Multi-talented Timperley teenager Troy Wood has won a top men’s national ice skating competition condensing six months’ work into a two-and-half-minute routine.
The St Ambrose College 15-year-old GCSE student, who is famous for having designed Tim Peake’s mission badge and being one of the few scouts worldwide to complete all beaver, cubs and scout badges, trains both at Altrincham and Blackpool ice rinks.
He has been working on his technical and artistic work under three times Swiss champion and world competitor, Oscar Peter, and Dancing on Ice professional skater and choreographer, Katie Standby, at Blackpool while at Altrincham he is coached by the three-time British champion, Jake Bennett.
Troy said: “Practice makes perfect and since I was nine-years-old I have been training for up to 10 hours each week.
“You need balance, determination and yes a bit of luck as well to win. One day you can land everything and the next day little seems to come off.”
Troy started his ice skating through the scouts and has also become a black belt in karate having stared the discipline with the local scout troupe.
He said: “I am not too sure how far I want to go in the ice skating world because I really have my heart set on becoming a doctor and I don’t think it would be possible to combine both seeing how much work you have to do, but I would love to compete in more international competitions and become as good as I can given the time constraints.”
Princiapl of St Ambrose College, James Ceulemans, said: “Troy is a multi-talented young man who is determined to reap the rewards of all his hard work.”
