L a t e s t  n e w s ..... Vonn stuns slalom specialists to win in Levi with Pieitiae Holmer second and Maria Riesch in third.... Grange wins mens race from Miller and Kostelic .... Chemmy Alcott suffers clean break of ankle in training in North America, expected to be out till New Year .... Lindsey Vonn injures left knee in training Super G in Copper Mountain, no lay off details announced

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

The Children's BARSC Championships provided a number of the racers who had made the trip to Alpbach with the opportunity to lay claim to places on the Children's Team for this season.  Once the Juniors had departed, it was the time for the next generation to take to the slopes.  After the start list experiment last year, the races reverted to the traditional two run format for this year.  Much was discussed at the Coaches and Managers meeting and various ideas have been put forward to the TD Forum for their next meeting.  So to the races!

Slalom:

The first race was a slalom and in cold but bright conditions Jenny Mashiter won comfortably on both runs.  Mashiter will make the step up to the Juniors and FIS racing next year so these races were a good way for her to gain confidence and results in her final season as a child.  Mashiter was comfortably ahead on both runs and gave the rest of the 1990 year of birth girls plenty to think about.  Hannah Wright put in a great first run but was unable to capitalise on the second and this allowed Sega Fairweather to close in her to take third. A disappointing first run from one of the few Scots to make the trip to Alpbach rather than Oppdal gave Danielle Polley much to do on the second run.  Polley rose to the challenge and took the second fastest second run time to close the gap on Franki Simonds who finished fourth.  The younger age group category saw Alessia Thomas Jackson, in her first year of racing easily place ahead of the rest of her age group.  Thomas Jackson and Natalia Harte (who finished second) were joined on the Children 1 podium by Toni Hodkinson.

In the boys race Jack Evans took the spoils but a big mistake by Nick Robinson saw him throw away what would have been an impressive win.  Leading after the first run by over a second, Robinson slid wide and lost over two seconds and was lucky to stay ahead of Jake Richardson who finished third.  With Richardson making the jump up into FIS next year, Evans, Robinson and fourth placed Harry Brown will all enjoy the relative peace in Children 2 racing for another year.  Luke Laidlaw will join them in the older age group next season after winning the younger age group with two mixed runs.  Cameron Gunn, in one of his first snow races, let slip a two second lead over Laidlaw but still held on for second in the age group. Tom Kirton, Dan Evans and Alistair Kuwall were all hot on their tails, all in their first year of racing in the children category.

Giant Slalom 1:

Hannah Wright put the disappointment of finishing second behind her as she destroyed the field on both runs to win the race and age group in the first giant slalom.  Annoyed with crashing out of the Slalom, Harriet Steggles proved to be Wright's closest challenge but she was not able to match Wright's excellent second run.  Jenny Mashiter was unable to maintain her winning run and although she took third, her second run was a little disappointing and she only just managed to hold onto the bronze.  Vivienne Quayle and Jayme Baggio provided a sterner test but were unable to place higher than fourth and fifth.  Again Alessia Thomas Jackson showed many of her older peers the way home and was comfortably ahead of Natalia Harte and Toni Hodkinson in the younger age group.

Jack Evans made it two out of two with a come from behind win in the boys race.  Lieing in third after the first run, Evans put down a tremendous run to take the spoils ahead of Frankie Clough and Nick Robinson.  Performance of the day though was from Luke Laidlaw who took fourth overall and won the younger age group.  Michael Pelton and Tom Kirton took second and third in the age group.  Benn Hall looked set for a great result after being in fourth place after the first run yet crashed spectacularly in the second to drop way off the pace.

Giant Slalom 2:

This was the day when the racers that had not laid a serious claim to places on the British Children's Team had their last chance.  Two racers in particular took the opportunity: Franki Simonds and Jake Richardson destroyed the fields with some blistering skiing: Simonds winning both girls runs to win by over a second and a half; Richardson was in a class of his own winning both runs to win by almost three seconds!  With neither TJ Baldwin or Aaron Tipping attending the races, Richardson let his skiing do the talking.  His training partner, Harry Brown completed a miserable week by crashing out in the first run.  Simonds was followed home by Sega Fairweather and Jenny Mashiter.  With Alessia Thomas Jackson crashing out Natalia Harte took advantage to win from Toni Hodkinson and Stephanie Espinosa in the younger age group.

Richardson was followed home by Frankie Clough and Raife Breton with Luke Laidlaw taking fourth again in winning the younger age group.  Cameron Gunn and Michael Pelton took the remaining podium places in the younger age group.

Mini's GS 2:

Charlotte Jesse took top honours again in the second race ahead of Katherine Peace and Lucinda Adams.  Ben Alexander raised his game and won the boys race, ahead of Charlotte Jesse this time but the Poth brothers came in second (Daniel) and third (Robert).  With the both brothers still having two and three years before they reach the Children's age group, they will be able to fine tune their technique in the meantime.

Link to Junior races

Link to Britski.org for results