Francesca Lee banished her own doubts in taking her second win of the weekend to capture the British Indoor Championship at Chill Factore on Sunday. Having lead after the first run, Lee had expressed doubts as to whether she could follow up her win in the Anglo Scottish with victory in the British Indoor Championship. With Georgia Hallett and Shannon Potter joining her on the podium, Lee raised her own standards to win her second race of the weekend. ...
A challenging course set by Carl Ryding on the first run, had many of the top racers having to think about how to attack the course. An unusual combination of a delay gate followed by an offset hairpin caused six of the top sixteen racers to crash out. Quick feet and intelligent skiing was required and those that did not try this, paid the price.
With the demise of Amanda Aldridge, one of the pre race favourites, for the second race in a row, saw Lee's main competition out of the race. Lee did not watch any of the racers before her go through the tricky combination, happy to rely on her own plan of attack.
With a certain amount of chat by parents and coaches alike regarding Lee wearing a race suit, it will be interesting to see whether other racers that aspire to reach a high level of racing follow in her footsteps. By wearing the race suit, Lee showed how serious her intentions are with her skiing.
A lead of almost two tenths from the first run, gave Lee a solid platform from which to attack on the second run. Mark Vinter's course on the second run was not as psychologically demanding for the racers and Lee extended her lead over second placed Georgia Hallett by over half a second.
Georgia Hallett celebrated taking second in the race by capturing the GBR Indoor title to go with her GBR Outdoor Title. Hallett extended the difference between her and third placed Shannon Potter on the second run as well but could not deal with the determination and fire that Lee showed.
While Lee was the class act in the field, it was good to see the likes of Shannon Potter giving the older Under 16 racers a run for their money as she took third place overall and top under 16 honours.
Nicole Shering overhauled the advantage that Kirsten Walton held after the first run in the race for fourth. Both racers will be a little disheartened to be so far back from the race winner but it is good experience for the winter.
Daisi Daniels took sixth as she further raised her own stock in mixing it with the older racers. Having tied with Claire Winthrop after the first run, Daniels used her home slope knowledge to edge out Winthrop. The top ten was rounded out by Eleanor Scranage-Harrison, Millie Jackson with Ella O'Neill and Rebecca Power tieing for tenth.
There was one young racer that really caught the eye for the future and that was the gusto and determination shown by Glesni Catlin. Catlin started last of all the racers on the first run yet threw herself into every turn looking to maximise the speed she exited the turn with. It was great to see. Catlin finished in 17th overall from a start number of 45 and fifth in her age group.
There were age group wins for Daisi Daniels (Under 14, 6th Overall), Shannon Potter (Under 16, 3rd Overall), Francesca Lee (Under 18, Overall Winner), Georgie Hallett (Under 21, 2nd Overall), No senior Women finished and Rowena Burkinshaw won the Master's.
Results: British Indoor Championships Women
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Picture: Francesca Lee on her way to winning the British Indoor Championship. Credit Racer Ready - all rights reserved
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