On The Edge: Testing Courses? Why Aye Man.

All England Championships
Sunderland
1st & 2nd September

With a successful race camp at Rossendale behind them hopes were high of Team Telford success as the All England Championships took place in the most North Eastern part of the country. Silksworth Sports Complex, Sunderland is yet another indictment on the sporting facilities in and around the Midlands area. Yet another quality facility boasting a tennis centre of excellence, a floodlit athletics track, two full sized astro-turf sports pitches, a skate park and angling lake. Community facilities that should leave the councils of Walsall, Sandwell and Wol*****pton hanging their heads in shame as they peruse their pathetically bare cupboards.

Friday night training saw Benn Hall set a brutal course to prepare on and you could see the confidence of racers, parents and trainers drain by the minute as one by one the racers flew out in all directions like Boeings leaving Heathrow. Jordan in particular had a nightmare, taking most of the evening to convert anything into something that resembled a run. Those who put a bit of thought into it however coped well and subsequently proved that it could be skied.

Those who went to bed of Friday thinking that Benn had set them a difficult challenge must have felt like they’d fallen out of bed on Saturday with a pair of brutal championship courses that truly would test everyone’s mettle. This was our national championships and the course setters were clearly out to remind the racers of this. One mistake on either course was going to be fatal - skis in bag time, game over, back in the car, end of story.

And so it proved for the Telford boys. Joe Humfress perished six gates into run 1 and Ashley Breese followed suit on run 2. Forced to go a bit gung-ho after an indifferent morning run Ash’s all or nothing strategy was the correct one even though he ended on the wrong side of the equation.

In the Girls, all four Telford racers survived the day and therefore profited with substantial leaps between their respective start number and finishing position. Charlotte Gould jumped 10 places to finish 12th in Jun1, and in Chi 2 Charlotte Shrimpton came home in 9th with George Gould following her home in 11th, the latter two jumping 15 & 22 places respectively. However, the honour of Telford racer of the day however goes to Abby Clifford, who claimed a fantastic win in the Jun2 category and overall 3rd place in the female race.

The following morning saw the older racers make way for their ankle biting counterparts courtesy of the All England Minis shoot out. Two runs down the same, if slightly less tricky course. Sadly the location appeared to have put a number of racers and parents off so a small(ish) but quality field took to the slope. In the Girls, Megan Jenkins, as expected, found herself in a class of her own. From a Telford point of view Emma Taylor made her second national racing start, successfully negotiated both courses and posted a super 5th place.

In the boys the predicted head to head battle between Rocket Robert Poth and Jordan Fellows never really happened. With Jordan drawn first to go in the boys race a hush descended on the hill, well it did until his idiot old man screamed “CCCCOOOOMMMMEEE OOONNN” as he blasted out of the gate, almost taking the starter and back up timer off their seats in fright. 15.99 seconds later he had laid down the challenge. Others tried but it wasn’t until Rocket Robert climbed into his skis that Jordan’s time looked in danger. Sadly, Robert came out at the tricky gate after the hairpin and though he hiked back up his challenge was over. Half an hour later the race was completed, Jordan’s safe second run was sufficient for the win he so desperately craved and Rocket Rob had claimed the fasted time of the race with a cracking 2nd run.

In another mixed day for Telford, Daniel Taylor again impressed posting two good runs to claim a super 9th place, an excellent performance for a lad with so little experience and fine reward for a summer of hard work and development. However this was contradicted somewhat by an unlucky DNF for Nathan Breese, who looked set for a competitive time until finding the back hairpin gate wrapping itself around him and taking him down to matting level. His time will come however.

As for the team event, well I’m sorry, but I have to confess that after Jordan’s win it all felt a bit like after the Lord Mayor’s show. Team Telford put in a much better showing than last year with Ashley noteably claiming the scalp of one or two more experienced racers and Abby producing the best start I've ever seen in a duals race. Charlotte Shrimton proved a reliable 3rd leg and Charlie Gould's last leg overhauling of Sharks A was truly exhilarating. However, our more experienced opponents outgunned us this time and an early exit awaited. This almost managed to keep us dry but a monsoon between rounds 4 & 5 meant that even our exit after the league stages, in equal 4th, didn’t quite save us from this summer’s now customary drenching.