Snowsport England Grand Prix Series
Round 4 - Chill Factor, Manchester
18th June, 2011
So just seven days after the previous round the Snowsport England Grand Prix Series headed north as Manchester ’s Chill Factor played host to the fourth and penultimate round of 2011.
As ever, the race piste in Britain ’s best indoor racing facility was prepared in tip top condition and would provide every racer with the opportunity to excel.
However it was a name from summer’s past that forced herself to the fore as Sega Fairweather returned to SSE’s Grand Prix racing with an awesome display of attacking ski racing. Indeed in generating angles and speed that none of her rivals could come close to matching the former Arrows & Team GB starlet opened up a near half second gap after run 1 and the proceeded to more than double her advantage on run 2.
Such was her dominance of proceedings that the rest of the ladies field were truly only ever racing for 2nd place.
Behind Fairweather the race was significantly tighter however with no less than four racers split by 0.2 seconds at the half way stage. Home slope racer Beth Widdup eventually prevailed in the overall runners up spot, the impressive young Chill Factor racer’s second run proving too good for Caroline Powell, Charlotte Gould and Megan Jenkins respectively.
In the male event proceedings were far more open than in the ladies race with the top six overall racers all finishing within one second of James Greenwood’s winning time. Granted Greenwood ’s opening run did sufficient damage to the rest of the field to create a smidgen of breathing space, but even with the quarter second gap generated Greenwood was still only one run 2 error away from missing out. Indeed whilst Greenwood ’s impeccable second run proved conclusive, with the top eight racers on run 2 separated by less than 0.3 seconds, the Aldershot racer’s run had to be to be faultless.
In the categories Kerry Turnock and Claude Farron claimed victories in the masters categories whilst Fairweather and Greenwood claimed the honours in the senior category. Caroline Powell’s 3rd overall and Eliya Beelaert-Rubin (2nd overall) claimed junior 2 honours with Beth Widdup and Max Baggio following suit in Junior 1. Megan Jenkins and Robert Poth triumphed in the older of the children’s categories with Olivia Ward and Finlay Davies winning the younger children’s event.
The final event of sees the series moving back south into Hemel’s indoor facility. Indeed with plenty still to fight for both in the overall and age categories the series sponsored by Aosta Valley, Ski Solutions, Ski Bartlett and Atomic looks set for a fantastic summer 2011 finale.
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Smiles all round in Sunderland
Snowsport England Grand Prix Series
Round 2 - Sunderland
5th June 2011
Sunderland, or on the basis of numerous Grand Prix skiing weekends, perhaps Nosunderland or Winderland might be considered a more appropriate name for one of Britain’s newest cities. Indeed when the clouds congregate and precipitate or the wind, freshly chilled from buffeting the North Sea, decides to roll across the skyline and into the faces of Silksworth’s racers and officials then it can make the slopes of the series sponsor Aosta Valley feel positively Mediterranean. Only Pendle truly rivals Silksworth on a poor weather day.
But what a slope! A quartet of tiered dendix layers equally spaced with acceleration inducing drops and enough room to pose 17 or 18 extremely challenging red and blue questions. Unquestionably there are better all-round facilities than Sunderland, but when the questions asked completely revolve around the 180 metres or so between the start gate & finish bean then England’s most north easterly slope has no rival. This is the Carnoustie of dry slope ski racing.
In the ladies event a new name appeared at the top of the halfway leader board as Alex Bullock delivered what she had been suggesting she was capable of for a while and negotiated a tough first course with near surgical precision. Only Alice Hales mounted any sort of challenge to Bullock’s first time, the two ladies separated by less than 0.1 seconds but having comfortable advantage of more than half a second over the rest of the field.
As the two ladies awaited their 2nd run however a new contender entered the fray as Bullock’s Telford training mate converted an absolutely blistering run to both launch herself into overall contention and add a little extra pressure on the leaders. Indeed with Hales 2nd run leaving her a tenth of a second short of Gould’s combined effort only Bullock could deny a remarkable comeback win. And deny it she did with a cool and reassuringly unspectacular 2nd run that oozed maturity in doing enough to score a maiden overall victory without exposing herself to unnecessary risk.
In the men’s event David Hatcher stamped an immediate authority on the event, impressively dissecting Craig Ruddock’s feet moving challenge in his own inimitable style. Breathlessly and somewhat open eyed the rest of the field watched as Hatcher pushed the boundaries of what was achievable and posed questions that many of the big names were unable to answer.
