All Up For Grabs in Norfolk

All England Championships
Norwich
4th & 5th September 2010

With the hill at Norfolk ’s magnificent artificial ski facility absolutely swamped with racers looking for the perfect line during a hectic course inspection period it was clear that this was no ordinary day.

Indeed with over 200 athletes primed to do battle down a brace of championship testers on a bright and sunny September Saturday, even as early as course inspection it was clear that the athletes were going to provide the lucky spectators with a battle royale. Snowsport England ’s premier summer event, the All England Championships, was up for grabs and a substantial number of racers had genuine designs on lifting the old trophy.

In the ladies race Chatham starlet Emily Evans stamped an immediate authority upon the rest of the field with the arguable exceptions of elder sister Charlotte and Gloucester ’s zero pointed Charlotte Davies. Denied victory last summer by a mere 0.13s Evans always looked odds on to go one place better this year right from the moment she put her foot on the accelerator during the opening gates of Richard Breese’s first course challenge.

The afternoon proved a markedly similar story with Evans again proving to be the class act of the field, negotiating Sally Bartlett’s second run twister like a hot knife cutting through sun softened butter. Indeed with elder sibling Charlotte producing an equally impressive 2nd run and mid-point second placed Charlotte Davies perishing over the final throes of Bartlett ’s course the event not only had a new winner but had produced a Chatham and sisterly 1-2.

Elsewhere Charlotte Gould’s impressive season continued with a fully deserved 3rd place overall, whilst Alice Hales took full advantage of 2nd run mistakes elsewhere to leapfrog into 4th with Alex Bullock claiming an excellent 5th.

In the male event, home town racer Shaun Blythe looked likely to spring a real surprise after impressively negotiating run 1 with an outstanding effort that was bettered only by senior warhorse David Hatcher. And with eight or nine racers all within striking distance of leader Hatcher after the morning skirmishes the afternoon event always looked likely to be a case of do or die. Nail it and you were in with a chance, ski it safe and any chance of victory would be long gone.

As the race came to its climax and each of the top ten males left the gate to begin their challenge it became fairly evident that good course inspection and even better technique was likely to prove decisive. Indeed, as others tried and failed an old name emerged from the chasing pack and leapt to the fore as Nick Robinson, Grand Prix winner at the very same slope only 15 months earlier, applied every ounce of his superb technique to break out of the pack and stake an early claim to the title.

This, however, was a claim that Andrew Davies quickly proved capable of bettering. One of the stars of the 2010 Grand Prix series Davies continued where he concluded the GP series with another fine display of strength and technique that whilst it wasn’t quite as quick as Robinson it was still enough to nudge the Cardiff athlete into the lead.

A lead that was somewhat short lived as Davies’s Cardiff team mate and 2010 zero pointer Andrew Watson again reproduced the form he’s shown for a quite a while, finding a couple of tenths on Davies and snatching the lead with only Blythe and Hatcher left to race. Blythe’s impressive challenge faltered on Norfolk ’s weight shifting ridge and then Hatcher followed suit, the edge of his pants racer pushing his luck an ounce or two too far on the very same ridge and perishing into DNF territory. Blythe, however, at least managed to recover enough to ensure his name and fantastic first run time would be added to the final result.

In the categories Yasmin Cooper & Brandon Matthews triumphed in Children 1 whilst Antonia Pretty and Brodie Goddard-Jones ended victorious in Children 2. Emily Evans and James Grant proved too good for the rest of their piers in Junior 1 with Charlotte Evans and Andrew Watson prevailing in Junior 2. In the seniors Emily Goddard and James Greenwood took the honours whilst Carrie Walsh and Rob Hales won their respective Masters categories.

The successful switching of the minis race from an end of event space filler to a middle of the day spectacle provided our youngest racers with an event that their commitment and talents fully deserve.

Olivia Mitchell proved too good for the rest of the girls posting an aggregate time that was a full second quicker than runner up Grace Williams and Olivia Ward in 3rd.

