There are times when the determination of a racer to perform can outweigh the problems they are facing. Amanda Alldridge was disappointed not to be taking home the Anglo Welsh title the day before and was determined to perform, despite her injured finger, in the British Championship race. Alldridge was fastest on both runs to take the win for the third time in her career and ahead of Anglo Welsh race winner Shannon Potter with a resurgent Ellie Jackson in third. Eva Pascoe and Maisie Jefferson rounded out the top five as six Under 16 racers placed in the top ten finishers.
Alldridge had tried various combinations of protecting her hand while also being able to benefit using it in the previous days race yet put the pain out of her head on race day. Fastest on the first run, Alldridge knew that she could not relax as both Potter and Jackson were within touching distance of her with all three separated by under a tenth of a second with Georgia Hallett and Nicole Shering in fourth and fifth.
Rising Under 14 talent, Anna Kamaly-Asl produced a great second run to grab the lead from 13th after the first run and this stood the test of time before Holly McKey took the lead. Two racers later and Ella Giles took the lead with Eva Pascoe then taking the lead. Maisie Jefferson slotted in behind Pascoe leaving five to go.
First to go of the top five was Nicole Shering and she crashed out two-thirds of the way down and she was followed out by Georgia Hallett on the same gate.
Ellie Jackson was next out the start gate of the Carl Ryding set course and she went faster than Pascoe to take the overall lead by half a second. With less than a tenth of a second separating the top three, Jackson needed a faster second run if she was to have challenged for the race win and Potter put daylight between her and Jackson to take the race lead. Could Alldridge withstand the pain in her hand to take the race win?
Resorting to using the pole in a traditional way, Alldridge posted the fastest second run time to extend her lead overall and take the race win, depriving the talented Potter a double race win over the weekend.
With many of the top British racers away training and competing abroad it is a shame this race is not scheduled in the diary at a time that would encourage more racers to challenge for the British title. While training camps of the main alpine training groups and availability of the slope need to be taken into consideration, the timing of this British Championship race needs to looked at.
Maybe the races need to have more of a pull in what they offer those racing in the UK to raise its appeal? This is something that those running the sport from both a British Ski and Snowboard level through to the Home Nations need to look into.
You can only beat who is in the race and Amanda Alldridge can be satisfied with having defended her title and becoming a three time British Indoor Champion.
The age groups were won by Anna Kamaly-Asl (Under 14, 8th Overall); Ellie Jackson (Under 16, 3rd Overall); Shannon Potter (Under 18, 2nd Overall), Zoe Karavisili (Under 21, 11th Overall), Amanda Alldridge (Senior, Race Winner) and Carrie Walsh (Masters)
Results (Main race)
Results (Under 10 & Under 12 race)
Pictures are available on www.racerready.zenfolio.com