[8] The winter of 1878–79 was a cold winter; the third coldest on record;[9] during December and January, 21-year-old George "Fish" Smart, a nephew of "Gutta Percha" See and "Turkey" Smart's wife,[10][11][12][13] notched up victories at Welney, Mepal, Ely, Bluntisham, Upwell, Wormegay, Huntingdon, Peterborough, Swavesey and Thorney.

The second championship meeting of the present season was held at Ely on 25 January and was won by Fish Smart, the ninth that year.

National Skating Association was established in 1879[14][15][16][17] by James Drake Digby, a journalist from Cambridge, who, impressed by the Fish Smart, the Champion of the Day at Mepal during the severe frost of 1878, decided to address issues of cheating arising from extensive betting.

[18] The newly formed National Skating Association held their first one-and-a-half-mile British professional championship at Thorney in December 1879.

His reward was a badge, a sash and a cash prize, given as an annual salary in instalments to encourage the champion to "keep himself temperate".

He suffered one defeat in Lancashire when he skated on CarMill Dam against Our Nel's Jack (John Hill) of Billinge, but he had his revenge in a return match at Welney.

In the intervening years there had been some short frosts, but the National Skating Association had not managed to arrange a meeting.

They had taken Fish Smart to Holland for an international race in January 1885, but he was beaten in the first round by Benedict Kingma.