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).

After the dull overcast weather of the Saturday, the sun shone magnificently for the final round of this years Celtic Cup to be held at Pontypool.  With the sun came some exciting racing.  Just when it looked like the Hemel pair of Jayme Baggio and Georgie Hunt would walk away with everything, first David Hatcher won the GS the day before and then Lauren Cadman stormed down the first run in round 4 to take the lead.  Not only was Baggio not leading but she was down in the third place with Shanna Prince comfortably in front of here. 

Baggio's first run had been sloppy and it too a phone call to her coach to rectify the situation. She knew that she had been sliding as she came over the ridge and this was a kick up the backside she needed to realise that she would not have it all her own way.  Baggio took the bull by the horns and her second run was back to the form that she has shown earlier this season.  Would Prince and Cadman be able to match it?   Prince skied comfortably but by no means to the same standard that she showed in previous years and was almost two second slower than Baggio.  It was good enough to go second ahead of Rachel Adcock with Lauren Cadman still to go. 

Cadman has been threatening to show what she can do on the plastic for some time.  Always hovering in the top ten but never quite getting through the door into the higher echelons.  Her first run showed, not only herself but also others, that she can do it.  The pressure that this put on her was more self induced and nerves took their toll on her as she slipped down to fourth overall.  This was good experience for her and demonstrated that she is capable of challenging for honours.

The men's race was another Hunt victory.  Hunt is having to fight these days as others, notably David Ryding and Adam Lee, have met the high standards that he set two years ago when last racing.  The desire and determination are there but the refining of the technique still needs to be worked on.  If Hunt needs to work on this, he is showing that the rest of the racers still have lots to work on.  While the two Hatcher brothers are consistently challenging, this time the demise of Brian Byrne's challenge as well as Pete Thelwell and Marc Telling saw Paul Telling make it on to the overall podium.  Telling has been struggling of late and missed the Swadlincote Grand Prix to re-evaluate everything.  He may not be the quickest racer but to win you have to get down, something he did! Michael Hatcher took third a tenth of a second ahead of Benn Hall whose second run was second quickest.  Ben Clarke took fifth.

In the Children 1 group, Alessia Thomas Jackson won the group comfortably in sixth overall.  Thomas Jackson has the ability to follow in the footsteps of Sega Fairweather, Baggio and Shanna Prince but must learn to make the transition from enjoying the frolicking at the start to learning the psychological preparation around the start.  Once the focus on the matter in hand has been settled on, Thomas Jackson will close the time gap on the older racers ahead of her.  Jeni Thomas took second and Shannon Taylor took third.  Both these two girls are showing encouraging form for the future.  Ashley Richards took victory in the boys race ahead of Jake Williams and Andrew Hall.

Baggio's domination of Children 2 continues unabated.  Hannah Knowles took second in the age group with Lucy Peel taking third.  The boys race was hotly contested with some racers finally showing what they are really capable of.  Michael Thelwell was unable to match the 6th overall that he took in round 2 yet scored a age group win none the less.  Thelwell's second run almost proved disastrous but he managed to hold on just after the ridge.  Piers Cadman was unable to take advantage of Thelwell's error but still took second ahead of Andrew Watson and Greg Straw. Watson has shown some great results in the Grand Prix Series recently yet seems to have gone off the boil a little in recent weeks.  Straw's result in coming equal with Watson finally shows that he has the ability to challenge for the honours and not just be there for the ride.  Determination is not lacking in the young man from the Arrows club and hopefully the fact that his club have no slope will not deter him or hinder him.

In the Junior 1 category, the age group win was scant consolation for Cadman.  Franki Simonds recovered from a disastrous start that saw her start the second run only just in front of her mother, much to her mother's amusement.  Simonds stormed down the second run with the sixth quickest time to take second in the age group ahead of Niamh Lyons.  Benn Hall's consolation for finishing outside the top three overall was to win his age group and also to beat all those in the older age group!  Hall is growing and as he is getting stronger he is catching the older racers up quicker than they would like!  Hall is another that will hopefully not struggle to cope as the Arrows search for a new slope on which to train.  Alasdair Holbourn took second ahead of James Knock.  Holbourn is another that is starting to recapture the form he has shown in the past before growth diverted his strength away.

Shanna Prince won the Junior 2 group ahead of Rachel Adcock and Rowan Vernon.  The Junior two age group was won by Hugh Wilson ahead of a fit again Colin Armstrong and Peter Calvert.

The thin field that entered for the seniors and masters group meant that Lucy Newman won ahead of Sarah Thornton in the seniors with Caroline Simonds taking the Seniors ahead of Janet Earnshaw Hamilton.  While the women's older age groups are struggling for numbers, the men's is showing no signs of petering out: six masters raced and five seniors finished ('last' in the Seniors age group was Andrew du Plessis in 8th overall!)  Georgie Hunt won the age group ahead of Paul Telling and Michael Hatcher while in the Masters Rob Hales won (in a very creditable 14th overall) ahead of Paul Bunton and Jim Gibb.

In the minis Flora Gibb won the girls race ahead of Stephanie Davies and Alex Bullock.  In the boys race, James Gibb took a sizeable lead in the first run only to come to grief coming over the ridge.  This allowed Max Moss in to take the victory ahead of Max Baggio and Michael Knowles.

For full results click here

For thumbnails of the racers please click here