Nick Moynihan showed that he is one of the exciting young breed of British racers coming through the ranks at the moment as he took second in the English Alpine Championships Giant Slalom. Moynihan, still a Junior, was less than two tenths of a second behind the Finnish racer, Arttu Niemela after the first run yet used this as an incentive to attack on the second run, With another Finnish racer leading in the finish, Moynihan was the first racer for a number of racers to have taken the lead. Yet despite the pressure he put on the Finnish racer, Moynihan had to settle for second in the race, yet was the best English racer ahead of Rob Bullen who was in 6th overall with Brad Morgan in third amongst the British racers. Rachelle Rogers won the English girls race with Beth Widdup in second amongst the English and Olivia Parker third. Kate Angus and Nicole Ritchie would have been second and third but are Scots so did not make the regional placings.
With 27 nations taking part in the race, 117 men and 52 girls on the start list, this was a great race with plenty of attraction to racers. Although the race course was shorter than the NJR race earlier in the week, this was still a demanding race. The first course was set by Marc Telling from Ambition, and he set a slightly tight course and the result of this was that the field was closely packed after the first run. The second course, set by Phil Brown from Impulse, was slightly more open and this allowed the racers to ski a more open race.
With some of the better british racers not in Bormio, like Jack Gower, probably the most exciting GS skier in the UK at the moment, at the World juniors, some of older English racers were shown the way home by Moynihan. Talking after the race, CEO for Snowsport England Tim Fawke, commented that "it is great to see some of the racers make their points at the races." Moynihan made a great result in the NJR race yet bettered that result to make his best GS result of the season and in fact his career. After three days of sun shine the Giant Slalom was hindered at the end by some flat light but by then the race was decided.
Next up is the Slalom...
Men's results
Women's results