“Everyone off the ice please!”

You know the drill. The stewards chase us off the ice as we claim to be finishing off practising our one foot glide, 3-turns and crossovers.

That said, this routine chasing off is justified and necessary, to pave the way for the rink’s unsung hero: the ice resurfacer.

The ice resurfacer or Zamboni (trademark name), is the hulk of a machine that sits unassumingly at the rink side. After each skating session, it dutifully ‘refreshes’ the rink with new sheets of ice.

Before its inventor, Frank G. Zamboni, got his bright idea in 1954, it took four men an hour to clear ice rinks of lumps and bumps left by rabid skaters like us.

All in a day’s work.

To the relief of skaters and ice stewards alike, the Zamboni does the hard work in about fifteen minutes.

Without it - practising turns or even simply trying to stop…‘snowplough’ style, would quite literally leaves us stuck in a rut.

Interview with the Zamboni Operator

Behind every great Zamboni machine, is a skilled operator.

We are lucky to grab a few minutes of David Hetherington’s time to find out what it’s like to drive one of the world’s iconic machines as part of his job.

Interview with David Hetherington, Deputy Leisure Services Manager at Alexandra Palace Ice rink:

Q: What do you enjoy most about operating the Zamboni as part of your job?

A: I enjoy the technical aspect of resurfacing the ice and it’s great to take pride in finishing and leaving a great sheet of ice to skate on.

It’s also a really cool (pun intended) machine to drive!

 

Q: The Zamboni looks quite large and heavy. Is driving it as difficult as it looks?

A: It’s actually fairly easy to drive the Zamboni - once you get the hang of it.

The trickier part is getting used to operating the controls for the blade, augers, water and board brush. Especially remembering when to turn them on and off!

 

Q: Do you need a licence to drive a Zamboni?

A: You don’t need a licence to drive the Zamboni but there is quite a lot of training involved.

The quality of our ice is very important to us so we do invest a lot of time in training to make sure our operators do a great job.

 

Q: How many times have you been asked the question: “can I have a go?” while resurfacing the ice?

A: You do get asked quite a lot if people can have a go as it’s a very interesting and unique machine.

However you don’t tend to get asked it while resurfacing as you can’t really hear people over the noise of the Zamboni!

 

Q: What is the Zamboni’s maximum speed?

A: The maximum speed of the Zamboni with the pedal down is 12mph however you’ll rarely ever drive at that speed. The average speed you want to be travelling at to leave a nice surface of ice is between 3-4mph.

 

Q: At what temperature does the ice need to be maintained?

A: We generally have our plant room running to maintain the Ice temperature at around -6.5 degrees, although this does change for example during summer when the air temperature is a lot warmer we lower the plant room temperature to compensate.

 

Q: Do you have a nickname for the Zamboni at Alexandra Palace Ice Rink?

A: The Zam, The Zamborghini

 

Q: What’s your favourite sport and why?

A: I should probably say Ice Skating but alas I lack the coordination and balance!

I’m a big rugby fan - I played a lot when I was younger and tend to go see England at Twickenham every year so I’m very much looking forward to the Rugby World Cup in 2015.

 

Thanks very much for your time David.