By Scott Mammoser, Team FSO contributing writer
Photos courtesy Scott Mammoser
For the first time, U.S. skaters will compete in the Denis Ten Memorial in Astana, Kazakhstan. The ISU Challenger Series event will take place from Oct. 3-6. Starr Andrews, Goku Endo and Daniel Martynov will represent the U.S. in singles. Oona Brown and Gage Brown, along with Isabella Flores and Ivan Desyatov, are the two ice dance teams that will compete for the U.S. This will be the fifth edition of the Memorial, which is named after the late Kazakhstani skater who won the bronze medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Ten was murdered in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2018. 
If Astana isn’t on your short-term “bucket list” of travel destinations, you are not alone. I had no clue what to expect when I wound up there sporadically in late September. Imagine a pristine, futuristic city built nearly from scratch in one Earth’s most remote areas. The planned city took the reins from Almaty as the Kazakh capital in 1997. Since then, its population has grown from about 300,000 at the turn of the century to more than 1.1 million today. The result is a city paralleling the likes of Singapore, Dubai, Doha, and Muscat, with construction cranes lining every inch of the horizon.
Visitors can ascend the Astana-Bayterek Monument for a panoramic view of the business towers, mosques, Ishim River, and endless park space. Head south through the botanical garden to the Nur-Alem Future Energy Museum. Even if your eyes glaze over at the thought of science, the interactive exhibits and colorful scenery will engage your mind. The National Museum will take you back through the prehistoric days, Soviet Era and beyond. It is here where Denis Ten is immortalized with a photo and placard among Kazakhstan’s greatest athletes. While these attractions may look like they cost millions of dollars to build, entrance rates equal three US dollars or less.
In addition, the Khan Shatyr is arguably the most renowned of the shopping malls and sits across the street from the sparkling Astana Opera Theatre. Even though many of these sites are nearing 20 years old, they are so well kept, you will think they opened two weeks ago. Just when you think the outskirts have arrived, another university or sports arena emerges.
As brilliant as the infrastructure is, the people are just as accommodating. When I needed exact change to pay a taxi driver, a stranger paid the tab rather than break my 10,000 tenge bill (about $20 US). When it became apparent that my fruit in the check-out line at the market needed to be weighed, the woman behind me in line sprinted with the fruit back to the produce section with the numbers. The cost for two days of groceries – about five US dollars.
This up-and-coming city is definitely a destination the ISU may want to explore for future
World Championships, Grand Prix Finals or Four Continents Championships. The secret is coming out.
