Gliding Glaciers

The **Gliding Glaciers** are a white team with light blue and brown swirls and are currently represented by Alpine, Frost, Iceberg, Polar and Sheet. They first appeared in the Marble League 2018 Qualifiers and retired in mid 2018 before returning back for Marble League 2021 Qualifiers. They're the second team to finish on the podium in their first Marble League after coming back from retirement. The team is famous for their roller-coaster season in Marble League 2021 where they started out strong and then fell down the standings quickly before making a huge comeback in the last three events, getting 3rd overall.

The original team, consisted of Glide, Glidy, Glace, Glacie and Glacier, came from the island city of Glidavik. They met while at the University of Snoronto and became rivals with the university's other main team, the Snowballs. The Gliding Glaciers were going to debut in Marble League 2017 Qualifiers, but they were denied the spot. They officially debuted in the Marble League 2018 Qualifiers . Unfortunately, they failed to qualify for Marble League 2018. Despite a third place in the 100 Meter Water Race in the off-season, they withdrew from the Amazing Maze Marble Race and retired.

The current team roster comes from different places around the world, and were all recruited by Glide, the coach of the new roster and Glace became the manager of the team. The team were invited to participate in Herbotamia Invatational and got 2nd, earning a spot by replacing the Jawbreakers in the Marble League 2021 Qualifiers. The team placed 5th in Group A and finished 3rd overall in the main tournament.

## Team Members

Glide, Glidy, Glace, Glacie and Glacier were the original members of the Gliding Glaciers. In 2021, after coming out of retirement, a new team was recruited, with captain Alpine, members Frost, Iceberg, and Polar, alongside reserve Sheet. Alpine became team captain upon the team's return.

### Coaches

Note: Events include any kind of events (friendlies, other tournaments, ...).

## History

### Pre-Marble League

The Gliding Glaciers come from the island city of Glidavik, known for its small population and large glaciers. The four original members, Glide, Glidy, Glace, and Glacie, were friends from childhood and dreamed of going beyond the large glaciers surrounding the city, amplified by stories of adventure taught in school. They all promised that they would follow the dream of adventure and exploring the world for the rest of their lives.

The four ended up attending the University of Snoronto where they met Glacier, a history major from Kebearing, a city to the east of Snoronto. Glacier was also passionate about adventure and exploration through history and quickly joined the friendship group. The passion for adventure led the five to become interested in athletics too. They eventually started to train together at the university gym, where they encountered the Snowballs. The groups did not initially get along, becoming rivals in both academic and athletic competitions.

The Snowballs and the Gliding Glaciers decided to hold tournaments against each other in a variety of winter sports, including bobsled, curling and ice dash. These competitions started to define the university's culture as they were covered by local and regional news stations. The more they competed against each other, the lower the stakes felt to the point where they started to realize they had a lot in common and started to become more acquainted.

News of their competitions started to spread internationally and came to the attention of Jelle Bakker. As the Snowballs were leading the competition at the time, Jelle invited them to compete in Marble League 2016, which they accepted. This led to some awkwardness as the Glaciers felt they were just as good as the Snowballs.

Both the Snowballs and the Gliding Glaciers graduated in Spring 2016, ending their university rivalry. The Glaciers moved to Kebearing. Glacier had been working on an artificial bobsled track for an engineering course and ended up commissioning the construction of the actual track. The Glaciers finalized their design and construction started in the summer. Once completed, they planned to hold a friendly round to celebrate. The team contacted Jelle, who in return offered to sponsor the tournament and also helped contact other teams.

Unfortunately, only the Snowballs were available to contact, and they accepted. As a result, the planned friendly round became yet another part of the rivalry showdown. During the competition, the Gliding Glaciers set a track record of 6.588 seconds, over a second faster than the Snowballs. This was the final of the showdown, and this led to them winning the showdown 3-2.

Following their recent success, the Gliding Glaciers decided to apply for participation in the Marble League 2017 Qualifiers, and Jelle gratefully accepted. Unfortunately, the team's application was denied by the rules committee not long after, due to their uniform being too similar to the uniform of the Jawbreakers. Their place was later given to the Quicksilvers. The Purple Stars (later known as the Indigo Stars from 2019 on) were also to take part in the Qualifiers, but withdrew for an unrelated reason.

