About
Rich@TheRink - My Story
Hi! Welcome to my store. My name is Rich Andrews (also known as Rich@TheRink). I love ice skating and have been on the ice since around 1991 - as far as I can remember, I was so young!
Starting just skating, taking lessons, hanging out with my friends - just wasn't enough for me. At some point in the long distant past, I worked at Chelmsford's Riverside Ice and Leisure as casual staff, taking part in various maintenance activities as well as tending skate hire and ice stewarding.
Sadly, a serious accident on the ice, the injury of which still plagues me to this day, looked to be the end of my skating days, and also put an end to my work at the ice rink too. These were dark days.
Some years later, after some physiotherapy to try to correct mobility issues, coinciding with the opening of Cambridge Ice Arena, I started to build back my love of skating, and in particular my love of the science and engineering behind ice skating was rekindled - with a Masters in Engineering I suppose it was inevitable.
It wasn't long before I got a casual job at Cambridge Ice Arena; general ice assistance to start, but eventually cutting the ice, sharpening skates and most importantly for me, coaching ice hockey with the GLL Learn to Play program (and later on to team coach)!
It was obvious that the UK Ice Skating industry is, in general, lacking experts, with skaters often needing to travel many miles for specialist services, and with many other services performed by consumer grade, automated machines that had a very poor output quality.
It was this fact that caused me to look into how I could give back to the skating community and general public, to advance and promote the sport.
Rich@TheRink - The Launch
Rich@TheRink was founded off the back of my work at the ice arena, particularly skate sharpening, with one simple aim: To support and nurture all types of ice-skating discipline, using knowledge, experience, and an engineering mindset to really understanding skating technology.
What started as an agreement to help with the arena's public skate sharpening, and provide a couple of additional services through my own business, quickly turned into a full skate maintenance service, including specialist maintenance and repair services for ice hockey and figure skates not readily found anywhere else in the UK.
In addition, the engineering background that I've brought to the job has led to development of a few key pieces of equipment that ensure the most accurate maintenance on the market - down to within 0.05mm (less than the width of a human hair).
When a local retailer selling ice skates stopped trading customers would ask me to fill the gap, and so in 2024 the retail side of the business started.
I've also started a Community Marketplace initiative, specifically aimed at Cambridge Ice Skaters to build confidence in 2nd hand items.
More to come
My aim is still to provide the most comprehensive service to ice skaters. Eventually I hope to open a full retail shop premises (beyond my existing workshop and fitting room). Sadly the cost of this makes it a long term goal - but you can help! Simply use my services, or buy items from this shop. All sales help bring a full ice-skating superstore to Cambridge.
If you have any questions I'm easy to contact, though please note as popularity has grown it can often take me some time to get back to you!