In the male event Kristofer Berglindarson dominated proceedings producing a combined time that was almost a second and a half in front of runner up Ryan Llywarch and third placed Merrick Southall.

The day however no only belonged to winners Watson and Evans but also to the sport of dry slope summer racing. The Norfolk facility provides the event organisers with the perfect opportunity to showcase the sport and the talent within it to wonderful effect and with a start list brimming in both numbers and talent Evans and Watson can look back in the future and be sure that their victories were fully deserved.

Those who predict a rapid death to outdoor racing may need to rethink.

Ryding & Flahive Dominate

Snowsport England Aosta Valley Grand Prix Series
Round 5 ‐ ERSA GP, Hemel
25th July, 2010

So seven days after Sunderland played host to the penultimate round of the 2010 Snowsport England Grand Prix Series sponsored by Aosta Valley the somewhat plush and sparkling new Hemel Snow Centre welcomed racers to the fifth and final event.

With a sizeable start list only moderately effected by the fact that this was the first weekend of the main Summer holiday fortnight it was evident that many racers still had high hopes of ensuring that it was their name that would end up on top of the overall or category standings. Indeed with the balance of the 2010 series offering real opportunities for both outdoor & indoor racers to compete at the top end of the standings it was good to see a sizeable number of dendix based racers crossing over and getting a bit of snow on their boot buckles.

As with this Summer’s Chill Factor event however the ladies race was again completely dominated by Joanna Ryding. With her racing activities no longer encompassing dendix she probably never have harboured any serious hopes of recapturing her overall series crown but the margin of this and her previous summer victory continue to confirm her as the female athlete to beat in British summer ski racing. In Bethany Widdup and Jemima Barnes, Ryding found her fiercest rivals but in truth these two athletes were at least as focussed in ensuring that Yasmin Cooper didn’t improve further on a highly impressive 4th place overall as they ever were on overturning Ryding’s advatage.

In the male event Gerard Flahive’s overall victory, whilst being nowhere near as comfortable as Ryding’s, was no less impressive. In shading senior racers James Greenwood & James Knock on both John Riedy’s morning and Benn Hall’s afternoon courses Flahive looked very much the part on his home hill. And whilst the top twelve placed racers all managed to get within one second of Flahive’s overall winning time the fact that the Hemel racer posted the fastest times on both courses merely served to reaffirm Flahive’s control of both his skis and the event.

In the categories Luke Seymore’s superb second run elevated the SASA racer onto the top step of the Chi 2 male podium and whilst a top 20 overall position wasn’t as eye-catching as Chi 1 female victor Yasmin Cooper it was no less of an impressive achievement. In Chi 1 boys Joshua Penning-Lambert claimed the honours, as did Emma Peters in the female Chi 2 category. Elsewhere Beth Widdup and Samual Fairbarn earned wins in the Junior 1 category as did Alice Hales and Flahive in Junior 2. In the seniors James Greenwood and Jo Ryding proved too good for their compatriots as did Rob Hales and Lucy Newman in the masters.

The real winner again though was the Grand Prix series itself. In employing a smart combination of relatively young former racers and experienced old hands the five race series has continually posed the competitors with tough but rewarding challenges. The balanced blend of indoor & outdoor racing kept all parties involved right up until the final racers completed the final Hemel run and with a fantastic array of emotions – smiles, tears, effort and cheers – it appeared that the racers also appreciated the opportunities and challenges that the series offered.

After a short summer recess Norfolk’s mighty impressive facility plays host to the 2010 All England Championships over the first weekend in September. As one of - if not - the key calendar event the only certainty will be that, like the GP series, the event winners will be from the very top drawer. Make sure you don’t miss it.

By the sea, it’s a Telford 1-2-3

Snowsport England Aosta Valley Grand Prix Series
Round 4 - NESA GP, Sunderland
18th July, 2010
 I guess that as a course setter there can be few slopes in Britain that offer the potential to truly test racers more than the multi tiered contours of dendix that make up the main hill at Sunderland’s ski centre.