### 2018

The Gliding Glaciers were cleared to participate in Marble League 2018 and competed in the Qualifiers. They had hoped to be the hosts of the competition, but the Snowballs were chosen due to the construction of their new stadium, the Arctic Circle. The Glaciers were deliberately placed in a different group from the Jawbreakers to minimize confusion.

Expectations were high for the Gliding Glaciers due to the winter theme of the events, giving them enough confidence to take on the competition. However, the team performed poorly and stayed in last in their Group for the entirety of the Qualifiers, being mathematically eliminated from qualifying before the final event. Without the pressure of qualification, the team managed to finish in fourth in the final event, Halfpipe, but it was already too late for the Glaciers. Throughout the Qualifiers, they did not score a single top three finish out of the four events. They watched Marble League 2018 from the stands.

The Gliding Glaciers competed in two off-season events, the Marble League 2018 Consolation Race and the 100 Meter Water Race. In the latter, the team, represented by Glide, surprised most of their opponents by overcoming them and finishing third, behind the Jungle Jumpers and the Limers. It was the highest point of the team's professional sports career ever. However, Glide came away feeling conflicted after their unexpected success. Much like the rest of the team, Glide began to feel that the five would be better off sailing oceans and climbing mountains instead of competing in marble sports.

During the Amazing Maze Marble Race, it was announced that the Gliding Glaciers had retired and would thus not participate in the Marble League 2019 Qualifiers. Reporters and sports observers attempted to contact the team, only to find out that they had disbanded. The five former members set off on an adventure to explore the entirety of their home island. They climbed to the top of one of the glaciers and watched the sun rise. They then raced down the slopes in bobsleds, thrilled by the feeling of truly enjoying their lives away from the stress of the competition.

### 2019-2020

Despite having disbanded, the Gliding Glaciers had not ruled out a return to marble sports. They joined the acclaimed travel company Atlas Marbura in early 2019 and lead the northernmost branch in Glidavik, writing travel guides. They also worked with the JMRC in 2020 to help Stynth travel across Marblearth. Also in 2020, they were contacted by the JMRC for their artificial bobsled track designs. The JMRC requested the design for the purpose of the Marble League Winter Special. The Glaciers sent the plans to them free of charge.

### 2021

Candy, the captain of the Jawbreakers, called up Glide shortly after the Marble League Winter Special. The team was planning on retiring and wanted to inform the Glaciers of the news first due to the Glacier's original rejection. Glide thanked Candy for the opportunity to take their place but declined. Glide later had an idea to recruit a new team to compete in their name. Glide told the rest of the team and they all supported the decision, with Glacie offering their home in Glidavik as a place for the new members to stay.

Glide traveled across Marblearth looking for new members to reform the Gliding Glaciers. The first member Glide recruited was Alpine from Old Zeldan, an island off the coast of Oceania, who was competing in The Bourne Network for the Foresters and was later made the captain of the team. The second member was Frost from Vanillsinki who was competing in the Marble Sports Games in Philamarblia for the Valiant Vanillas. The third member was Polar from Marblyland who was competing for the Orcas. The fourth member was Iceberg from Bermenghank who was competing in the Marble Games for the Icebergs. The fifth and final member was Sheet from Sheetersburg. When Glide returned to Glidavik with the team, Glace offered to become manager of the team.

The team was invited by the Minty Maniacs to participate in the Herbotamia Invitational to test out the new team. The Glaciers started with a bronze medal in Balancing followed by a gold medal in the Funnel Race for Frost, a silver medal in the Sprint for Sheet and a second silver in Collision. The Glaciers finished in the mid-pack for the final event, a lap race around Minty Mania, and finished in second overall behind the Solar Flares and ahead of the Yarble Yellers. While on the podium, a disguised marble appeared and revealed themselves to be Jelle Bakker. Jelle offered the top two teams a place in the Marble League 2021 Qualifiers to replace the Jawbreakers and the Hornets, which they both accepted.

#### Marble League 2021

The Gliding Glaciers were placed in Group A in the Marble League 2021 Qualifiers, the same group as their rivals, the Snowballs. The two teams were put in the same heat in the first event, the Swing Wave and Gliding Glaciers managed to beat the Snowballs and finished the event in fourth. A seventh-place-finish and an eighth-place-finish in Funnel Endurance and the 5 Meter Relay respectively dropped the team down to eighth, four points away from the qualifying zone. They decided to send their team captain, Alpine into the final event, the Sand Rally. Alpine took the lead immediately and held it for a good chunk of the race, but later dropped to third. Before the end of the race, Alpine was able to rise to second where they finished. This was enough for them to qualify, finishing fifth in this group, while their rivals, the Snowballs, failed to qualify.

