On tour with the stars – ice skater’s vegan catering experience

Mark started competing in 1995 and by 2007 was competing nationally in pairs ice dance.  He’s won medals nationally and also qualified for the European Championships.

After retirement in 2011 he was a regular on UK Tv screens, featuring as a professional on ‘Dancing on Ice’, partnering with celebrities.  He helped them towards three third places and a runner’s up place.

In 2025 he was part of the Torville & Dean tour, a whistle-stop round of UK venues over 30 days.

Vegan

Mark is vegan and while touring he has to make sure his fuel and ethics work together as part of a team where veganism isn’t the norm.

It was important to Mark that this part went right.

“As a competitive figure skater, the competitive programmes are a crazy combination of aerobic and anaerobic stamina” he says. “Juggling both requires hard training up to 5-6 hours per day.” 

Performing repeatedly at different venues ensured the high standards had to maintained.

Luckily the catering did not disappoint.

“I love TV catering but touring catering was next level amazingness” he says. “The company ‘Eat to the Beat’ provided both and the standard was wonderful. If anything I worried how to control my discipline not to eat too much and get overweight! 

“For me being vegan meant nothing was off limits but I have to remember that sugar isn’t good irrespective of it being vegan!”

A camera operator in the tour was also vegan; he gave the catering a healthy “10 out 10” and found it kept his (less demanding) tour on track too.

As part of a dazzling visual show, Mark has to be aware of his physical appearance as well as technical skills.

“Aesthetic look is a massive part of my job. If I don’t look the part, I don’t get the part. So to some extent a likely reduced calorie intake from veganism was always going to be a little helpful. However initially I feared I would loss muscle mass without animal protein. However other documentaries like ‘What The Health’ helped me appreciate that was also a myth.” 

Finding Vegan    

As the tour started, Mark was closing in on ten years vegan.  He had retired from competition and completed three years on ‘Dancing On Ice’ – but was going to complete eight more. He watched the film Cowspiracy.

“After stumbling across that film I was absolutely horrified by what was done to the animals. I had no awareness of the horrors of mass farming and immediately felt I couldn’t be anything other than vegan from that point on.” 

Mark’s wife Kathy was already vegetarian, and his competitive skating partner.

“At the time I’d never considered being vegan” he reflects, although he notes the example he had from these two influences.  “So retrospectively it didn’t make any sense for me not to have done the same. I think I was still of the belief that I needed animal protein for strength.” 

As with thousands of new vegans before him, there were no issues from loss of strength, and he now sees it as a life choice.

“I feel healthier, happier and more at peace being began. Having seen the realities it animal agriculture and also the impact of carnivorous diets on the planet, I can’t see how there’s any justification for anything other than veganism. I’m incredibly grateful to some of the films which educated me on these points and wish more people saw what I’ve seen. I never sought to find them but they found me. Hopefully they’ll find others too!”