Indeed as a number of the top ten ranked racers perished chasing impossibly direct lines you did have to wonder if any of them were learning anything from the mistakes of those in front of them. If they did then it clearly didn’t translate down to their boots.
Elsewhere Bromley’s Dan Curtis and Cardiff’s Andrew Davies justified their decisions to cover the length of the country in the early hours of Sunday morning for a smidgen over 27 seconds of racing with impressive challenges to Hatcher. And whilst there was little to split to three racers on run 2, Hatcher’s morning advantage proved decisive, whilst Curtis claimed 2nd and Davies 3rd.
Indeed whilst a number of the established racers had a day to forget one or two of the names from a little further down the field took the opportunity to make hay whilst the wind blew. Not least Telford racer Chris Yates who caught the eye with a blistering run 1 and then closed out an impressive display with a solid 2nd run through Lee Bennett's 18 gate maze to claim his first ever top 5 overall GP finish.
In the categories Vivien Hanson and Rob Hales proved victorious in the masters’ category with Emily Goddard joining David Hatcher in winning the senior category. Charlotte Gould and Andrew Davies collected Junior 2 winner’s prizes.
In Junior 1 Chris Yates joined Alex Bullock as category winners whilst Jordan Fellows and Emma Peters claimed the honours in chi 2, all four racers notably representing the Telford stable. Whilst in the youngest category Declan Huppach and Mille Jackson proved too good for the rest of the children 1 competitors.
The day however belonged to Alex Bullock. She’d been knocking on the door labelled big race win for a while and whilst the obvious frustration of waiting to covert promising challenge into overall victory was yet to show she stayed patient and believed in her ability. With the door ajar and opportunity teasingly inviting the Telford racer in she not only accepted the invitation but smashed the door off its hinges. More race wins will certainly follow but Silksworth’s fantastic rolling matting will always be where Bullock established herself beyond the role of contender.
The series now moves indoors for what will be a trio of hard fought events in the controlled refrigerated atmospheres of Milton Keynes, Manchester and Hemel but they will have to be very good to be as memorable as this one.
Yet again the Snowsport England series sponsored by Ski Solutions, Aosta Valley, Atomic & Ski Bartlett had delivered a wonderfully competitive event and Silksworth’s rolling track has, as it always does, provided us with two very worthy race winners. Who cares about the weather?
Round 2 - Sunderland
5th June 2011
Sunderland, or on the basis of numerous Grand Prix skiing weekends, perhaps Nosunderland or Winderland might be considered a more appropriate name for one of Britain’s newest cities. Indeed when the clouds congregate and precipitate or the wind, freshly chilled from buffeting the North Sea, decides to roll across the skyline and into the faces of Silksworth’s racers and officials then it can make the slopes of the series sponsor Aosta Valley feel positively Mediterranean. Only Pendle truly rivals Silksworth on a poor weather day.
But what a slope! A quartet of tiered dendix layers equally spaced with acceleration inducing drops and enough room to pose 17 or 18 extremely challenging red and blue questions. Unquestionably there are better all-round facilities than Sunderland, but when the questions asked completely revolve around the 180 metres or so between the start gate & finish bean then England’s most north easterly slope has no rival. This is the Carnoustie of dry slope ski racing.
In the ladies event a new name appeared at the top of the halfway leader board as Alex Bullock delivered what she had been suggesting she was capable of for a while and negotiated a tough first course with near surgical precision. Only Alice Hales mounted any sort of challenge to Bullock’s first time, the two ladies separated by less than 0.1 seconds but having comfortable advantage of more than half a second over the rest of the field.
As the two ladies awaited their 2nd run however a new contender entered the fray as Bullock’s Telford training mate converted an absolutely blistering run to both launch herself into overall contention and add a little extra pressure on the leaders. Indeed with Hales 2nd run leaving her a tenth of a second short of Gould’s combined effort only Bullock could deny a remarkable comeback win. And deny it she did with a cool and reassuringly unspectacular 2nd run that oozed maturity in doing enough to score a maiden overall victory without exposing herself to unnecessary risk.
In the men’s event David Hatcher stamped an immediate authority on the event, impressively dissecting Craig Ruddock’s feet moving challenge in his own inimitable style. Breathlessly and somewhat open eyed the rest of the field watched as Hatcher pushed the boundaries of what was achievable and posed questions that many of the big names were unable to answer.
Indeed as a number of the top ten ranked racers perished chasing impossibly direct lines you did have to wonder if any of them were learning anything from the mistakes of those in front of them. If they did then it clearly didn’t translate down to their boots.
