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By
WO2 Roger Phillips
Cairns-based chef and warrant officer caterer at 51FNQR, WO2 Tony
Herrmann, has been chosen to represent Australia at the Ice Art
World Championships, in Belgium this Christmas.
This
prestigious event will see eight European and eight non-European
teams of two ice carvers, creating sculptures from 120-kg blocks
of ice.
Each
team is expected to carve up to six blocks over five hours each
day of the four-day competition.
According
to WO2 Herrmann, the event will be physically challenging.
“Belgium
will be very cold at this time of the year and to carve six blocks
each day of the competition in a five hour period will test everyone’s
stamina,” he said.
The
championships are by invitation only, with a design and team captain’s
resume submitted to the judges to qualify for the competition, which
carries a 10,000 Euro prize.
Ice
carving is popular in the Northern Hemisphere, with Japan, Canada
and the US being the hot favourites at this event and apart from
the Winter Olympics in France and Norway, this is only the second
time that Europe has hosted the World Championships.
WO2
Herrmann will be going to Belgium with Australian champion ice carver
and team captain Glenn Smith, of Melbourne, who has been competing
overseas since 1985.
“It
is quite an honour for me to be chosen by Glenn to accompany him
to the World Ice Art Championships, as the international standard
of the competition will be exceptional.”
Along
with the more modern tools of the ice carver, such as chainsaws,
WO2 Herrmann will be using chisels specially made from recycled
weapons parts as a fitting tribute to his long career in the Australian
Army.
He
joined the Army in 1979 and has served with HQ 7MD, 5/7RAR, SASR,
1RTB, 1RAR, (including time in Somalia) 3RAR, ASC/ALTC before his
current role as WO2 Caterer at 51FNQR.
He
has cooked for some VIPs in his time, including Prime Minister John
Howard, Madonna and Chelsea Clinton and has 120 national medals
for cooking, including 46 gold medals.
Mr
Smith believes that the competition will be tough with at least
two of the sculptures needing to be at the maximum 2.5m high to
be in the running for the prize.
“When
I started competing in 1984, Australian sculptors were a novelty
– now we stand on our own feet as far as standards go,”
he said.
The
Australian team has adopted ‘It’s summer down under’
as the theme for the various ice sculptures, which will include
pieces on surfing and a bushfire scene.
The
ice is specially made for sculpting, with the water kept constantly
moving throughout the freezing process to ensure it is clear.
Each
120-kg block can take up to five days to make.
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