Indeed in combining a bit of local knowledge with inventive and demanding gate placements the Grand Prix courses set at Sunderland have a long tradition of moving racers forwards, backwards and generally out of their comfort zone. Genuinely testing courses that demand the racers blend brains with brawn and talent, courses that consistently produce overall winners of the highest calibre.

Round Four of the 2010 Snowsport England Grand Prix Series sponsored by Aosta Valley was no different. Amid the very greyest of skies and a blustery North Sea wind Craig Ruddock’s 16 gate challenge proved to be every bit as testing as course inspection suggested. With turns required on the underside of each of the slope’s four tier drops and a final flourish requiring quick feet and even faster thinking it was no surprise to see a fair percentage of the field fail to make it to 2nd run course inspection.

Of those who did complete Ruddock’s first run belter no-one dealt with the challenge better than senior racer David Hatcher, who in carving out an enormous lead of 0.6s left the male field in no doubt that their afternoon run was all about chasing 2nd place. Indeed with Charlotte Gould compiling a similar advantage over her compatriots the rest of the ladies field faced a somewhat similar afternoon challenge. Barring an unlikely mistake, fall or dnf we had almost certainly found our race winners before lunch time.

Clearly athletes of the calibre of Daniel Curtis, Andrew Davies, Charlotte Shrimpton and Alex Bullock would set out down Pierre Mahon’s 17 gate maze of blindingly fast foot movement looking to overturn the leaders but in truth their main focus was to retain the podium positions they’d established during the morning event.

In the ladies race the Team Telford trio of Bullock, Shrimpton and Gould metaphorically threw everything they had at each other in search of a weakness but in all finishing within 0.02s of each other all they actually managed to achieve was to create an impressive amount of daylight between themselves and the rest of the field and a status quo amongst each other.

And whilst the 2nd run of the male race was a less closely fought affair the final result followed a similar vein as Davies and Curtis extended their lead but were unable to challenge or even cut into Hatcher’s lead.

In the categories Vivien Hanson & Claude Farren claimed the honours for the masters whilst Emily Goddard matched David Hatcher’s win in the seniors. In the Junior categories Harry Rymell joined Daniel Curtis, Charlotte Gould and Charlotte Shrimpton as victors, with Chris Yates, Declan Huppach, Emma Peters and Francesca Lee claiming victories in the children’s categories.

The day however very much belonged to Hatcher, Gould and the Telford Club that in filling the overall podium in the ladies event represented quite an achievement for a club based on 70 odd metres of dendix.

Next Sunday the series reverts back under the roof and snow blowers as the Hemel Ski Centre plays host to the final event of the 2010 series. With many categories and the overall series still up for grabs there is no doubt that the fight will go on right until the final racer crosses the line. Miss it at your peril.

What More Could You Want?

Snowsport England Aosta Valley Grand Prix Series
Round 3 - WMSA GP, Chill Factor
20th June, 2010

So after an eventful and somewhat traditionally chilly Pendle round of the Snowsport England Grand Prix series the racers moved a few miles south and what felt like a few degrees warmer into the UK’s finest refrigerator, better known to most of us as Chill Factor.

As ever, the Manchester slope had been prepared in perfect condition for ski racing, hard enough to provide racers wearing later bib numbers with a course that hadn’t rutted whilst not degenerating into ice rink conditions that would have made those same later bib numbers feel like they were more involved in a lottery than a ski race. Chill Factor’s reputation for being the best racing slope in the UK isn’t misplaced.

On the hill an impressively substantial field gathered to fight out the third round of this year’s Aosta Valley sponsored series. Indeed with the Manchester location and indoor setting attracting a good contingent of racers from the other side of Hadrian’s Wall and the challenge of two fantastically flowing courses set by Benn Hall and Dave Ryding the only certainty of the day was that the overall winners would be of the very highest calibre

And so it proved.

