the rink will remain closed all winter due to rising energy prices
The closing of the ice rink has consequences for the clubs which must turn to other structures.
It will be complicated to put on the skates in Calais in the coming months. The ice rink at the Iceo complex will not reopen for the winter, the mayor of the city announced in the community council last Tuesday.
“Due to the prefectural decree currently in force, the Iceo ice rink is closed until further notice”, can we read on the Grand Calais website.
Rising energy prices
If the decree in question concerns the drought and imposes water restrictions (water necessary for the proper functioning of the complex), the decision to keep the ice rink closed was mainly taken because of the increase in energy prices.
“The monthly cost of operating the ice rink in normal times, including agents, is 50,000 euros per month. The differential linked to energy will amount to between 10,000 € and 15,000 €, which brings us to 60-65,000 € “, explained Guy Allemand, vice-president of Grand Calais Terres et mers in charge of sports, at The Voice of the North.
But this decision is not without consequences for the sports clubs which normally use the ice rink every week. The “Calais On Ice” club must now go to Saint-Martin-Boulogne to continue training, a solution they are temporarily hoping for.
“It is absolutely necessary that this ice rink be reopened. I want to undertake things, give my time, the money. If necessary, we will do it. We are ready to do actions, to do galas if you have to and reverse a part of the agglo community”, explains Medhi Masset, president of the Calais on Ice figure skating club, to BFM Grand Littoral.
Before adding: “It is especially necessary not to close it definitively because if we close it definitively, it is an association which closes and young people who are left on the floor.”
The Boulogne ice rink also hosts training sessions for the Calais hockey club. At this time, no date is known for the reopening of Iceo.