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).

The good, the bad and the ugly rears its head in the sun in Sunderland

Andy Roose returned to the slope where he secured his first major title last Autumn to continue his remarkable run of form in Sunderland by taking the Club National. Roose, one of the few who managed to stay on the feet at the British in 2006 (report), skied hard an fast and was a deserved winner after the three runs. The tall and gangly Pendle racer is another come from the strong Pendle stable of racers that have emerged over the last few years under the direction of Carl Ryding and Colin Tee. While the entry may have been lower in terms of top end racers, the Craig Ruddick set course gave the racers much to think about and in the end Roose held on to win from ...

In the girls race, local dream team racer from Newcastle University, Rachel Adcock emerged top of the list despite competition from Charlotte Evans, Emily Evans and the West Country racer Emily Goddard.

Dry ski slope racing is still a popular medium for racing in the UK - there are many that spend most of their ski racing careers competing purely on the matting without the opportunity to race on snow. Such is the dedication and desire to win that when the racers crash out there is a great deal of frustration. It is a very sad realisation of today's society that it seems acceptable for racers to vent their frustration at making mistakes and not being able to complete the course by smashing their hands and sticks into gates, occasionally breaking them. Add this to the language, very colourful at times, and this became cringe worthy. This must be stopped. While premiership footballers are "allowed" to get away with swearing at the referee, violence to others property now seems to be acceptable in ski racing: IT CANNOT BE ALLOWED!

Snowsports England needs to take a stand on this and impose sanctions against racers taking their frustrations out on the property of the slopes, before the slopes stop racing happening at the slopes. The gates are not cheap. By imposing an immediate sanction such as a one run ban on the racer (to be put in place on their next competitive run) this would soon get the racers thinking twice before such unacceptable displays. When the young racers see the older ones doing it and getting away with this sort of behaviour, they too then thick that it is acceptable, it needs to be stamped out now!