However despite the influx of visiting challengers it was the home club who dominated proceedings as Chill Factor’s Joanna Ryding brushed aside the rest of the field to claim her latest Grand Prix victory. In opening up a substantial gap after run 1 and then doubling it on run 2 Ryding recorded her 14th Grand Prix overall victory and extended her summer racing winning streak to an impressive 19 races, a run that goes back as far as Sept 2005.

In Emily Whitelock and Beth Widdup, both co-Chill Factor team mates, Ryding found her strongest competition. In edging out her younger counterpart by 0.3 seconds on run 1 Whitelock further extended her advantage by an additional 0.2 on run 2 to comfortably and deservedly claim the runners up spot. For Widdup however, this was an impressive step up in class and with such an impressive display now behind her she has confirmed herself as a serious challenger for future Grand Prix honours.

In the male field, whilst the Chill Factor club didn’t dominate to the same extent as in the ladies they still managed to claim the name of the winner as Brad Morgan followed Jo Ryding’s lead and brushed aside all challengers. With a half second advantage after run 1 Morgan launched his imposing frame down through David Ryding’s wonderfully flowing challenge and carved another half second gap to complete what ended up as an impressive and somewhat straightforward victory.

Callum Henderson and Scott McWhirter proved to be Morgan’s biggest challengers. In the earlier run Henderson’s time marginally eclipsed his fellow countryman’s effort but the Glasgow Ski Racing athlete hit back in run two to inch in front of Henderson and claim the runner up spot in the overall standings.

In the categories Kerry Turnock proved to be the best of the ladies masters and joined Ryding (seniors) Whitelock (jun 2) and Widdup (jun 1) on the top step of the podium. Kelly Greenbank’s 7th overall proved too good for the rest of the children 2 field whilst Megan Jenkins’s fabulous 5th place overall was more than enough to prove decisive over the rest of the children 1 competitors.

In the male categories Andrew Hjort claimed 1st place in the masters category whilst Henderson and Morgan followed suit in the Senior and Jun 2 categories respectively. In Jun 1 Eliya Beelaert-Rubin impressive 5th place proved more than enough with Dan Poth and Matt Davies claiming the spoils in the children categories.

As the prize giving ceremony completed however it was clear that both the sport and the host venue also had reasons to celebrate. The magnificent facility never fails to deliver top rate racing conditions and in attracting such a substantial field of high quality athletes both the sport and the Grand Prix series can see that the long term future is extremely positive.

A superb venue, a fantastic event and two magnificent winners - what more could you want?

Thrills, Spills and Skills

Snowsport England Aosta Valley Grand Prix Series
Round 2 - NWSF GP, Pendle
30th May, 2010

Sabden Hill, historically the home of the Pendle witches but now at least equally as famous for the feats and achievements of the ski team that have shared the famous hill for the past forty odd years. And with fantastic views and scenery, rain & cloud permitting, that spans the Ribble Valley and beyond it isn’t just the skiing that takes your breath away.

With round 2 of the 2010 Snowsport England Grand Prix Series sponsored by Aosta Valley arriving on a clear but blustery late spring, the views - albeit stunning - had to play second fiddle to the thrills, spills and skills on show on Pendle’s famous rolling green dendix carpet.

The ladies race featured a three way tussle at the halfway stage as Telford racer Charlotte Gould’s sterling first effort opened up a gap of 0.1 seconds to 2nd placed Sarah Lambden with her co-Gloucester racer Emily Goddard an additional 0.1 seconds back in 3rd.

Goddard’s solid second run, expertly negotiating Carl Ryding’s forest of wind resisting short, tight turns suggested that her rivals would have to up their game in order to resist their more experienced rival. Lambden followed and after initially suggesting she was capable of at least matching Goddard’s time perished on Pendle’s 3rd roller leaving Gould as the sole competitor between Goddard and GP victory. Could Charlotte go where she’d never been before and snatch her first ever GP triumph?

