GP final for the newbie

[CoyoteChris]

I am thinking of going to the GP final when it is in Vancouver. I have never been to a GP final. I wouldnt go except I would like to see the juniors and seniors.
From those of you who have gone, is the "order of battle" pretty well set or does it vary? In other words,
for instance, do the juniors always go before the seniors and in the same arena? Or is there no set format?
Any tips I wouldnt have picked up going to a number of worlds, SAs and 4 Conts?

 

[Lysambre]

I am thinking of going to the GP final when it is in Vancouver. I have never been to a GP final. I wouldnt go except I would like to see the juniors and seniors.
From those of you who have gone, is the "order of battle" pretty well set or does it vary? In other words,
for instance, do the juniors always go before the seniors and in the same arena? Or is there no set format?
Any tips I wouldnt have picked up going to a number of worlds, SAs and 4 Conts?

I've only been to GPF 2015, but from what I have seen there the Juniors always go before the senior, and the whole competition is in the same arena (we were lucky enough that the same arena was also where all the training sessions were held, junior and senior).

Other than that, I don't think anything varies much from any other big event.

It all seems "short" in a way, because there's only ever one group for each category, but that's kind of awesome, because you never get bored .

 

[eppen]

My first time was last year in Barcelona and before that I had only seen Europeans and smaller events. It was quite different from those, like a mini Worlds. The massive number of Japanese fans made the atmosphere very different from Europeans - the practice sessions were with a half full house (well, at least for men and ladies) and it was far more intense that the empty rinks at the Euros.

The juniors are on earlier and seniors in the evening usually, so always in the same arena, also practices (in major comps they have to use a second rink for practices and these tend not to be open for public). Seeing both was cool for me because I had followed the JGPF season.

Loved the opportunity to see skaters outside Europe (the major comps recently have been mostly outside Europe). The shortness of the competition is also a blessing (sitting through 30 skaters SP is sometimes very hard indeed). And basically you're watching only the "last group" in every discipline.

I'll be going to Marseille next week and am contemplating Vancouver also...

E

 

[CoyoteChris]

My first time was last year in Barcelona and before that I had only seen Europeans and smaller events. It was quite different from those, like a mini Worlds. The massive number of Japanese fans made the atmosphere very different from Europeans - the practice sessions were with a half full house (well, at least for men and ladies) and it was far more intense that the empty rinks at the Euros.

The juniors are on earlier and seniors in the evening usually, so always in the same arena, also practices (in major comps they have to use a second rink for practices and these tend not to be open for public). Seeing both was cool for me because I had followed the JGPF season.

Loved the opportunity to see skaters outside Europe (the major comps recently have been mostly outside Europe). The shortness of the competition is also a blessing (sitting through 30 skaters SP is sometimes very hard indeed). And basically you're watching only the "last group" in every discipline.

I'll be going to Marseille next week and am contemplating Vancouver also...

E

Great info. Thanks to you and Lysambre. Personally, competitions with only six skaters, even though they are the cream of the crop, seem kind of short. I like Four Conts and GPs. But the draw in Vancouver is that one gets to see the juniors comming up, and therefore more skating. Hope you put out some reports of this and that about Marseille. Bonne Chance in your travels and experiences!

 

[Winnie_20]

The competitions may be short, the days are very long! Don't forget the practices, which you can all see because they are all in the same rink! So you can watch pretty much the whole morning, afternoon and evening. And if you want decent seats for practices, you may find yourself at the arena at 6 am... :disapp:

 

[eppen]

Winnie_20 is absolutely correct - in Marseille it looks exactly like that starting with a long day already on Wednesday which is just practice (because junior men start and senior men finish the day...) In Barcelona there was barely time for a quick meal between all the practices and comps.

E

 

[CoyoteChris]

The competitions may be short, the days are very long! Don't forget the practices, which you can all see because they are all in the same rink! So you can watch pretty much the whole morning, afternoon and evening. And if you want decent seats for practices, you may find yourself at the arena at 6 am... :disapp:

This is of course a big plus of many comps but my days of showing up at 6 am are over...pacing is important. Food and sleep and self medication with friends are good along with watching practices....but having all the practices open and at the main rink is good. The trick I have found is trying to time the hotel reservations, airline flights with a non-existant schedule for practices and comps. Luckily, many hotels will let you change your dates once the comp dates are released, and you can make good guesses about when practices will be open and buy airline tickets.

 

[CoyoteChris]

Winnie_20 is absolutely correct - in Marseille it looks exactly like that starting with a long day already on Wednesday which is just practice (because junior men start and senior men finish the day...) In Barcelona there was barely time for a quick meal between all the practices and comps.

E

Thanks! I will see if I can find the official website and get a schedule for comps and practices...I did not realize that the juniors would be skating along with seniors.....

 

[sabinfire]

This is of course a big plus of many comps but my days of showing up at 6 am are over...

What??? I guess I'll just be at the rink now at 6 AM without you, with a bunch of devoted Japanese fans instead...

 

[CoyoteChris]

What??? I guess I'll just be at the rink now at 6 AM without you, with a bunch of devoted Japanese fans instead...

LOL! Yes, old age has taken its toll.....even at nats in KC, I will need a few breaks.....14 hours a day is my limit!

