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).

David Ryding and Adam Lee conjured up one of the most exciting races for years on the Grand Prix series.  With Georgie Hunt and Rob Brown returning to the fold, as well as a host of other emerging racers, this was a high quality field for the opening Thomson Grand Prix of 2005. 

Much was expected and the fireworks started with late entry Richard Coupe putting down a fast time.  The first run, set by Matt Woods saw many of the fancied runners come to grief exiting the course mid way down.  A combination of speed and agility was needed and many of the racers were unable to control the speed.  Of the three "big guns" expected to dominate the race, Georgie Hunt was first down: Hunt made a mistake coming out of the start and pushed his stick through the air, losing valuable tenths of seconds.  With the standard of these races, he could ill afford to lose any time.  Whilst he went into the lead, with Lee and Ryding still to go, it was doubtful whether it would be enough.  In the end it was not as both beat his time.  The two could only be separated by a mere hundredth of a second!

The girls first run was not quite as high octane but Jo Ryding matched her brother for dominance as she left the rest of the field in her wake.  Alice Thelwell was the best of the rest ahead of Rachel Adcock after the first run.  A great run by Charlotte Evans, a Children 2, saw her up with the top girls after the first run in 6th place.  The girls race saw no room for error as half a second separated fifth (Abby Clifford) from 14th place (Katie Adams) after the first run.

With Rachel Adcock crashing out three gates from home on the second run, Emily Goddard took third behind Alice Thelwell and Ryding winning.  Charlotte Evans managed to overcome Abby Clifford to take fourth.  With the top three all coming from Junior 2, the Junior one age group was won by Abby Clifford (5th) with Lauren Cadman (8th)and Kathryn Barber (14th) taking the medals.  Children 2 was won by Charlotte Evans (4th) ahead of Katie Adams (9th) and Natalia Harte (17th).

Hunt managed to get a clean second run but was still unable to better the times of either Lee or Ryding.  Two years ago Hunt was unassailable on plastic, Adam Lee, David Ryding and occasionally others have all emerged as contenders to consigning his dominance to memory.  Hunt's second run was good but the way that Lee turned the pressure on Ryding with an extraordinary run left the crowd in awe.  The PA system may have packed in but the applause Lee received left Ryding in no doubt that he would have to produce something special to win.  Something special was exactly what he did in going a couple of tenths of a second quicker than Lee.

Adam Lee took the spoils in the Senior age group ahead of Hunt and Craig Ruddock (4th). David Ryding won the Junior 2 category ahead of Dan Wyatt in 6th and Oli Robinson (8th).  Joe Ogden won Junior 1 (9th) ahead of Lloyd Papantoniou (11th) and Benn Hall (12th).  Ed Gardner (22) won the Children 2 age group on his home slope ahead of his club mate Gerard Flahive (28th) and Andrew Watson (29th).  Children 1 was won by Dan Evans (42nd) with his good friend Tom Kirton (45th) second in the age group and Tom Walsh (58th) taking third.

For the next round David and Jo Ryding will wear the Racer Ready winners bibs while Craig Wright made the biggest improvement in the men's race (Late entries do not count).  Michelle Stirk from Ravens made the biggest improvement in the women's race.

Full results

Pictures are available of all the racers.  To view pictures please email and mention the name of the racer who's pictures you wish to see.