The Gliding Glaciers had a a decent start to Marble League 2021, finishing fifth in their first two events in the Marble League, the Swing Wave and Balancing. Iceberg then won a bronze medal in the 5 Meter Sprint, their first podium in the Marble League. At this point the team was in second in the standings, tying Team Momo and placed second because of a tiebreaker. Many compared their consistency to Team Galactic in Marble League 2020. However, it went downhill from there. Frost participated in the next event, Funnel Endurance, finishing sixth in the first heat, and was eliminated, finishing tenth overall. Two more 15th place finishes in the 5 Meter Relay and Jousting, followed by a DNF in the 5 Meter Hurdles, caused the team to fall from second overall to 14th just before the halfway mark.

The competition started to improve again for the Glaciers with a second bronze medal in Event 8, Block Pushing, taking them to 13th overall. This was followed by a string of top half finishes in three of the next five events, but this was not enough to lift the team out of 13th overall. At the Sand Rally, however, their captain Alpine got silver in a four-way photo finish, getting their third medal in the Marble League, lifting them up to 11th overall. At Football, things went even better, as the team managed to beat all odds and won their first ever gold medal, propelling them even further up into fifth overall. In the final event, the Marblocross, they were once as far down as tenth in the standings, but managed to finish in sixth which was enough to get them third in the overall standings, auto-qualifying them for Marble League 2022.

### 2022

#### Marbula One Season 3

Following their successful comeback season in the Marble League, the Gliding Glaciers were invited to compete in Marbula One Season 3. They accepted, and Alpine "Mountain Climber" and Iceberg "Cool Runner" were chosen to represent the team.

Alpine began the team's debut season by finishing 11th in the first race, Tumult Turnpike Grand Prix. At the next Grand Prix, they were the hosts at their very own track, Sleet Street, where Iceberg placed 14th. Following these races were more midtable results with a 14th and 8th in the next two races respectively. After four Grand Prix's, the Gliding Glaciers were sitting in 17th. At the Mellow Meadows Grand Prix, things turned for the worst when Alpine qualified in 18th for the race. Despite this, they managed to climb up twelve spots in the race as well as claiming fastest lap for a bonus point. Iceberg ended the first half with another top ten finish in eighth to let the team jump up another two spots as they rised up five positions in two races. At the end of the first half, the Gliding Glaciers were in 12th, with both Alpine and Iceberg just outside the top half for the Team's Championship. They were one of only two teams that scored in all six races, alongside Team Momo.

After a short break, Iceberg raced yet again at the Momotorway Grand Prix and just missed out on Q2 by 0.024 seconds. They weren't phased by this though and gained a position in the race for another top half finish for the team. Unfortunately, Alpine could not keep up the momentum at the Stardust Accelerator Grand Prix and the team had their first scoreless race of the season. After the race, the team found themselves back into 17th. Nonetheless, Alpine redeemed themselves the next race, Short Circuit Grand Prix, and qualified in second just behind the Marbula One veteran Speedy from the Savage Speeders, and snatched two extra bonus points before the race. After the first lap, they took the lead but just couldn't hold it and finish with another 10th place. After a mid-table performance at the Electron Expressway, the Gliding Glaciers couldn't win either the Team or Individual Championship. Iceberg, though, still wanted to finish with some light and by lap 3 of the Midnight Bay Grand Prix had taken the lead as the Gliding Glaciers had done for the second time all season. Unlike their teammate, Iceberg managed to keep first place most of the race and only lost it at the end of the tunnel section on the final lap by Mimo of Team Momo. The team though, surged up to 10th from down in eighteenth which gave them a small boost heading into the closing race at the Mirage Meowntain Grand Prix. Alpine ended in 11th to cap off the Gliding Glaciers' season and they remained in 10th. Iceberg and Alpine ended their season's in 16th and 29th respectively.