Well if there was any doubt in anyone’s mind it certainly wasn’t in the head of the diminutive Telford racer. Right from her exiting of the start gate Gould looked a class above her rivals and blitzed Ryding’s challenge without a hint of an error and promptly claimed a first GP victory. Make no mistake, this was a classy performance fully deserving the victory.

The men’s race was a far less clean cut affair however with Hemel’s Gerard Flahive proving very much to be the comeback kid. In overturning a massive near half second deficit after the first run Flahive not only claimed the win but also generated an impressive amount of daylight behind himself and runner up Andrew Watson. Having played Russian roulette against the blustery wind in the run 1 start gate Flahive caught a most brutal burst on Pendle’s second roller and with his speed wiped out he completed much of run 1 in damage limitation mode. In applying the old mantle of whilst you can’t win a race on run one you can certainly lose it Flahive’s race experience and maturity kept him in a race that many others would have given up on.

So in run 2, where conditions favoured him much more that first run leader Andrew Watson and 2nd placed Sam Stephens, Flahive literally made hay whilst the sun shone laying down a fabulous sub 14 second run that none of his rivals – 4th placed William Deakin aside - could get anywhere near to. Watson’s wind restricted second run proved good enough to claim the runners up spot with Cardiff team mate Sam Stephens following suit to claim 3rd overall.

In the categories Andrew Hjort (masters), Timothy Nichol (seniors), James Grant (jun 1), Thomas Grant (chi 2) and Brandon Matthews (chi 1) joined Flahive on the top step of the male podium. In the ladies categories Beverley Anderson (masters), Emily Goddard (seniors), Stephanie Davies (jun 1), Georgia Hallett (chi 2) and Francesca Lee (chi 1) matched Charlotte Gould (jun 2) in victory.

The series now moves a few miles south and for parents at least a few degrees warmer as on Sunday June 20th the indoor facility at Chill Factor in Manchester plays host to round 3. Again, if the racing is anywhere near as good and exciting as the Pendle round was then it’s an event not to be missed.

Pendle Duo Dominate

British Indoor Championships
Chill Factor, Manchester
Sunday 25th April, 2010
 With snow hardly having time to defrost from ski boots, plenty of goggle marked faces on show and stories of Meribel triumphs still very much to the fore the British ski circus snapped closed its boot buckles, clicked into its bindings and headed to Manchester for the first big event of a new summer season.

With Chill Factore - Britain’s biggest and best indoor slope - hosting the event, the snow in prime racing condition and ski legs still full of Alpine training there was never going to be any need for excuses. The first championship shoot out of 2010 was upon us. Indeed with race full signs posted and a number of home nation selected athletes in attendance the eventual winners could be sure that they’d prevailed in a race loaded with both quality and depth.

The male race proved to be a two way shoot out between home racer Brad Morgan and Hemel’s Matt Thompson. Following the completion of run 1 only 0.02s separated the two England selected athletes and everything was still to fight for down Mark Vinter’s afternoon challenge. Indeed with the then fourth placed Andy Roose cranking up the pressure with an absolute beauty of a second run it was going to be interesting to see who of the two leaders would crack. In the end neither flinched, as first Thompson proved there was still room to manoeuvre with Roose’s time, posting 0.25s inside the mark and then watched as Morgan unleashed every ounce of strength out of the start gate and stretched every inch of his frame around Vinter’s course to shave Thompson’s mark by 0.2 seconds. A quite remarkable effort that truly deserved to claim victory.

In the ladies race a similar battle raged as England’s Jo Ryding and Scotland’s Alex Tilley squared up and battled it out. Leading the rest of the field by half a second after run one but only separated by 0.08s the two ladies locked horns at the business end of run 2. Tilley’s time of 13.40 – a full second quicker than any of the other ladies – looked like it might just be enough but Ryding reacted and in undercutting Tilley’s time by 0.43s Ryding retained the title she claimed 12 months earlier.