Elsewhere Bromley’s Dan Curtis and Cardiff’s Andrew Davies justified their decisions to cover the length of the country in the early hours of Sunday morning for a smidgen over 27 seconds of racing with impressive challenges to Hatcher. And whilst there was little to split to three racers on run 2, Hatcher’s morning advantage proved decisive, whilst Curtis claimed 2nd and Davies 3rd.
Indeed whilst a number of the established racers had a day to forget one or two of the names from a little further down the field took the opportunity to make hay whilst the wind blew. Not least Telford racer Chris Yates who caught the eye with a blistering run 1 and then closed out an impressive display with a solid 2nd run through Lee Bennett's 18 gate maze to claim his first ever top 5 overall GP finish.
In the categories Vivien Hanson and Rob Hales proved victorious in the masters’ category with Emily Goddard joining David Hatcher in winning the senior category. Charlotte Gould and Andrew Davies collected Junior 2 winner’s prizes.
In Junior 1 Chris Yates joined Alex Bullock as category winners whilst Jordan Fellows and Emma Peters claimed the honours in chi 2, all four racers notably representing the Telford stable. Whilst in the youngest category Declan Huppach and Mille Jackson proved too good for the rest of the children 1 competitors.
The day however belonged to Alex Bullock. She’d been knocking on the door labelled big race win for a while and whilst the obvious frustration of waiting to covert promising challenge into overall victory was yet to show she stayed patient and believed in her ability. With the door ajar and opportunity teasingly inviting the Telford racer in she not only accepted the invitation but smashed the door off its hinges. More race wins will certainly follow but Silksworth’s fantastic rolling matting will always be where Bullock established herself beyond the role of contender.
The series now moves indoors for what will be a trio of hard fought events in the controlled refrigerated atmospheres of Milton Keynes, Manchester and Hemel but they will have to be very good to be as memorable as this one.
Yet again the Snowsport England series sponsored by Ski Solutions, Aosta Valley, Atomic & Ski Bartlett had delivered a wonderfully competitive event and Silksworth’s rolling track has, as it always does, provided us with two very worthy race winners. Who cares about the weather?
Friday, 6 May 2011
Fresh faces & Familiar Winners
Snowsport England Grand Prix Series
Round 1 - Norfolk
1st May 2011
Blue skies overhead, farmers’ fields green with new growth, a city skyline in the distance and anticipation in the start gate that inevitably arrives with a new season. Summer racing had returned. Indeed with Ski Solutions joining Aosta Valley, Atomic & Ski Bartlett as series sponsors there was much to look forward to as Norfolk Ski Club played host to the opening Snowsport England Grand Prix of 2011.
Would the cream of 2010 continue to rise to the top? Was there enough
development a little lower down the ranks to rattle last year’s champions?Or was there a new face out there that would join the battle? And whilst the opening race of the season wouldn’t definitively answer all of these questions the first race of 2011 would certainly provide us with a good idea.
And with the ladies first run squeezing six of dry slope racing’s best athletes intolittle more than three tenths of a second it became immediately clear that a battle royale awaited not only for the post lunch second run but for the season ahead. Indeed with only one thousandth of a second splitting front runners Alice Hales and Charlotte Gould through Sally Bartlett’s 16 turn challenge there was much to look forward to as they prepared to negotiate Phil Brown’s brutal 17 gate 2nd run course.
Gould’s slightly slower first run gave her the opportunity to go immediately before her opponent and she used this to her advantage by nailing a near inch perfect run whilst Hales watched from the start gate knowing that there was absolutely no room for error. And whilst the Cardiff racer looked capable of challenging Gould’s time the error she simply couldn’t afford unfortunately arrived and the battle was over. Hales exited the course and Gould entered the winner’s enclosure.
Elsewhere Hannah Bozier cemented her fine first run with an equally impressive 2nd run to claim a deserved runners-up spot whilst fellow Aldershot athlete Ellen Hathaway jumped into 3rd place following a mistake from Alexandra Bullock.
In the male race the tussle at the top end had a similar feel as the other Hales sibling, Tom, fought out a mighty scrap with 2011’s zero pointed racer Andrew Watson. Separated by 0.05 seconds after run 1, Hales’s powerful and impressive 2nd run asked huge questions of his Cardiff team mate. Watson responded superbly however and in matching Hales’s imposing effort ensured that his slender morning advantage was preserved. The third spot onto the podium went to David Hatcher, who in posting the first sub 14 second afternoon run - & only 0.04 off the times of Watson & Hales - posed a number of questions as the Cardiff duo prepared to race.