Info on GPF
http://www.isu.org/en/single-and-pa...of-events/2016/12/isu-gp-final-2016-marseille

Well, Wednesday looks pretty easy.

http://www.isuresults.com/schedules/gpf2016_ColouredTimeSchedule.pdf

 

[CoyoteChris]

Winnie_20 is absolutely correct - in Marseille it looks exactly like that starting with a long day already on Wednesday which is just practice (because junior men start and senior men finish the day...) In Barcelona there was barely time for a quick meal between all the practices and comps.

E

Actually, Wednesday looks pretty easy....Thursday, not so much.
http://www.isuresults.com/schedules/gpf2016_ColouredTimeSchedule.pdf

 

[sabinfire]

LOL! Yes, old age has taken its toll.....even at nats in KC, I will need a few breaks.....14 hours a day is my limit!

I still hold 2016 Skate Canada (a few weeks ago) as my all-time record... I never left the rink, from 7 AM in the morning till midnight! I still got it!

 

[CoyoteChris]

I still hold 2016 Skate Canada (a few weeks ago) as my all-time record... I never left the rink, from 7 AM in the morning till midnight! I still got it!

You are the MAN! Ahhhh...to be young again.....

 

[sabinfire]

Bit of a fluke, as the ladies were the first to practice early in the morning in Canada... they are the only ones getting me out of bed that early!

In comparison, Pairs were the first practice on Friday/Saturday at Worlds earlier this year... I couldn't make it to either one... 6 AM is too early for that, especially since the commute from Back Bay to TD Garden wasn't a short one.

 

[CoyoteChris]

Bit of a fluke, as the ladies were the first to practice early in the morning in Canada... they are the only ones getting me out of bed that early!

In comparison, Pairs were the first practice on Friday/Saturday at Worlds earlier this year... I couldn't make it to either one... 6 AM is too early for that, especially since the commute from Back Bay to TD Garden wasn't a short one.

Yeah, I agree. I would only show early for the ladies. But not that early! Worlds LA 2009 was fun as the practice rink was next to the main rink with a Starbucks, all in the same building. Worlds Boston, I throttled back even more but had fun.
I am watching my DVDs of the Ladies from Torino Worlds 2010. Now THAT group of ladies I would have got to the rink at 6 am for! :luv17:

 

[Winnie_20]

I am not entirely sure we are on the same track... So just in case we're not: the reason for getting up at 6 am (or earlier!) is because in Barcelona, a lot of people wanted good practice seats to see Hanyu. Even if men's practice was the last of the day, you would still be up early to get that seat for all the practices because you didn't have to clear out the venue in between practices.

If you don't care about seeing Hanyu from a good spot, you can sleep in, but chances are if you are coming to see someone in another group who skates before him in the practices... It may be very busy. ;-)

 

[CoyoteChris]

I am not entirely sure we are on the same track... So just in case we're not: the reason for getting up at 6 am (or earlier!) is because in Barcelona, a lot of people wanted good practice seats to see Hanyu. Even if men's practice was the last of the day, you would still be up early to get that seat for all the practices because you didn't have to clear out the venue in between practices.

If you don't care about seeing Hanyu from a good spot, you can sleep in, but chances are if you are coming to see someone in another group who skates before him in the practices... It may be very busy. ;-)

OK, I think I now see what you mean. I think you are saying that even though on Wednesday, the senior men practice at 16:10, about 4 pm, some people are willing to get into line early in the morning and save their seat all day with a coat or something so they can be close to Hanyu? Thursday would be the toughest time to get up to get a front seat as practices start very early. At worlds, in LA, London Ontario and Boston, I never had a problem getting a decent practice seat, except during one day in LA they stuck all the practice goers in two or three sections so they didnt dirty up the rest of the arena. This was not received well by the fans......:dev2:

 

[Winnie_20]

OK, I think I now see what you mean. I think you are saying that even though on Wednesday, the senior men practice at 16:10, about 4 pm, some people are willing to get into line early in the morning and save their seat all day with a coat or something so they can be close to Hanyu?

Yes, exactly. Now granted, this is Marseille, there may be different rules in place, but somehow I don't think it will be very different this year. Especially the Japanese fans were willing to get up very early!

 

[CoyoteChris]

Yes, exactly. Now granted, this is Marseille, there may be different rules in place, but somehow I don't think it will be very different this year. Especially the Japanese fans were willing to get up very early!

We need to have our "on scene" people report back. Those Japanese fans are hard core to be sure. With the schedule, it looks to be an intense Thurs-Friday-Sat. Before the novices at US Nats were thrown under the bus and chased out of the main arenas, US nats was very intense with Nov. Junior and Seniors, but now, not so much. The only thing that is constant is change.

 

[CoyoteChris]

Next topic. Tickets and practice tickets. What was the upshot? Was there an all event ticket with a practice pass for all days?
Are they throwing people out between events?
At Boston worlds, I would climb the dead escalators to the upper reaches of the arena and hide out in the bathrooms to avoid getting thrown out and have to come back through security. When a security type came in and saw me in a stall, he said, "Worker or patron?" I said nothing knowing that most of the workers didnt speak English and the guy left.