Tackling the same course twice that the older racers had done as the first run of the Scottish Giant Slalom Dry Slope Championship, the Bairns gave as good as they could. This was a challenging course and the effort and determination ... that the future stars of tomorrow put in was a joy to watch. The fight and drive that the two Ward sisters put in to post the fastest two times was really impressive and great to see. Fraser Hunter took the fastest boys time and the third fastest out of all.
It was Erin Ward, the younger of the two Ward sisters that posted the fastest time, on the second run. Older sister Isla had the upper hand after the first run but little Erin went almost a second faster on the second run. While big sister knew that Erin had gone faster on her second run, she too went for it but could not match her sisters time and had to settle for second place overall but winning the Under 12 age group race. Grace Black took third place in the girls overall race and second in the Under 12 race. Chasing Erin Ward in the Under 10's was Lucy Keir in second and Sophie Anderson in third.
In the boys race victory went to Fraser Hunter with Sam Clyde taking second in the Under 12's and Ben Flockhart taking third. Clyde, following in the illustrious footsteps of his father Robbie, put in two consistent times and while Flockhart was able to better his first run time on run two, he was not able to better the time of Clyde. Lewis Calder took top honours in the Under 10 race for boys with Gordon Wylie second and Charlie Lamond third.
The course was the same, the determination equal and yet the grins and smiles of all the racers was a joy to see. By giving the young racers a chance to enjoy their racing without the wheel constantly being reinvented, the racers were able to do what they like best: Ski.
Administrators and race organisers around the country would be wise to recognise this.
Results 14scotchslres
More pictures available to see on www.racer-ready.ifp3.com