Amanda Alldridge kept her winning run going in a hard fought British Indoor Championship race at Chill Factore in Manchester. The 23 year old that races for Ski Milton Keynes posted the fastest first run and then a small mistake on the second run and a good second run by ... Francesca Lee combined to see the young racer from the North East just fifteen hundredths shy of Alldridge's combined time. Sophie Ogden just held off Welsh Team racer Georgia Hallett for third place with another Welsh Team racer, Megan Jenkins taking fifth place.
The race may not have had any of the senior team racers from the British Team taking part but the competition was keen and eager to add a British title to their results list. The Carl Ryding and Mark Vinter set courses gave the racers enough to think about and challenged them in how to get the most out of their skis.
Alldridge and Lee were the leading two racers on both runs and the determination and desire shown by both racers was excellent to see. These were two racers that wanted to lay a result on the line and it mattered to them: every hundredth was chased down.
While Alldridge is looking to get back into FIS racing, Lee is about to start out on her FIS career. Lee is part of the GB Moguls programme as well as chasing Alpine success and the joint programme helped as the snow conditions broke up on the second run.
Sophie Ogden was a little in no mans land after the first run as she tried to chase down the leading two and yet had a small gap between her and the chasing pack. Ogden was able to extend the difference on the second run to Hallett but only by two hundredths while losing a little more time to the leading pair. With Hallett enjoying her time back on her skis after completing exams, she is getting back into the swing of skiing before starting a dentistry course.
Megan Jenkins will need to get back into the groove and ski fast soon as she suffered again on her first run but recovered on the second to overhaul young Welsh racer Olivia Ward who had posted a faster time on the first run. This was a great performance by Ward, who spent much of last winter injured and then broke her leg early in the summer. While Ward lost out in the standings to Jenkins, she did manage to better the combined time of Nicole Shering who had been in fifth after the first run, another promising performance from the girl from the south coast.
While Alldridge carried on her winning run, it would be great to see some of the aspiring racers from across the country taking part in these races, this was after all a British Title. Having a British Title on the resume always looks good when looking for potential sponsors! You can only win such accolades if you are in the race!
There were age group wins for Shannon Potter (Under 14, 8th Overall); Olivia ward (Under 16, 6th Overall); Francesca Lee (Under 18, 2nd Overall); Sophie Ogden (Under 21, 3rd Overall); Amanda Alldridge (Senior, 1st Overall) and Rowena Burkinshaw won the Masters.
Results:Â British Indoor 2014 results
Picture: Francesca Lee on her way to second in the British Indoors, Picture Racer Ready, all rights reserved
More action shots are on the www.racer-ready.ifp3.com website