The future of British Alpine ski racing is good if the results from the Anglo Welsh Championships in Manchester are anything to go by. While it is not a FIS race by any stretch of the imagination, the battle for supremacy from some of the top racers in the Under 18 age group in the country meant that the standard of the racing was competitive and exciting to watch. ... No racer wanted to be left out of the battle and while Euan Kick took the top spot spoils, it was nothing short of a hard fought win. Zak Vinter took second place while Robert Poth produced a second run charge to grab third. Matthew Thompson gave the younger races a challenge as he grabbed fourth with Daniel Poth taking fifth.
While Indoor racing is the way that the sport is going, a race is only as good as the racers in it. The better the racers in the field, the more likely those chasing them are likely to enter and so the development of the sport improves. With the likes of Kick, Vinter and the Poth brothers in many of the Indoor races this summer around the country, this has attracted more aspiring racers to the races. Long may this trend continue.
While both Kick and Robert Poth have the experience of a year racing on the FIS circuit; Vinter has just returned from Australia where he scored some outstanding results in both Giant Slalom and Slalom. The talented and determination from all three is there to be seen. Kick and Poth posted the fastest times on the first and second runs respectively but it was not by much in both cases, such was the competition! The top six racers overall were spread apart by just over a second, Callum Henderson taking sixth 1.03 back.
With a good standard of racing at the top end of the field, the rest of the field raised there game as well. Brandon Matthews posted a good first run before crashing out on the second run and some of the better dry slope racers are getting accustomed to racing on the snow as well.
There were age group wins for Scott Wylie (Under 14); Sam Carson (Under 16); Euan Kick (Under 18); Daniel Poth (Under 21); Callum Henderson (Senior) and Alex Molliex (Master). There was a great touch of sportsmanship demonstrated at prize giving, as Molliex was presented with the best English prize in the Masters age group but being French, handed the award over to John Norris.
Results:Â AW 2014 results
Picture: Euan Kick on his way to winning the Anglo Welsh Title, credit Racer Ready, all rights reserved
More action photos are available on www.racer-ready.ifp3.com