With experience the name of the game in terms of mastering the famed slope, ex British alpine Champion, TJ Baldwin was playing catch up with the local racers. In the end his ability on the matting shone through as he added the British title to the England title won at the beginning of September. Scott Waitt upheld Scottish honour in taking second with Adam Hay third. Owen Vinter and Cameron Gibson rounded out the top five finishers.
Going early on the first run that was set by Paul Henderson, a winner many times down the Hillend slope, Cameron Gibson of Glasgow Ski Racing was the first to get under the 33 second mark and took the lead ahead of Joe Grieve. His lead wasn’t for long though when Scott Waitt, two racers after smashed into the lead with a 31.65 first run.
Ten racers later, it was TJ Baldwin’s turn to take on the Scottish course. The Ambition skier had a similar executed run as Waitt and it was touch and go who would take the first run lead. Baldwin took the lead but only by one hundredth of a second. It was going to be a very tight race between Baldwin and Waitt.
Robbie Anderson slipped into third but was over half a second off the top two. There was a lot still to play for on the second run though!
The second course was faster in nature but had its own challenges. There were two hairpins on each steep building huge amounts of momentum into offset turns.
On the second run set by Mark Vinter, Adam Hay produced a gutsy second run charge to take the lead from Gibson. Owen Vinter and Anderson were unable to challenge Hay’s combined time lead, with only two skiers left in the start area.
Waitt’s second run wasn’t quite as fluid as his first and he was unable to beat Hay’s second run time, but took the lead on combined time. Waitt had to eagerly watch Baldwin’s run to see if it was enough to take his first British dryslope title.
Baldwin was a lot more aggressive on the top section of the second run. After winning the All England title, Baldwin was determined to add to his trophy cabinet. The Ambition skier charged through the course with perfect precision. Baldwin crossed the line and took the lead by an impressive 0.77 seconds. Baldwin was the British Male Alpine Dryslope champion for 2017!
The first run had been tightly poised between Baldwin and Waitt, but it was Baldwin’s experience and strength that eventually won him the title in the end. It was an eye opening race for some of the pack but overall there was some great skiing on display throughout the field.
The age group winners were Jack Upton (Under 14, 10th Overall), Robbie Anderson (Under 16, 6th), Scott Waitt (Under 18, 2nd), Craig Speed (Under 21, 15th) and TJ Baldwin (Senior, Race Winner)
For full results click here
Picture - TJ Baldwin winning the All England in September
Peter Davies