The country’s main skating rink opened at VDNKh

There are places of amazing power in Moscow, where people have been coming for decades and everyone finds something to their liking, gets a charge of joy and good mood. One of these places is the popularly beloved VDNKh, where the main skating rink of the country opened on November 25.

VDNKh – these four magic letters are well known to every Muscovite and guest of the city. Modern VDNKh is not only exhibition pavilions, but a real center of cultural, educational and sports life of the capital. For several years now, a unique skating rink has been poured on the territory of VDNKh – the main ice rink in the country and the largest in Europe. There is no such spectacle in the whole world, both in terms of size and infrastructure. It entered the Russian Book of Records as the largest skating rink with artificial ice. The VDNH skating rink is located on the Main Alley – from pavilion No. 1 “Central” to pavilion No. 58 “Agriculture”, surrounding the famous beautiful fountains “Stone Flower” and “Friendship of Peoples” with ice paths.

The area of ​​the unique ice “mirror” is more than 20 thousand square meters. m, and together with the adjacent infrastructure, it occupies almost 70 thousand square meters. m, the vital activity of the ice rink is provided by 11 refrigeration units (chillers) of domestic production. Ice accepts visitors in almost any weather: from +10 to -35 degrees. At the same time, 4.5 thousand people can ride on the sparkling ice, and in total it is ready to receive up to 20 thousand visitors a day. It will take about 20 minutes to go around the entire skating rink along the perimeter, because this distance is more than 1.5 km long! The complex includes a skating rink for the little ones, the so-called lovers’ alley and a traditional footbridge. From a height, the skating rink looks like a fabulous sparkling golden key – about 16.5 thousand light bulbs installed along the entire length of the tracks provide a beautiful glow.

In the gloomy 1990s-2000s, VDNH was a prisoner of commerce, there were no large-scale festivities, but seasonal trade in the main attributes of the winter season was active – skates, skis and other sports goods. Skating rinks were rarely flooded – several times in the 2000s, a small platform with natural ice cover miraculously appeared on the Central Alley, “living” only on frosty days.

The design concept of the country’s main ice rink changes every year. This year, the theme of the opening was “Journey Through Dreams”: the ice rink was decorated in the style of the 1950s. The opening of the skating rink was celebrated very solemnly: the artists showed a wonderful performance, which organically combined circus art, sports acrobatics, multimedia, and music.

In the new season, visitors to the main skating rink of the country are waiting for entertainment programs, the brightest and largest will be the holidays dedicated to the New Year, Christmas, the Old New Year, Student’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Defender of the Fatherland Day. For the first time, the skating rink will celebrate the Day of Heroes of the Fatherland and the All-Russian Day of Skating. Weekly activities for the whole family will be organized at the skating rink. Every Friday, during the evening session, the guests of the ice rink are waiting for master classes in various dance styles. On Saturdays, team games, competitions, active contests and quests will be held on the ice, and on Sundays – morning exercises on skates. And the smallest visitors every weekend at the children’s skating rink are waiting for children’s animation. Various charity events have become a good tradition of the country’s main ice rink. There are benefits for students, members of large families, pensioners, and the disabled.

The skating rink is a whole complex with a developed infrastructure. The skating rink has 3,700 pairs of well-sharpened skates, of which 1,500 pairs are figure skates, 1,600 pairs are hockey skates, and 600 pairs are children’s. The size range of skates is from the 27th to the 49th size. 30 assistant instructors work on the ice at the same time. The skating rink even has its own website on the Internet, where you can find out the schedule and prices, buy tickets, read announcements of upcoming events, get information about benefits, visiting rules, rental availability, locker rooms. For the fastest access to the ice and the convenience of visitors, four rental pavilions are open, 11 cozy cafes and restaurants offer guests delicious food and hot drinks, including the famous “exhibition” donuts. You can have a snack and warm up without leaving the rink.

Here’s what happy visitors say. The Sergeev family – Tatyana and Viktor – came from the Tver region. “We arrived in the capital on business, but the plans also included a visit to the ice rink. We can say with confidence that when choosing a place for walking and skiing in Moscow, we were not mistaken! The surface of the ice is smooth, no holes were noticed, not once did the skate hit the potholes. Riding is a great pleasure. The flow of riders moves in one direction, who needs it, they easily overtake without interfering with others, there is enough space for everyone. The locker rooms are comfortable. A large number of benches, skates for rent are issued quickly. There are no queues.”

The newlyweds Natasha and Boris skillfully wrote out all kinds of figures on the ice, and now they coo nicely, resting on a bench. “This is our favorite ice rink, every autumn we look forward to its opening. As always, we were absolutely delighted! The feeling that we were in a fairy tale did not leave. Illuminated ice, funny animators in unusual costumes, groovy music – everything is great. Great pleasure from skiing on perfect ice. We even mastered a few new tricks. I liked the organization and maintenance of order. Volunteers help the fallen, direct those moving against the flow in the right direction. The great advantage of the ice rink is that it is large and varied, it can be used on different routes, small and large circles. This is not a monotonous circular ride on the “box” in the yard. And in the evening they turn on a very beautiful backlight. Everything is calm, organized, the staff is polite. No wonder the skating rink at VDNKh is called the main skating rink of the country!

The beautiful ice was appreciated both by sports stars who came to the opening, and less famous athletes: a youthful lady famously rotates on the ice in a complex pirouette, a little girl watches her with admiration. We get acquainted – Anna Vasilievna with her great-granddaughter Nastenka. Grandmother says that from her youth she loves to skate very much, even in the 50s she was engaged in figure skating, and now she teaches the youngest member of the family to skate. “We live on the other side of Moscow, but all winter we specially come here,” says the gray-haired figure skater, “there is excellent ice and beautiful decoration. We go with the girl on weekdays so that there are fewer people.

Enthusiastically, very confidently and professionally, an elderly man glides on old cross-country skates: the metropolitan pensioner Alexei Georgievich also skates from his youth, went in for speed skating, has many awards. “I found out that the skating rink is working at VDNKh, and I decided to get my “eiders” from the attic,” the satisfied athlete smiles.

A flock of young people cheerfully rush past, at speed we barely have time to get their opinion: “Yes, everything is cool here, we have been coming here for several years, and this year we will even work as volunteers! There is a lot of space here, and it’s beautiful, and the music, and the stars come!”

And dad Victor is in no hurry, he teaches his four-year-old son Vitenka to ride: “We don’t have the opportunity to send our child to the sports section, we live far outside the city. We decided to teach ourselves. We were pleasantly surprised that here you can work out with a trainer for kids for free. My son asks every day when we will go to Moscow again to the skating rink! The happy boy happily boasts that he can withstand all difficulties, although he is tired, he has already learned how to fall correctly.

Ice skating is both a sport and a recreation, which allows you to spend your free time with family or friends in a fun and healthy way. Regular outdoor exercise is an excellent prevention of many ailments and strengthens the immune system. If you spend the winter months not in a stuffy room, wrapped in a warm blanket, but on a skating rink, you will feel that you are much less likely to get colds, and you will generally forget about the word “depression”. Ice skating perfectly cheers up, tones up and charges with positive!

Mikhail Kovalyov.

Author’s photo