The English Ski and Snowboard Cross Championships celebrated it’s 6th anniversary in style on Saturday at Snozone, Castleford. With one of the largest fields in the history of the event, athletes took to the snow to tackle to expertly built course and battle for the medals.
Snowboard Cross kicked the day off and after a 45 minute practice session on the course it was straight into the knock-out rounds. Instead of seeding using timing, athletes race everyone else in their age group with 3 points awarded for each win. This gives all the racers lots of opportunities to compete with many athletes getting in over 10 runs in the day.
There were some great performances from the younger athletes with Christopher Harrison winning U12 boys, Freya Savage U16 girls and Christie Fierman taking the U16 boys title. The Men’s snowboard masters category was one of the most hotly contest of the day. 10 masters men battled charged through 9 heats and Jamie Burn came out victorious. In the open category it was two familiar winners. Gillian Finnerty took home the English title and Kyle Wise became the English Champion for the 6th year in a row.
After a thorough reshape of the course, the afternoon meant it was time for the skiers to tackle the course. Huge numbers of skiers entered and particularly pleasing to see was nearly a 50/50 gender split. With such huge numbers, a long afternoon was in store for all athletes but spirts on the hill remained high. In the U12 girls there were a number of athletes entering their first event. A special thanks goes to the older athletes who took time away from their own training to help the youngsters with their training. 1st place went to Ana Cooling-Valencia with Charlie Cooper taking the boys U12 title in a closely fought category with Charlie Quinn who finished 2nd.
Amy Stokoe won the U16’s girls with Scott Johns winning U16 boys. The U16 categories were the biggest of the day meaning each U16 athlete got 11 heats! Gary Howarth took the men’s masters title in a close category. Into the quest for the overall title and it was a successful return to ski cross for Jacob Lawless in the men’s with Team GB ski cross youth Olympian Isobel Brown winning the women’s title.
A huge thanks must go to all of the athletes for the great spirt and sportsmanship on show throughout the day. A special thank you to The Cross Collective for providing volunteers and to Norfolk Snowsports Club from bringing such a large group of competitors. The event was not possible without the support of all the volunteers and the staff at Snozone, Castleford.
Everyone is looking forward to next year!