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The Magazine for those interested in British and International Ski Racing and Competitive Snowsport
Last updated: 26/08/2008 12:43:50 L a t e s t n e w s ..... 'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams' (Eleanor Roosevelt). |
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Franki Simonds reflects on and reports from the British Championships from Hillend.
Slalom
A tough course down the famous Hill End slope which is known to test even the best skiers, saw an interesting result for the British Championships slalom on Saturday. Jo Ryding, who has dominated most of the dry slope season made an unfortunate mistake on the wall after a strong top section, leaving the title open for many contenders. One would expect an older or more experienced racer to take this spot, however it was taken by none other than Jayme Baggio, who has been dominating the Children II category was very determined to do one better than this, She took the difficult course with no fear at all to clock a time that would rival for the top spots in the Boys competition, beating the competition by a good four seconds overall! In the males Anthony Heaversedge continued his top form from the Welsh Championships to take the fastest time on the first run, with a good lead. Adam Lee however was not going to be beaten lightly and put in a stormer on the second run to take the quickest time, however it was not enough to overtake Anthony who took the overall, leaving Adam in second.
Taking the other top spots in the Female race were Rachel Adcock, Just ahead of Abby Clifford, who managed to squeeze in just before Lauren Cadman, all these racers have had their fair share of frustration this season and showed that they are still on form. In the Males race Dan Wyatt just took third over Dave Harrison who has shown that all that time on snow has not affected his plastic skiing too much. Michael Hatcher just took the 5th spot, only 0.11 seconds in front of his brother David.
In the Age groups:
Children I saw Alessia Thomas-Jackson take the First place once again over Fiona Gibson and Charlotte Jesse. The boy’s race saw Dan Evans take the title with Jake Williams and Lewis Mavor close behind.
Jayme took the Children II title convincingly, however there was tough competition for the second and third spots, with Danni Polley closely coming in front of Rachel Tinkler to take Second and Third. Blair Laidlaw won convincingly on home soil, showing that the Scots still have lots of skiing blood in them, he was followed by Mikey Thelwell; and Cameron Gun, another local.
Franki Simonds who has had a few good races and taken both age group and overall top spots, had an impressive crash on the second run deciding to engage in some grass skiing (To see fall click here). After a few frustrating races Abby Clifford clocked an impressive time to show that she is still on form and took the Junior I spoils over Lauren Cadman and Eilidh Mcleod who took third place. Callum Henderson, Blair Jacobs and Ross Walker took the one two three in this age category, all of them being on home soil.
The Junior II category saw an exiting race with Anthony Heaversedge take first over Dan Wyatt with Andrew Crawford taking third. In the Girls saw Rachel Adcock take first followed by Alice Thelwell and Anouska Callander taking third place.
In the seniors Lucy Newman was the only survivor of the course therefore taking the first place. In the Males the absence of Georgie Hunt, who has been dominating the races in the seniors recently meant that Adam took the win over Dave Harrison, though it was very close, and Mike Hatcher took the Third place prize.
Although there were no masters prizes, Robert Hales took the lead ahead of Andrew Hjortt and Keith Parker. Parallel Slalom
The parallel slalom turned out to be an exciting event as usual, and large crowds turned out to cheer on their home nation. With 7 teams in the females, 12 male teams and 4 racers in each team it was no small event. All the teams raced well, giving the crowd something to cheer about, and giving their nation the best chance possible in the race. England took four of the six medals with two boys teams in the top three and two girls teams in the top three. The Scotland female team and the Wales male team also managed a medal each. Ireland Female and Scotland male just missed out on the medal, doing well all the same to get to the 3rd and fourth playoffs. Well done to all the teams.
Results: Male
Female
Giant Slalom On Sunday we had the last event of this exciting championships, the Giant Slalom is always an exciting race and is not an event for the faint hearted.
Female Event: There were many that skied well on this day, on a particularly bumpy and exciting course however there can only be one winner and Jo Ryding proved once again that when she finishes she can put in time that compares with even the best of the boys and destroyed the course (literally, they had to replace many flags after her second run) and took first place, The young Jayme Baggio also had an extremely good day showing that she is going to be a force to be reckoned with for a long time to come, taking second behind Jo beating many who are up to 4 years older than her (or more). Lauren also had another successful day, coming third overall and winning her age group.
In the age groups we saw these three skiers each take first in their respective age groups, (Junior 11 – Jo Ryding, Junior 1 – Lauren Cadman and Children 1 – Jayme Baggio) however Alessia Thomas-Jackson another young star also outshone much of the competition coming 13th overall, even though she is still only a Children 1.
Also taking medals in their age groups were Alice Thelwell and Anouska Calander, both adding to their medals from the day before for Junior II. Abby Clifford took second to add to her first the day before, and Franki Simonds came third Junior I, recovering from her crash in the Slalom. In Children II Danni Polley and Rachel Tinkler took second and third respectively, as did Fiona Gibson and Charlotte Jesse in the youngest (Children I) category behind Alessia Thomas-Jackson .
Male Event: David Ryding, who watched the Slalom event decided to borrow equipment as his is still in Europe, (including Paul Hothersall’s bright pink helmet!) to race in the GS, he said “I just couldn’t resist!” Even on borrowed equipment he put in impressive times, stunning all the spectators and showing that all his time on snow with the British development team has not affected the plastic skiing and took gold. Marc Telling was close behind even though he decided to ‘take off’ on the wall coming in second overall, and Adam Lee was not far off Marc having a very quick run on a difficult course that had a tight bottom section to test many skiers to the limit, and a quick top section that got everyone’s adrenaline running. There were many exciting runs and the boys literally flew down the course, some taking half the flags with them and many hitting the blow up barrier at the end of the slope, some nearly going over the barrier.
In the age groups Dave took 1st in Junior II, while Marc and Adam took 1st and 2nd in the seniors. Also very well to take age group golds were Blair Jacobs in Junior I, Taylor Waters in Children II and Dan Evans in Children I.
Also doing very well and getting medals in the GS were Adam Lee (2nd) and Dave Harrison (3rd) (Dave is now back from his snow skiing with the British team, back to the dry slope where it really matters!) both in the senior age category. In Junior II Dan Wyatt and Hugh Wilson took medals home, both coming in the top 15 overall. Callum Henderson and Luke McCarthy took 2nd and 3rd in the Junior I category while Blair Laidlaw and Cameron Gunn took medals in the Children II age category. In the youngest age category Alister Kuwall and Jake Williams took 2nd and 3rd behind Dan Evans. For full results please click here |
