British Mogul Championships 2005

The British Mogul Championships for 2005 were held in Oberstdorf, Germany over Easter weekend. The competitions were staged jointly with the German and Dutch National Championships making a great holiday event. On Friday 25th March all the competitors were scored as they battled the steep World Cup mogul course at the top of Fellhorn. The course was soft after the warm temperatures so the moguls became enormous and caused many skiers to stumble as they tried to land their jumps in the slush. This decided their ranking for the head-to-head knock-out later when the top 16 men and 8 women went into the final of the FIS event, then each nation paired their skiers to decide the German, British and Dutch national champions. A tumble by Martin Nankoo (Kent) in the qualification round caused him to be the lowest ranked Brit for the finals. This meant that he drew Simon Bates (Edinburgh) in the next round, but a good start by Martin gave him the edge so he won through to meet Jack Mallalieu (Aviemore) in the final. Martin easily beat Jack 25 to 0 and was delighted to become British Dual Moguls men's champion. Two newcomers Ellie Koyander (Derbyshire) and Kate Williams (Sheffield), who were too young to enter the FIS event, battled for the British women's title with Ellie clearly beating Kate 25 to 0. In the international FIS event Simon Bates was on form and ended 7th being knocked out by the eventual winner Grischa Weber of Germany.

On Saturday the course was crisper early morning after clear skies overnight, however it soon softened again tripping up many skiers. In the qualifiers Bates fell after his 360 with spread at the first jump but still made it to the top 10 just one place behind Nankoo, with Mallalieu and Andrew Longley (Sheffield) much further down the field. However Bates put down a much stronger run in the British final with the 3rd highest score of the final events and it was Nankoo's turn to be caught by the slush with an interesting slide over the second air. The tables were turned for the women with Koyander, who had been much stronger in the duals, loosing her footing to allow Williams to take the women's singles title.

Easter Sunday was Ski Cross day, not part of the British Championships as this event was included in the Orange Brits Championships in Laax, Switzerland earlier in March. Simon Bates was joined by Angus Morrison as the two Brits to fight their way down the twisting course with four racers in each heat. Morrison put down and excellent qualification time to reach 9th place but some body contact with another racer sent him off into the netting, ending his chances in the next round. Bates was lucky to come 3rd in his heat when another racer tumbled but this did not improve his overall ranking.

FIS DUAL MOGULS 25 MARCH 2005 (33 competitors) - qualification points out of 30

1 Grischa Weber GER 22.70

2 Christoph Stark GER 23.71

3 Stephan Zant GER 22.26

7 Simon Bates GBR 20.08

15 Jack Mallalieu GBR 15.41

30 Martin Nankoo GBR 2.56

BRITISH DUAL MOGULS 25 MARCH 2005

MEN                          WOMEN

1 Martin Nankoo      1 Ellie Koyander

2 Jack Mallalieu       2 Kate Williams

3 Simon Bates

4 Andrew Longley

FIS MOGULS 26 MARCH 2005 (35 competitors) - points out of 30

1 Christoph Stark GER 23.02

2 Gerhard Blochl GER 22.72

3 Vaclav Novak CZE 22.26

9 Martin Nankoo GBR 17.55

10 Simon Bates GBR 16.64

19 Jack Mallalieu GBR 10.93

BRITISH MOGULS 26 MARCH 2005

MEN                                  WOMEN

1 Simon Bates 22.04          1 Kate Williams 6.31

2 Jack Mallalieu 9.13        2 Ellie Koyander 2.56

3 Martin Nankoo 8.12

4 Andrew Longley 4.61

FIS SKICROSS 27 MARCH 2005 (30 competitors) - qualification times in seconds

1 Simon Willmann GER 24.83

2 Thomas Zangerl AUT 25.48

3 Thorsten Gotze GER 24.89

17 Angus Morrison GBR 26.10

26 Simon Bates GBR 28.19