LIZ Rutherford was always one of the mums hanging around watching skating practice, until a year and a half ago when she decided to skate-up and give it a go herself. Now she is off to a national competition alongside her daughter.
Rutherford, her daughter Mary and fellow Armadale Redbacks Roller Skating Club member Ashlee King will head to Sydney to take part in this year’s Skate Australia Artistic Roller Skating National Championships on July 1 to represent Western Australia.
All three will take part in their age group category in the figure skating section.
This will involve them skating around three circles backwards, forwards and in different positions.
Mary and Ashlee will also take part in the free skating section, where they will incorporate certain spins, jumps and footwork into a 2½-minute routine accompanied by music.
Rutherford said her decision to start skating made sense.
“Mary trains about five days a week. I found I’d be sitting there whiling away the hours. I thought, why not get up and be active,” she said.
Rutherford said her daughter had been very encouraging of her and she now had a better understanding of skating, which helped when talking to her daughter about it.
She said after good performances at the state championships in April, the trio were optimistic about how they would perform nationally.