Monday 23rd September saw the 2013 British Independent Schools Ski Racing Indoor Champs, run by BISS Racing and Impulse at The SnowCentre, Hemel Hempstead. There was a great turnout for this inaugural event with 50 teams, totalling two hundred skiers, entered over the two races to be held on the day. With teams travelling from as far afield as Taunton, Portsmouth, Solihull and Telford, some arriving the preceding evening ... for training at the centre with coaches from
Impulse, giving all the skiers, especially the younger, less-experienced skiers a good opportunity to get used to the conditions before the race.
Race day was a busy affair with so many competitors, Ranging from racers with experience on the national circuit, to many first time racers following the ethos of BISS Racing to introduce racers to the sport through school teams. The morning was taken up with the younger age groups, with the afternoon left to the senior school teams and some of the best skiing schools in the UK were represented along with many schools for which this was their first taste of a competition of this kind.
The one run to count format was aimed particularly at these groups, taking away an element of pressure for their skiers.he element of some great prizes donated by several sponsors was a great bonus for the day with a pair of Head skis given away in the morning and another in the afternoon. Accommodation, passes and training for the four team members of the winning teams at the BISS Racing Alpine Championships in Aosta, Italy in 2014 was the main team prize.
Conditions were initially soft, but it didn't take long to get to the harder snow underneath which, with some great coursework for the coaches on hand, held up
excellently through each competition and, in a tightly fought morning competition, Reeds took the team prize, closely followed by Danes Hill with Olivia Foster
from Danes Hill taking top honours in the girls competition and Reeds' James Gillet in top place in the boys competition.
The afternoon team event was won by Portsmouth Grammar followed by Reeds then Solihull. Top individual spots were taken by Cameron Manson from the winning school team and Daniel Barton from Bedford Modern School.
The skis were given in a bib number raffle with skis being won by Tim Evans in the morning and Callum Patience in the afternoon.
We were fortunate to have Emily Sarsfield on hand to present prizes. Emily is the nation's number one female Ski Cross athlete, who will be heading to the Winter Olympic Games to represent Britain in Sochi next year. ISS Racing would like to thank all sponsors of this event including: Head Skis, Impulse Racing,
Luscombe Organic Drinks, SkiBitz and Ski Bartlett amongst others.
We're now looking forward to the British IndependentSchools Alpine Champs in Pila on the 13-14th Jan 2014