L a t e s t  n e w s ..... Rachel Adcock and Gerard Flahive win both races at Scottish Dry Slope Championships ...

'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams' (Eleanor Roosevelt).

Adam Lee and Jo Ryding secured the overall titles at the 30th All England Championships held at Norfolk Ski Club at the weekend.  Both racers have been at the top of their game for large parts of the season yet it was not all plain sailing for either of them.  Lee had to resist the pressure of Georgie Hunt who put in two strong runs but was just behind the man from Ravens while Ryding had to come from behind as local girl, Harriet Steggles, led after the first run.  With over 200 racers competing in the premier English race of the plastic season, this was a great advert for summer ski racing.

This season Jo Ryding has been in fantastic form, winning four of the Grand Prix races on her way to the Thomson Grand Prix title, and anything her older brother David could do, Jo has done as well.  With brother David training with the full time home nation development squad programme in Lofer and unable to defend his title, Jo upheld the family honour and despite trailing home slope girl, Harriet Steggles by 0.02seconds after the first run, she managed to blitz the second run and storm home for the title.  Steggles was not too disheartened to trail Ryding (Ryding is three years older) and knows that her day will come.  Home slope or not, Steggles demonstrated that she has the technical ability to match anyone on her day and if she can transfer this form to the snow, she will be a strong contender for the British Titles come April.  The race, however, was not just about these two.  Franki Simonds took third overall as she managed to show that a summer spent sailing and resting her troublesome back meant that she too is developing into a strong racer for the future.  One of the biggest improvers this summer has been Charlotte Evans (Chatham) and no other race this season brings about the pressure.  Evans could have been excused for being spooked by the pressure but no, Evans showed why she has risen to be a force to be reckoned with this summer.  If Evans can use the technique and power harnessed this summer on snow, then by April the British Championships on snow could see her raise a few eyebrows.  Rounding out the top five in the women's race was Rachel Adcock.  Since winning the Grand Prix in Sunderland, Adcock has struggled to reach the same form.  The fact that her club, Arrows, have been without a home slope since the middle of the summer, cannot have helped with a lack of training. 

The men's race was a high octane affair.  Past winner Dave Blackwell mentioned afterwards that he was impressed with the standard that was now required to sit at the top table of dry slope racing.  Although defending Champion, Dave Ryding was not able to race, the Top Gun's of dry slope racing 2005 were all there wanting to take home the title.  The man's race scene seems to have no trouble in keeping hold of the top racers as they get older and the number of Seniors taking part as well as Masters was impressive, they were not there just to make up the numbers or take home the age group prizes!  Six seniors filled the first eight finishers and seven in the first ten!

Adam Lee and Georgie Hunt fought out the prize for top dog yet just behind them was Marc Telling.  Hunt was first of the top dogs down and set a blistering time on the first run to put the pressure on the rest of the field still to go.  Marc Telling and Dan Wyatt were the only two get close to the Hemel racer until Adam Lee came down and set a better time as last man down!  Lee held a lead of 0.17 over Hunt after the first run.  The packed finish area, to a person applauded all of the top racers as they defied the laws of flexibility, reactions and gravity down the Norwich slope.  While the first run, set by Jez Wood had caught many out, the second, set by Dave Durgan, was more fluid and allowed the racers to ski fast.  While the racers were allowed to ski fast it did not stop the big crashes happening, as Michael Furness's face plant demonstrated approaching the finish.

Jai Geyer, disappointed with his first run that saw him languish at the wrong end of the top ten, put in a storming second run that would eventually see him rise to fifth, just behind Dan Wyatt.  Wyatt was a mere 0.30 seconds behind Lee after the first run yet was unable to capitalise on this in the second run.  With his main age group rivals either out of sorts or not racing, Wyatt was pleased to have taken fourth as well as the age group win.  Marc Telling put in a consistent run that saw him take the lead with two to go.  Telling admitted afterwards that he felt that one of the leading two would bottle it and this would let him in.  In the end although Hunt clawed back some of the lead held by Lee, it was not enough.  The commentator asked whether Lee had done enough after his run yet the clock clearly showed that despite being slower than Hunt on the second run, Lee's aggregate time was faster.

