L a t e s t  n e w s ..... Heel wins Super G in Val Gardena with Defago and Jaerbyn on the podium ... Paerson wins Super combined from Hosp and Suter ... Walchhofer retains King of the Hill in Downhill, Miller 2 and Osborne Paradis 3 ... Gut wins Super G in St Moritz from Suter and Fanchini

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

The British Children's Championships kicked off on the Piste de Corbey in Meribel with perfect hard conditions.  The hard conditions along with the early start did not upset many of the favourites for the race. TJ Baldwin demonstrated why he is one of the leading talents in the British Children's Team currently as he set a pace that the rest of the field found impossible to match.  With Jack Evans and Aaron Tipping taking the remaining places on the podium, the boys race was an exciting affair with many of the British Children's team having their ego's dented as they were caught out by the hard conditions.  The girl's race was a very one sided affair as Jenny Mashiter was a class above the rest of the girls.  Jayme Baggio and Danielle Polley took the remaining places on the podium.

For Baldwin this has been a mixed season: race results in the International races have not been what he expected yet he has also been racing on the French scene with good form.  "I am very happy with how things have gone today," reflected Baldwin after the race.  Baldwin came into these races aiming to "try my hardest and hoping to win, but it does not always work out that way," smiled the fourteen year old from Norwich.  The nerves that he had felt at the top Children's race, the Topolino, did not effect Baldwin as he was "excited" coming into the races.  With one victory in the bag now, Baldwin will be looking to show the rest of the large Children's field (139 starters for the slalom) a clean pair of heals in the remaining races!

Baldwin was the class of the field on the first run yet behind him it was close.  Jack Evans and Frankie Clough were just over a second behind the first run leader and behind these two Harry Brown was disappointed to be over a second and a half behind Baldwin.  The early start had caught out many of the coaches and they were responsible for not getting their charges to the start on time. This resulted in a number of the early racers running out of order.

Jack Evans, best British racer at the Topolino, felt that he had been "too cautious on the first run as I thought that course was harder yet was too late on some gates on the second run."  Despite this Evans was happy with his result and was looking to reverse the situation over the remaining races.  Aaron Tipping, who along with Baldwin, has spent the winter training at the British Ski Academy in Les Houches, had a very disappointing first run that included a hike back up the hill.  "After that I stormed down the course and the second run proved that I can do it," reflected Tipping.  Tipping favours the slalom and his mistake on the first run saw him start in 16th spot for the second run yet he destroyed the course and was almost three quarters of a second ahead of the rest of the field on second run times.

The Girl's race was a superb display by Jenny Mashiter.  The fourteen year old racing for the Kandahar Club was comfortably ahead of the rest of the field after the first run yet a blistering second run that saw her extend her lead by almost a second was the deciding factor.  Jayme Baggio was best of the rest after the first run that had seen a few racers lacking in the preparation area, not helped by coaches watches not being accurate!  Harriet Steggles, Louisa Russell-Henry and Danielle Polley all put in performances that on another day would have merited better placings, yet Mashiter was just a class apart.

Mashiter felt that her first run had been "quite iffy at the bottom" yet the second had been "great."   Mashiter was part of the British Children's Team that took part in the Czech Republic.  It was at this race that she linked up with Christian Perner at the British Alpine Race Academy (BARA).  So impressed with the way things went, Mashiter has spent the last month training in Austria with Perner at BARA.

Jayme Baggio held on to second and was pleased with this result after a series of disappointing results at other British races this winter.  Second fastest on both runs, Baggio is a young talent that will be looking to take the top step next year.  Danielle Polley was overjoyed to have put the disappointment of her first run behind her and pulled herself up to third with a great second run.

The younger age group was won by Hannah Garwood, despite making a mess of things on the first run near the finish. Garwood took ninth place overall. Christy MacKinnon and Alessia Thomas Jackson took the other podium places in the girls race.  In the Boys race Jack Breton took the age group spoils, also in ninth place in the in the overall race, ahead of Simon Edwards and Tom Kirton.  Both Kirton and Thomas Jackson are in their first year of racing and are looking exciting prospects for the future.  Edwards started from 122 on the first run and ended up 18.  Other notable results were Sam Wrench (51) who finished 6th.