On January 23, 2003, Arwe and Lanth brought a skating competition to Isengard. Wizzies were asked to don their favorite pair of skates and hit the ice. Participants were asked two questions per round, one technical and one artistic. The more thought and creativity participants put into their post, the higher the score received from the judges. The judges for the competition were the creators: Lanthir Lamath, the Skating Wizard Extraordinaire, and Arwe Thereyet, Wizard Game Master. There were five preliminary rounds to the competition (Compulsories), a Short Program, and a Long Program.

First Round Questions
If, in all Tolkien’s works, you could make one person not say one thing, which would it be?
What is your Breakfast of Champions?

Second Round Questions
Where would you have inserted yourself into ’The Lord of the Rings’ as a minor character?
Where did you get that big bruise?

Third Round Questions
After the end of the ’War of the Ring’, what is the first thing you would do if you were in charge of the clean-up of Morgul Vale?
Tell us all what music you have chosen to skate your short program to? And your long program? Why?

Fourth Round Questions
If you were an Elf at the end of theThird Age, would you have left Middle-earth? Why?
Describe the costume you are going to wear while skating your programs.

Fifth Round Questions
I have some good news and some bad news. You are a Hobbit. You live in the Shire. Your mother is Lobelia and you’re Lotho’s sibling. What’s your life like?
Tell us all about the pep talk your coach gave you before you came out on the ice?

Short Program Questions
Could LOTR have worked as well set in a more technological age? Do you feel great epics must be set on pastoral, rather than technical worlds?
OH, YAY! Rhyme Time! I have a penchant for Limericks, as some of you may know. Let’s hear yours about skating.
Example:
The skaters are all on the lake,
Hoping for medals to take.
They twirl and they spin;
Finish up with a grin,
And a darned good impression they make.

Long Program Questions
If you were presenting the works ofTolkien to a person who knew nothing of him, what would you say?
The big day is here. Describe it for us, from waking up, to your performance.

Many throughout Middle Earth competed and in the end, awards were given to the top ten participants.

1. Peeg
2. Mirluin
3. Starbreeze
4. Geep
5. Wedgie
6. Lai
7. Luya
8. El
9. Camino
10. Donalwe

The questions brought about amazing answers from the participants, and the competition truly provided members of the plaza the opportunity to exercise their intellect and their imaginations.