The 2008 Metro Ski & Snowboard Show held in Olympia, London had 230 exhibitors over 39,000 visitors and remains the biggest consumer winter sports show in the world.
DMG World Media (one of the largest media companies in the UK) approached Stage Electrics to provide their client, Trespass (suppliers of outdoor clothing), with a 240 square metre ice rink as part of their exhibition space. The brief was to supply a rink which was divided into two smaller rinks to allow one for skating (15M x 10M) and one with two curling lanes (15M x 6M).
The ice rink including all pipe work, 200KW of chilling equipment and barriers, was installed in just 3 days. As part of the rink's set up, the Trespass sponsor logos and curling targets were painted using a soluble paint and frozen into the ice. Despite taking 3 days to install, the Stage Electrics team had just 12 hours to melt the ice and dismantle the rink once the show ended. Olympia is a difficult venue to install an ice rink in, because of the lack of available drainage for the ice once it has been scrapped from the surface of the rink to maintain a smooth finish. Little control over the ambient temperature of it the arena also meant the rinks maintenance was a challenge at times with the coolers having to function efficiently to retain the chilled temperature of the rink.
This was the first time Stage Electrics has incorporated curling lanes into one of their temporary rinks. Curling equipment including curling brushes and stones was supplied by the Scottish Curling Association, with staff on hand to provide curling instruction lessons. The rink was a real focal point of the show and proved to be a popular visitor attraction for those keen to put on their skates or try their hand at curling.
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