaters that do not compete internationally. They may be household names to you, but I am sure that I am not the only European member who is unfamiliar with a lot of the skaters you talk about.

Just remember, it was only within the past year that most European fans saw Gracie Gold on TV for the first time. North American fans will no doubt have known about her and been watching her as a Junior for years. But we only knew about Gracie because Chris Howarth frequently talked about how good she was while commentating on Eurosport (Chris, of course, had seen Gracie on the ice on a daily basis for years, as he runs the rink that she trains at).

Personally, I like hearing about skaters that are unfamiliar to me. Because, quite frequently, I would go straight onto YouTube to see if I can find any videos of them, to see how good they are.

Which brings us back to the age-old argument about videos on YouTube. This reaction to seeing an unfamiliar name just emphasises how important it is to have figure skating videos available online. OK, so I am just an armchair fan. But, who knows, I could have been somebody who is looking for a promising skater to sponsor….

CaroLiza_fan
 

skatel80

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
Your welcome Caroliza fan :) I knew of Wilson and mccorkell being from northern Ireland as I have irish connections myself though I don't live there and as Ireland only recently became a member of the isu, they were the closest thing to irish skaters competing in isu events .
I know of stakelum from seeing him this year in JGP lake placid and being impressed I hadn't seen a skater competing for Ireland before with triples and he was doing several :)
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Though it is kind of funny to see or hear about some obscure skater when it seems so random- we could have all kinds of posts with the obscure- maybe the obscure's mom posting lol????

^ They're not obscure when they are your next door neighbor, or when they represent a country or region that aspires to raise its profile in the figure skating world.

It’s like when the North American members on here talk about American and Canadian skaters that do not compete internationally. They may be household names to you, but I am sure that I am not the only European member who is unfamiliar with a lot of the skaters you talk about.

... Personally, I like hearing about skaters that are unfamiliar to me.

I agree with MM. Obscurity and randomness -- like so many other qualities -- are in the eye of the beholder.
This thread is hardly unique in discussing a skater whose name does not instantly ring bells to every GS member. But if any particular thread happens to be of no interest to an individual member, no one is forcing her/him to read (and post in) it. Live and let live.

I agree also with Gordon that the many different perspectives of GS members makes the forum a good resource for learning about unfamiliar skaters. :agree:
GS would have far fewer threads if any member unilaterally could ban posting about skaters whom s/he perceives to be obscure. :laugh:

Congratulations to the happy couple!
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
I agree also with Gordon that the many different perspectives of GS members makes the forum a good resource for learning about unfamiliar skaters. :agree:

And not just about skating. Caro_Liza Fan's post made me look up what "Blue Peter" means. It's the flag in maritime communication for the letter P. When hoisted alone (usually on the second halyard of the foremast) it means "all aboard!" -- then ship is about ready to sail. The children's TV program uses it as a metaphor for embarking on an adventure.

(OK, everybody but me probably already knew all that. :laugh: )

Blue Peter http://ravingreader.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/bluepeter1.png

Logo of British children's television show, since 1958. http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSmS2RDosEECyMgDwcxEUdKWiHE5n2-D7nkyJNqu6IxABHrYOZt

Hoisting the Blue Peter for the maiden voyage of the iron ship the Great Eastern, 1859. http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/lookandlearn-preview/XJ/XJ120/XJ120952.jpg
 
Top