In the photo: Rokiškis businessmen (from left) R. Sakaitis, D. Trumpa, I. Tarvydis, the district mayor Vytautas Vilys and vice-minister Vidmantas Kanopa, were probably impatient to glide themselves...
Photo by Norberto Byčkovskis.
January 26th brought together a crowd of Rokiškis residents – children, adults, and even the elderly; schoolchildren, students, civil servants, workers, businesspeople, and even politicians – for the opening ceremony of the ice rink. This event, originally planned for mid-October, was postponed to the depths of winter, and few still believed it would ever take place at all...
„The discussions are finally over – whether we will have an ice rink or not. This is also an occasion to congratulate each other,“ said Irmantas Tarvydis, General Director of UAB „Ivabaltė“, one of the three local businessmen who urged the politicians and specialists of the Rokiškis District Municipality Council to build a new, modern ice rink compliant with ice hockey playing standards on the site of the old ice rink next to Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas Gymnasium, and who supported the implementation of this project with considerable sums.
Slide festival
In January, ice rink celebrations were abuzz in several places in Lithuania. As reported by news portals „15min“, „Delfi“, „lrytas.lt“ and others, last Saturday, on the initiative of Vilnius City Municipality and VšĮ „Sveikas miestas“, a unique synthetic ice rink opened in the capital, near the White Bridge, which will operate until March 31st. An artificial ice surface was covered with layers of natural ice, but when the weather warms up and even with positive temperatures, Vilnius residents and city guests will be able to use the synthetic surface of this rink: the 300 square metre rink can accommodate 50 people at a time.
According to the Trakai District Municipality website, what is likely the largest outdoor ice rink in the country has been opened on Lake Galvė, opposite the castle. According to the elder of the Trakai eldership, Kęstutis Vilkauskas, the eldership itself will maintain and clear the ice rink. Plans are to create an ice path around the entire castle.
The open-air ice rink in Rotušės Square is bringing joy to Kaunas residents, while Ignalina's elder, Valentinas Rubutis, invites everyone to the ice rink on Lake Gavi. Last Sunday, an modern ice rink, costing 130,000 litas, was opened in the village of Balsupiai, just 10 km from Marijampolė. In the flood-covered fields of Šilutė district, nature itself „equipped“ a natural ice rink: motorists are having fun here. However, according to M-1 radio station journalists, the opinion of Panevėžys city council politicians is unambiguous – Panevėžys residents don't even need an ice rink...
Rokiškis residents' experience
Romaldas Vilkas, Chief Specialist of Construction and Infrastructure Development at Rokiškis District Municipality, claims that the Rokiškis open-air artificial ice rink is the only one of its kind in the entire country. The equipment works on the principle of a refrigerator: the unit's freon cools a liquid – ethylene glycol – which circulates through rubber pipes. These, connected in groups of six, form small pads – just 10 sq.cm – which make up the entire surface. This coating, chilled to the required temperature, freezes the poured water into ice. The ice is formed in several layers: if too much water is poured, it wouldn't have time to freeze. The rink was installed by the Vilnius-based company „Baltic Master“.
When preparing the site, 1.5 thousand kWh of energy was consumed, but now the refrigeration units are turned off – natural frost helps to preserve the ice. They will be switched on as the weather warms up. It is expected that the ice will be preserved until mid-April. It is not difficult to form it even in mid-summer heat, but this would require a significant amount of electricity.
The area of the pitch is 1800 sq. m. Its length is 60 m and its width is 30 m. According to the locals, sometimes over 100 children gather here. Generally, it is intended for training – it perfectly matches the parameters for playing ice hockey.
For ice skating enjoyment, the Rokiškis elderate has laid an ice rink next to the municipal administration building on Respublikos Street.
Unwavering enthusiasm
The Rokiškis open-air ice rink will always remain one of the most beautiful examples of public enthusiasm.
Few districts have so many passionate ice hockey enthusiasts. As early as 1977, at the initiative of educator Vytautas Šlikas, the town's ice rink was built. Having graduated from the Institute of Physical Education in Moscow, he brought the enthusiasm of Russian ice hockey players back to Lithuania. He knocked on the doors of high-ranking officials, but received no support. „Lithuania has basketball,“ was how he was explained.
The enthusiastic father, also Vytautas Šlikas, then-chairman of the collective farm, allocated 10,000 roubles for the construction of the Rokiškis ice hockey rink: during winter, the people of Rokiškis had good conditions for training.
The young men and boys of Juodupė started building their ice rink even before those in Rokiškis. Even today, the name of Rimantas Mažeikis, the director of the town's „Nemunas“ factory and then a sponsor of ice hockey players, is still mentioned with respect. And Rimas Sakaitis, a local from Juodupė who moved to Rokiškis many years ago, gathered yet another team here, bringing together all the district's footballers into the Ice Hockey Sports Club.
One must get to know Rokiškis to feel how sincerely the people of this town are proud of coaches Genadijs Fitingovs and Audrius Deksnys, the children's club „Sparta“, the adult „Enthusiasts“, and the town's veteran and Juodupė teams.
The athletes themselves are very reluctant to admit it: without an ice rink, they trained on asphalt, wearing roller skates, no less...
The result of sociability
Although the Rokiškis residents have not yet given up on the dream of having a sports complex, there were few believers left of even having an outdoor ice rink. The aforementioned Vilnius company, which won the tender for its construction and offered equipment and installation works for 580,000 litas, requested an advance payment. Money was also lacking for the project, and it later became clear that they would have to level the site of the old rink themselves, and negotiations with „Lesto“ would stall. There was also a lack of official enthusiasm: energy was needed to constantly move the stagnating work forward.
Three businessmen from Rokiškis – Irmantas Tarvydis, General Director of UAB „Ivabaltė“, Dalius Trumpa, Deputy Director of UAB „Rokiškis sūris“, and Rimantas Sakaitis, Director of UAB „Rokauta“, mentioned earlier, each contributed 38,000 litas towards the equipment for a new ice rink. Their financial contribution was the last hope for the district's ice hockey enthusiasts to have the opportunity to train not only on days when the cold brought ice, but every day for more than half a year.
Later, the businessmen also paid for the project, provided equipment to level the site's foundation, and stored the delivered equipment in their warehouses… They even rented sound equipment themselves for the site's opening celebration. Thanks to them, the celebration was also excellent: they brought young figure skating dancers from the famous Kaunas coach Lilija Vanagienė to Rokiškis, gathered Rokiškis residents scattered across Lithuania for the event, cooked fish soup, and launched fireworks into the sky. Because of these wonderful things, people gathered in droves for the celebration.
Rokiškis entrepreneurs, with their enthusiasm and funds, know how to awaken public initiatives. They have proven this more than once.
