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).

Joe Ogden came from behind to make it two wins from two races in the Indoor races held at the Xscape slopes of Milton Keynes and Castleford.  The Castleford race saw a low turnout but the quality was there as 15 racers from Kendal and more from Edinburgh as well as many of the usual suspects from the south made the trip.  The racing was tight and the two courses set up proved to be testing for all. 

The first course, set by Neil Walker, was open and fast yet it still caught out a number of racers, including Ross Walker who straddled the second gate and leading senior racer, Tom Francis who straddled the last gate!  Alan Pickles just managed to pip Joe Ogden on the first run as he lead the field by the slimmest of margins, 0.01 seconds.  With a number of top Junior races, TJ Baldwin and Jake Richardson in the men's race as well as Jenny Mashiter and Kayleigh Hill, taking part, the race was a good indicator to the form being showed by the next generation of talent.

While Kayleigh Hill just edging Jenny Mashiter on both runs, these two were clearly ahead of Emma Wigman.  Mashiter makes the step up to the Junior level of racing this winter and these summer races will show here how the standard has grown. 

In the men's race the youth of today in the form of Ogden, Baldwin and Richardson showed that they had the measure of the experienced legs of Pickles, McQuoid and the rest.  While Alan Pickles showed that he is a match for Baldwin and Richardson, Ogden's second run was a joy to watch as he set a pace that the rest were unable to match.  The second run, set by Paul Hothersall, was tighter than the first run and had a tight hairpin to negotiate three gates from home.  Many racers struggled with the need to move their feet quickly and as a result crashed out.  None of the top five racers were troubled by the setting, though Neil McQuoid's old legs  almost failed to negotiate the last gate!

The age group prizes went as follows: Abbie Macey won Children 1 girls (and the prize for the most improved racer in the Female race) ahead of Eloise Greenhalgh and Rebecca Thompson.  matthew Thompson took 11th overall in winning the Children 1 boys race ahead of Alister Kuwall and Matthew Bowman.  Rachel Tinkler won children 2 girls with 5th place overall ahead of Rachel Hughes and Kirsty Atkinson.  In the boys race Cameron Gunn took a great 7th place ahead of Nick Crawford and Ryan Green.

Jenny Mashiter won Junior 1 girls ahead of Lauren Cadman and Natalie Atkinson.  The Junior 1 boys race saw three of the top four spaces going to this age group.  Ogden taking overall spoils ahead of Baldwin and Richardson.  Junior 2 girls saw three of the first four spots overall taken by this age group.  Hill winning from Wigman and Monica Gash taking fourth overall with third in the age group.  No Junior two males took part surprisingly.

The senior age group was well attended in the male race with eight racers taking part or which 5 were Masters!  This highlights the desire that older racers have to race.  With round one winner, Tom Francis, forgetting his boots, shin pads and other kit, he also forgot to get both feet round the final gate on run one.  Alan Pickles took top honours easily ahead of Neil McQuoid and Andrew Hjortt.  Carrie Walsh took top honours in the women's race ahead of Sarah Campbell Woodward and Cathy Beck.

With news of a Masters age group race also taking place at the next two rounds, the indoor racing is here to stay.  If the calendar can be arranged so that clashes with the top dry slope races can be avoided, the fact that races next year will all be double headers, this can only be good news for the series and skiing in the UK as well.