Another Thriller in The Chiller

Snowsport England Grand Prix Series
Round 3 - Milton Keynes
12th June 2011

The Sun shone brightly, temperatures were high. Summer 2011 was most certainly upon us. However, whilst most were looking to catch a ray or three the doors at Milton Keynes Xscape were flung open and dendix made way for man-made snow as the 3rd round of Snowsport England’s Grand Prix series moved indoors.

From a spectating perspective Milton Keynes clearly isn’t the best. Being the first built of our indoor race venues, where others learned MK have had to live with and the low roof combined with a moderately lit viewing area provides an eighties nightclub feel especially when it’s jam packed with racers, parents and officials. For that reason alone the on-piste action needed to divert the attention and reassuringly round 3 of the series sponsored by Aosta Vally, Ski Solutions, Ski Bartlett and Atomic delivered quite magnificently.

The male field dominated by big strong senior racers had a land of the giants feel to proceedings as David Hatcher, Ben Clark, Elliot Simpson, James Knock, Andrew DuPlessis and James Greenwood were joined by Junior 2 racers Andrew Davies and Matt Thompson and Junior 1 six-footer Barney Lewis. A combination of strength, power and good technique were most certainly the order of the day.

In the end however it was Aldershot’s James Greenwood who prevailed. A stunning first run created a minimum 0.3 second cushion to the rest of the field and whilst runner-up Matt Thompson managed to match Greenwood’s second run time the damage had already been done.

The ladies was an equally hard fought affair as Caroline Powell’s superb 2nd run overturned Charlotte Gould’s first run lead whilst Francesca Lee’s sublime 2nd run proved enough to leapfrog Florence Bell and Megan Jenkins into overall 3rd place. What the ladies lacked in power, strength and brute force they more than made up for with precision and technique.

In the categories Kerry Turnock and Claude Farron claimed victories in the master’s categories with Jemima Barnes joining James Greenwood as senior category victors. Caroline Powell and Matt Thompson were too good for the others in Junior 2 as were Barney Lewis and Florence Bell in Junior 1. In Chi 2 Francesca Lee and Robert Poth emerged as victors whilst Megan Riley and Kristofer Bergindarson claimed the honours in the younger children’s category.
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The series stays indoors from here on in and with Manchester’s Chill Factor being the next scheduled event the racers will enjoy another hard fought scramble for Grand Prix honours. Miss it at your peril.