In the categories Rob Hales & Vivien Hansen scooped the honours in the master’s categories, whilst Jemima Barnes joined Watson in taking the senior honours. Charlotte Gould was joined by Andrew Davies in collecting 1st place amongst Jun 2 racers whilst Hannah Bozier was joined by an impressive James Sieber as winners in Jun 1.
The Telford duo of Emma Peters and Jordan Fellows claimed the top spot in Chi 2 category whilst Caitlin Lewington and Declan Huppach ended the weekend as victors in Chi 1.
The real winner however was the sport of artificial slope racing. In Norfolk Ski Centre the sport has a flagship venue which provides our racers with the opportunity to excel. Add in intelligent, testing courses, a pool of committed racers and some fine natural talent and the mix can be very exciting.
Round 2 of the SSE GP series takes place at Silksworth’s imposing hill in
Sunderland on Sun June 5th. If it’s half as good as this race then it’ll one not to miss.
Round 1 - Norfolk
1st May 2011
Blue skies overhead, farmers’ fields green with new growth, a city skyline in the distance and anticipation in the start gate that inevitably arrives with a new season. Summer racing had returned. Indeed with Ski Solutions joining Aosta Valley, Atomic & Ski Bartlett as series sponsors there was much to look forward to as Norfolk Ski Club played host to the opening Snowsport England Grand Prix of 2011.
Would the cream of 2010 continue to rise to the top? Was there enough
development a little lower down the ranks to rattle last year’s champions?Or was there a new face out there that would join the battle? And whilst the opening race of the season wouldn’t definitively answer all of these questions the first race of 2011 would certainly provide us with a good idea.
And with the ladies first run squeezing six of dry slope racing’s best athletes intolittle more than three tenths of a second it became immediately clear that a battle royale awaited not only for the post lunch second run but for the season ahead. Indeed with only one thousandth of a second splitting front runners Alice Hales and Charlotte Gould through Sally Bartlett’s 16 turn challenge there was much to look forward to as they prepared to negotiate Phil Brown’s brutal 17 gate 2nd run course.
Gould’s slightly slower first run gave her the opportunity to go immediately before her opponent and she used this to her advantage by nailing a near inch perfect run whilst Hales watched from the start gate knowing that there was absolutely no room for error. And whilst the Cardiff racer looked capable of challenging Gould’s time the error she simply couldn’t afford unfortunately arrived and the battle was over. Hales exited the course and Gould entered the winner’s enclosure.
Elsewhere Hannah Bozier cemented her fine first run with an equally impressive 2nd run to claim a deserved runners-up spot whilst fellow Aldershot athlete Ellen Hathaway jumped into 3rd place following a mistake from Alexandra Bullock.
In the male race the tussle at the top end had a similar feel as the other Hales sibling, Tom, fought out a mighty scrap with 2011’s zero pointed racer Andrew Watson. Separated by 0.05 seconds after run 1, Hales’s powerful and impressive 2nd run asked huge questions of his Cardiff team mate. Watson responded superbly however and in matching Hales’s imposing effort ensured that his slender morning advantage was preserved. The third spot onto the podium went to David Hatcher, who in posting the first sub 14 second afternoon run - & only 0.04 off the times of Watson & Hales - posed a number of questions as the Cardiff duo prepared to race.
In the categories Rob Hales & Vivien Hansen scooped the honours in the master’s categories, whilst Jemima Barnes joined Watson in taking the senior honours. Charlotte Gould was joined by Andrew Davies in collecting 1st place amongst Jun 2 racers whilst Hannah Bozier was joined by an impressive James Sieber as winners in Jun 1.
The Telford duo of Emma Peters and Jordan Fellows claimed the top spot in Chi 2 category whilst Caitlin Lewington and Declan Huppach ended the weekend as victors in Chi 1.
The real winner however was the sport of artificial slope racing. In Norfolk Ski Centre the sport has a flagship venue which provides our racers with the opportunity to excel. Add in intelligent, testing courses, a pool of committed racers and some fine natural talent and the mix can be very exciting.
Round 2 of the SSE GP series takes place at Silksworth’s imposing hill in
Sunderland on Sun June 5th. If it’s half as good as this race then it’ll one not to miss.
Saturday, 5 March 2011
Friday, 10 September 2010
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.
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.
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.
Monday, 23 August 2010
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.
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.
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