#### Marble League 2022

After Marbula One Season 3 concluded, the Gliding Glaciers began to prepare for Marble League 2022. As they had auto-qualified, the Gliding Glaciers instead participated in the Marble League 2022 Friendly Round with Mellow Yellow, the Raspberry Racers, and the Green Ducks who were the other auto-qualified teams. They finished third in all but one event, a first by Sheet in the 5 Meter Hurdles and ended third overall.

The Gliding Glaciers started off their second Marble League appearance with a mid-pack finish in ninth for Climbing. They managed to improve on this in the next event, Balancing, and capture 4th place. Sheet, the reserve, then gave the team their first medal of the year when once again showed off their expertise and came away with a bronze in the 5 Meter Hurdles. They once again just missed the podium in the Water Race when Polar finished in 4th, but were nonetheless having a great start to the league. After the first four events, the Gliding Glaciers were sitting in 5th in the standings. Sadly, just like the 2021 Marble League, they could not keep up the forward momentum and ended up in the bottom half in the next five events including a 16th place by captain Alpine in the Funnel Endurance. These lackluster results dropped them down to 10th overall after Event 9.

Coming into Event 10, they began to recover when Frost gained a silver medal in the Triathlon as well as 5th place for the team in Swing Wave to put the team back into the top half. Unfortunately, more inconsistency plagued the team as they found themselves back into 10th after Domino Bowling. Other than a fourth place and third near miss of the podium in the Sand Rally by Alpine, the Gliding Glaciers could not recoup again like the previous year and stayed in 10th position for the rest of the league.

During the offseason, the Gliding Glaciers were invited to participate in the Xmas Marble Race located in Hailfern with all the other 31 active teams. They were a favorite to do well due to their history in competing in snow and sent out Polar to represent them. They managed to make it to the semifinals before coming 7th in Semifinal B and ended in 14th overall.

### Marbula One Season 4

Due to a decent performance last season, the Gliding Glaciers were invited back to Marbula One to compete in Marbula One Season 4. They swapped out team captain Alpine with silver medalist Frost from the Triathlon hoping the change would be beneficial to the team.

The Razzway Grand Prix was the first GP of the year and they sent out Iceberg who claimed 14th after qualifying in 19th. They followed that up with two sixth places, cementing the team in eight after three events. In Greenstone Grand Prix, Frost had a below average race placing 14th, earning two points. In Tumult Turnpike Grand Prix, Iceberg got tenth, ending a very average first half. They're currently in eleventh, sixty-one points behind first place Savage Speeders.

In Grand Prix six and Grand Prix seven, they totaled 14 points. But what was even worse, was that they scored 0 points in the next two Grands Prix. With one event to go, they needed a good finish to end it off, and at Casino Square, Frost got sixth, putting the team in 12th. It was a bad season for the team, but their sights were set on the upcoming season of the Marble League.

### Marble League 2023

The Gliding Glaciers were sorted into Group A with their rivals the Snowballs. And had a poor start to the qualifiers but got back-to-back golds in the last two events and finished second in their group and qualified.

The Gliding Glaciers had a bad start to Marble League 2023 by getting the worst time in the Honeycomb Pursuit, luckily their rivals the Snowballs got disqualified which led them getting 15th. The team did better in the next next, the Steeplechase where the team got 4th, boosting them up to tenth place in the Standings. In the third event, 5 Meter Hurdles, they chose Sheet to go in, he placed seventh in the event. Making the team move up one spot to 9th. Block Pushing was next, they placed 9th, and fell to 11th in the Standings, 39 points behind the Savage Speeders in first. Event 5 and 6 was terrible for the Glaciers, getting 11th and 13th, only earning 8 points out of those two events, leaving in 13th, with a lot of work to do. Sheet was elected again to do another individual event, the Funnel Endurance. Glide made a great decision, as Sheet won the Heats and got a bronze medal for the team. Leading the team to 10th, only up three spots, which was very disappointing for the team. So they had to keep the good run up in Event 8, Balancing. Unfortunately, they couldn't keep up the medalling performances and finished in 7th. They were in 11th at the halfway point of Marble League 2023.

Event 9 came around and Frost was put in to race. It was tight between him and Orangin, but after reviewing the footage, Orangin was in front by 0.01 seconds. The JMA looked over it several times. Fortunately, Frost was the best of the rest, so he took ninth, keeping the team in 11th overall.