The age groups were as exciting as the main race: In children 1, Emily Evans took the spoils ahead of Charlotte Jesse and Sarah Ayling Bate.  Having secured a top 15 start, Alessia Thomas Jackson failed to challenge as she crashed out on the first run.  To win you have to come first but first you have to get down!  Evans has had to cope with her older sister, Charlotte, taking the headlines this summer so it is good for her morale that she has been able to add to her trophy haul.  In the boys race, Dan Evans won ahead of David Askew and Max Wheatman.  With bigger stronger bodies, these younger races will jump up the leader board in years to come!

In children 2 the dominance of Harriet Steggles in the overall race meant that Charlotte Evans had to be content with second in the age group.  While Steggles has been a name for a long time, Evans has made the rise rapidly this summer.  Evans is no longer happy with taking the minor placings and second is as she sees it, first loser!  Liz Palfrey, not a regular plastic racer but a member of the GB Children's team on snow, made a mockery of her start number (31) to take third in the age group and a very impressive 8th overall.  The demise of Jayme Baggio on the second run (straddled) eased the pressure slightly on both Ryding and Steggles in the overall race but also for Steggles in the age group.  Nick Robinson won the children 2 age group in an impressive 22nd place overall.  Mikey Thelwell and Dan Curtis took second and third.

The Junior 1 age group was dominated by the younger year group taking all three podium places.  Franki Simonds took the victory with Lauren Cadman and Abby Clifford joining her on the podium.  Jai Geyer took the age group spoils in the Junior 1 boys race with an impressive 5th place overall.  Lloyd Papantoniou took second in the group ahead of Joe Ogden.  Both had been expecting to be higher up the results yet with hundredths of seconds deciding places 4th (Wyatt) to 16th overall (Chris Pyle) were covered by just 1.10 seconds, this was tight and close racing.

Jo Ryding took the age group spoils as well in Junior 2 with Rachel Adcock and Alice Thelwell taking the remaining places on the podium.  The Junior 2 age group in the boys racing was a little flat as the seniors dominated events.  With no Ryding, Wyatt skied very well to take the title ahead of an out of sorts Antony Heaversedge and Oli Robinson.  Robinson was lucky to stay in having taken a number of gates on the first run with his outside ski high in the air!

In the seniors Michelle Stirk captured the female age group title ahead of Lucy Newman and Lois Hinx Edwards.  Beverley Anderson took the masters title ahead of Catherine Reed.  The Seniors age group dominated the overall male results with seven in the first ten places and eleven in the first eighteen!  Lee, Hunt and Telling taking the prizes away. In the seniors Martin Skedge on his home slope took top honours.  The expected battle with Dave Blackwell never happened after Blackwell straddled in spectacular fashion on the first run.  Tom Ondrusz and Oliver Jeffery took the podium places.  With 17 seniors and 14 masters finishing it was disappointing that Snowsport England do not recognise the depth in the older age groups and award masters 1, 2 and 3 age group prizes!

Great racing and a great advert for summer racing.  Hopefully the larger than normal trade area (Positive Altitude, Ski Bartlett, Snowsport England, Racer Ready, SnowSun, Aloe Sports and Sunbloc all took stands) and the fact that at least two ski manufacturers (Atomic and Elan) attended the days racing, bears well for the future of the sport.  Snowsport England, however, need to be more proactive to make this more than a one off event for September!  Norfolk ski club are to be praised for their members efforts in securing ITV and BBC coverage of the event.  It does seem strange that with such a large number of Norfolk members qualified to run races that Snowsport England decided to bring in their own staff, thus adding to the costs of the event! 

The organising committee of the All England Championships would like the following to be made clear:  Racer ready has been informed that only 5 rooms were paid for by the race organisation.  Considerable time and travelling is undertaken by those organising the races and none of this is charged for.  Racer Ready apologises for any misunderstanding caused regarding the number of staff imported for the event. 

To see thumbnails of the racing, please click here and mention the name of the racer you would like to see

For full results click here