The overnight arrival of fresh snow gave the race organisers something more to contend with yet the racers themselves got on with the matter in hand: That of skiing fast! The new snow meant that there was a constant need for slipping and hard work in ... preparing the course for the racers. With the courses set up for Under 14 year olds (boys and girls) on one course and Under 16 year olds (boys and girls) on the other, the assistance of those racers not racing at the time was vital in making the courses run smoothly. Alicja Krahelski gave the rest of the field plenty to think about as she easily won the Under 14 age group with Anna Henderson taking the older girls age group after strong competition from Yasmin Cooper and Zali Offord from Australia. In the boys races Harry Deighton and Duncan Kuwall took the spoils.
Alicja Krahelski raised the bar even more in this the second of two Slaloms: A combined win of over four and a half seconds will give the rest of the girls in the Under 14 age group plenty to think about as the season progresses. Shana Danenbergsons was best of the rest in the Overall race with Caterina Magenes taking third in the Overall. Megan Riley and Kirsten Walton both skied well on the first run while Danenbergsons and Sarah Glasgow were the best of the rest on the second run. Charlotte Tapsell was the fastest overall of the first year racers in fourth overall.
In the older girls race, soft snow deprived the race of Megan Jenkins as she crashed out spectacularly on the first run as she tried to chase down the time that had been set by Cameron Manson. Manson used the clean track from going number 1 to the best of her ability as she was fastest on run 1. Manson could not quite keep with the pace set by Henderson on the second run and slipped behind Yasmin Cooper and Zali Offord in the overall race.
Harry Deighton was the star performer in the Under 14 boys race as he won both the first and second runs. Tom Chambet and Kristofer Berglindarson joined Deighton on the leaderboard on run one while Alasdair Sandland and Owen Vinter, a first year Children's racer, joined Deighton on the podium in race two. When the times were aggregated it was Alasdair Sandland and Oscar McCall that joined Deighton the podium with Tom Chambet and Owen Vinter placing in fourth and fifth.
The old saying 'To finish first, first you have to finish," could have been applied to the Under 16 boys. Duncan Kuwall used his growing experience to weather the conditions on both runs to take the overall win. Joshua Penning-Lambert had been in front of Kuwall after the first run but lost out as Kuwall produced a tremendous second run to take the win. Despite a relatively poor second run by his high standards, Angus Wills held on to take third place despite being in the younger year of birth.
Without the help of the parents and couches in maintaining great course conditions for all the racers, this race could well have ended up more as a moguls event rather than a slalom. "Lots of hands make light work," is another old saying but is very true when the conditions are needing help in making the race run.
Day three of the races sees the athletes switch to Giant Slalom racing.
Full results