Unfortunately the next two events did not go well for the Glaciers, a 12th place finish in the 5 Meter Relay and a 14th place finish in the Maze Run, the Glaciers missed the podium in the Legion March Wave, finishing in 4th behind the Rojo Rollers, Unfortunately the team's poor performance continued with Iceberg getting eliminated in the 3rd round after getting hit by a ball bearing, the team fell down to 15th after Team Plasma won a silver medal in that event, three points ahead of the Thunderbolts. The Gliding Glaciers did not perform well in the next event, the G-Force Endurance, where they only finished 14th, and the Glaciers were now in last place overall and were mathematically eliminated from winning Marble League 2023. Luckily Team Captain Alpine did well in the Sand Rally event where they finished 4th, tying the Shining Swarm in points. Frost did well in the final event, the Honeydome GP where they finished 8th which was enough for the Glaciers to escape last place by one point ahead of Team Plasma, and were announced as Marble League 2024 hosts after the closing ceremony.

### Qualifiers

The Gliding Glaciers failed to qualify for Marble League 2018. They competed in Group B.

## Other 2018 Competitions

The Gliding Glaciers took part in two other competitions in 2018: the Marble League 2018 Consolation Race and the 100 Meter Water Race.

### Qualifiers

The Gliding Glaciers competed in Group A. They qualified for Marble League 2021.

### Main Tournament

The team finished third in this tournament with 153 points, winning one gold, one silver, and two bronzes.

## Marbula One Season 3

*Main article: Marbula One Season 3*
The Gliding Glaciers took part in Marbula One Season 3, represented by Alpine and Iceberg.

\* 1 bonus point for fastest lap.
\*\* 2 bonus points for Second Position.

## Marble League 2022

*Main article: Marble League 2022*
The Gliding Glaciers automatically qualified for Marble League 2022 due to their third place finish in Marble League 2021.

## Marbula One Season 4

*Main article: Marbula One Season 4*
The Gliding Glaciers took part in Marbula One Season 4, represented by Frost and Iceberg.

### Qualifiers

The Gliding Glaciers competed in Group A. They qualified for Marble League 2023.

## Team Members' Individual Scores

### Marbula One

 Frost | M1S4 | O'raceway GP (S4)Greenstone GP (S4)Sleet Street GP (S4)Electron Expressway GP (S4)Casino Square GP (S4)
 Iceberg | M1S3M1S4 | Sleet Street GP (S3)O'raceway GP (S3)Honeydome GP (S3)Momotorway GP (S3)Electron Expressway GP (S3)Midnight Bay GP (S3)Razzway GP (S4)Sakura Garden GP (S4)Tumult Turnpike GP (S4)Mist Mountain GP (S4)Stardust Accelerator GP (S4)

## Trivia

* The Gliding Glaciers are the second team to have a coach who has been on the team before.
	+ They are also the second team to have a manager who has been on the team before.
* The Gliding Glaciers are the second team to finish on the podium in their first Marble League after coming back from retirement, following the Minty Maniacs.
* They are the only team to finish on the podium in one Marble League despite getting bottom three placements in three consecutive events.
	+ They are also the first team to be in the top three of the standings at the start of the season and drop to the bottom three before rising back to the top three in the standings in one Marble League, achieving it in Marble League 2021 along with the eventual winners of that season, Mellow Yellow.

## Gallery

Team Profile 2021Team Profile 2022Marble League 2021 Team ProfileMarbula One (S3) PosterMarbula One (S4) PosterAlpine, the captain of the teamGlide, former team member and current coach of the Gliding Glaciers.The team on the podium after getting 3rd in Marble League 2021The fans of the Gliding Glaciers during Marble League 2021
## External Links

* Gliding Glaciers on the JMR Website
* Gliding Glaciers RetRollSpective

## References

1. ↑ Stynth, The Emperor (12th October 2021). RetRollSpective – Snowballs. Project Marblearth.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Stynth, The Emperor (30th June 2021). RetRollSpective – Gliding Glaciers. Project Marblearth.
3. ↑ Skystrykr (2nd January 2019). The teams not participating in 2019 MarbleLympics Qualifiers.. Reddit.
4. ↑ NordiqueWhaler (30th June 2021). Marbula One Season 2 / Pre-Marble League 2021 Offseason Moments – Part 2. Project Marblearth.