'Evening With Champions'

Sitting at a dining hall table in Eliot House Peter Carruthers and Judy Blumberg could be any Harvard students. Peter dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, asks some of the guys around the table if they went out last night to party Judy could pass for any Radcliffe woman though her make-up looks almost professional.

The only clue to the fact that both of them are World Class figure skalers is Peter's jacket, which has the Olympic "USA" letters emblazoned on the back.

Olympic Fame

Peter's face may be more distinctive placed in an Olympic context Carruthers and his sister Kitty stated on the 1980 team, after gaining fame in the another world in 1975 when they won national honors. They placed fourth in the 1980 Olympic pairs competition although most attention went to Americans Tai Babulonia and Randy Gardner With Bronze medals in World Championship competition and Gold medals in the United States, they are America's brightest hope for the 1984 competition.

The Carruthers pair along with Blumberg and her dance skating partner, Michael Scibert however will be a great distance from Sarajevo, Yugoslavia tonight Instead they'll join Harvard skaters and other World class amateurs in Eliot House's "An Evening With Champions," a 12 year-old fundraiser for the Jimmy Fund benefitting the Sidney Farther Institute of Cancer.

The Carruthers have been performing for charities for the last five years, coordinating their workout schedules to fit in their performances. "We like the cause that we're skating for," Peter Carruthers said "We always enjoy the Jimmy Fund show because we know it's going to help little kids with cancer. Also it's nice being here at Harvard so close to home."

Natives of Burlington Mass., the Carruthers began skating when Peter was 11 and Kitty nine years old. "It was a realty big deal then to go sledding in the steels," Peter recalled. "It was also very dangerous, so our dad built us and outdoor skating area. "Now ages 23 and 21 the Carruthers spend at least five hours a day skating, lifting weights and working on flexibility and cardiovascular strength together.

The rigorous training schedule leaves to time for college. "But skating really isn't that different from a school schedule. You wake up and go to classes, come home, read a book, eat and go to sleep," Peter explained. "I wake up skate for four hours, train with our coach, come home, eat, read a book and sleep."

Throw Your Partner

Although pair skating is their strength, the Carruthers have also performed as a dance team, and have competed against Blumberg before. The difference between pairs and dance Blumberg explained, "is that there are more athletic movements in pairs Dance pairs have more limitations in how many lifts they can do There's less throwing the girl around, more dancing and choreography involved.".

Blumberg and Siebert on the 1981 and 1982 U.S. Dance champion, after only four years together as pair. Blumberg also started young--as a birthday party when she was 11 years old. "I think I kept skating because I inside me it was so nothing I wanted to do," she said. They train is Broadmoor Cola., skating from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. because of high demands on ice time.

"It is pretty hand to work on that schedule," Blumberg said But like everything she you get used to it" The dance couple works more on acting and presentation. Seibert and Blumberg do their own choreography with some assistance from an American Ballet members and their coach in London.

Both see a limit to their skating careers, and are already looking forward to alternatives Blumberg has two years of college credit towards a degree in special education, and Seibert wants a career in fashion design, an area he has dabbled in by de signing the pair's costumes. "We both decided that our careers could wait for skating," she said.

The Carruthers, in contrast, are undecided how long they will pursue of skating. "As a pro there are a lot of possibilities. But it takes a lot of work." Peter Carruthers said "I guess it's you like anything else you really want to do badly--a whole lot of blood, sweat and hears. "If you work hard and you're dedicated to it you can really get something out of it."

Tonight, the Bright Hockey Center crowd will get something out of it as well.