In the categories, Kerry Turnock, Caroline Powell, Florence Bell and Megan Jenkins joined Ryding and Tilley as respective winners amongst the ladies. Whilst Andrew Hjort, Eliya Beelaert-Rubin, Ashley Breese and Zak Vinter joined Morgan and Roose as winners of the males categories.

The day belonged to Brad Morgan and Jo Ryding however. Following team mate David Ryding’s Vancouver appearance in February these two Pendle trained races proved yet again the impressive depth of talent that has emerged from the North West club in recent times. With Ryding & Morgan collecting indoor National Championships we’ve witnessed another impressive chapter for a club with a proud and impressive pedigree of producing racers of the very highest quality.

If the rest of this summer lives up to the quality of this race then we’re all in for a bit of a treat.

Home Sweet Home

Snowsport England Aosta Valley Grand Prix Series
Race 1 – Norfolk Ski Centre
Sunday 2nd May, 2010
How sweet it is to sit beneath a fond father's smile,
And the caress of a mother to soothe and beguile.
Let others delight amid new pleasures to roam,
But give me, oh, give me, the pleasures of home.
Home, home, sweet, sweet home!
There is no place like home, oh, there is no place like home.

And for Norfolk racers Michael Molloy and Sophie Skipper home soil proved especially enjoyable as they swept to impressive victories in the first race of the Snowsport England’s Grand Prix Series for summer 2010.

Following the wonderful news of Aosta Valley’s sponsorship agreement for the Grand Prix Series and the All England Championships for the next 2 years, Norfolk’s magnificent artificial ski complex – the finest in the UK - was the perfect location from which to launch the 2010 series. And whilst the weather appeared to refuse to acknowledge the fact that May had arrived even those gunmetal grey skies overhead and a bitterly cold wind that raced across the start area couldn’t cool the action happening on the hill.

In the men’s race Cardiff stable mates Andrew Watson & Andrew Davies, Hemel’s Gerard Flahive and co-Norfolk racers Stuart Riches and Shaun Blyth all found themselves within 0.3 seconds after run 1 and looking to overturn Molloy’s slender first half advantage in run 2. Indeed as each racer attacked John Riedy’s 2nd run course Molloy kept his nerve at the top of the hill before blasting out of the start gate and magnificently dissecting Riedy’s 18 gate challenge to not only hang onto his slender lead but to build a buffer into the final result. Behind Molloy, Watson’s 2nd run proved good enough to claim the runners up spot in the overall rankings with first year junior Shaun Blyth claiming a very impressive 3rdoverall.

Placed 2nd after run 1 in the ladies race Sophie Skipper’s fabulous afternoon run proved decisive as 1st run leader Alice Hales and 3rd placed Caroline Powell perished whilst chasing Skipper’s challenging mark. The Telford junior 1 duo of Alexandra Bullock and Charlotte Shrimpton eventually proved Skipper’s main challengers and whilst both were the only other ladies under the 16 second mark in the afternoon run, neither could quite steal the day from the Norfolk based junior, placing 2nd & 3rd overall respectively.

In the categories Beverley Anderson, Emily Goddard, Claire Brown, Georgia Hallet and Francesca Lee joined Skipper as category winners in the ladies race whilst Robert Hales, Stuart Riches, Shaun Blyth, Ashley Breese and Nathan Breese joined Molloy in claiming category victories in the male field.

Race 2 sees the series move north from Norfolk’s lowlands to the weather carved hills of Lancashire as Pendle plays host to the nation’s finest young racers. If that hill provides half the excitement that the Norfolk one did then it’ll be an event not to be missed. Who will add their names alongside Michael Molloy and Sophie Skipper as winners in 2010?

Sunday May 30th is the date and whilst there may be no place like home, there equally are few challenges quite like Pendle Hill. If it isn’t yet in your diary then add it.