The bedrock of her victory was laid in her opening run of the 2018 All England Championships by Lauren Vale. With a healthy gap between her and the rest of the field the Aldershot racer had set the mark and the rest of the field had to raise their game to challenge seventeen year old. British team racer, Lois Jackson took second place with Charlotte Holmes taking third. The top five was rounded out by Jenny Davies and Ella Giles.
The 2018 Championships, the biggest race of the dry slope season, was expected to be a battle between Vale and the British Ski Academy GBR Series winner, Nicole Shering. Vale took a definitive lead after the first run over her teammate but this was a race that would only be decided after the last racer had raced down the course. With the whole field going in reverse order on the second run, the top five after the first run were Vale, Shering, Holmes, Jackson and Davies with Jolie Hoffman producing a really encouraging and impressive sixth fastest time.
With Dave Eaves having set the first run, it was left to Pete Cutler, to set the second run. Both course setters gave the racers plenty to think about and it was no surprise to see a high casualty rate on both runs. These were Championship level courses: not impossible but if you crossed the mark, you risked crashing out.
With six to go it was Ella Giles in the leaders seat in the finish with Emma Trust and a much improved Holly McKey in the provisional podium places. After a great first run, a distraught Hoffman crashed out midway down the course as she was unable to move her feet quick enough to get through the tricky section.
Jenny Davies, the oldest racer in the field, then grabbed the lead but then Lois Jackson, making a late start to her summer racing programme, then took a near six-tenths lead. This was impressive and exciting racing. A great advert for dry mat racing.
Under 14 racer Holmes was next down and she split the Jackson and Holmes. Could she stay on the podium with the two main racers from the summer still to come?
First up was Shering. The first run had seen Shering make a few small and uncustomary mistakes that had cost her dear. All too often this summer, Shering had battled her way down a second run to blow the rest of the field away. One suspected that this would be Shering’s aim again.
It was not the cleanest of runs and she got caught on the tails of her skis approaching the last gate and missed it. There would be no GBR and All England double for Shering this year.
This left Vale with a near second lead over Jackson from the first run. Vale explained after the race that she had heard the reaction of Shering skiing out but does not watch racers prior to her run. She knows what she wants to do and how she plans to execute this.
Four hundredths faster than Jackson on the second run, Vale had put in two runs that were smooth and fast. Having won her first GBR race at Pontypool, Vale had now taken her first All England win. Her next aim? To be the zero point racer by the end of the season. Watch this space.
The age groups were won by Charlotte Holmes (Under 14, 3rd Overall), Ella Giles (Under 16, 5th Overall), Lauren Vale (Under 18, All England Champion), Victoria Gatty (Under 21, 8th Overall) and Jenny Davies (Senior, 4th Overall).
The Under 12 race was won by Amber Fennell from Daisy Putman and Katie Saunders with Emily Magnani taking the Under 10 race.
Full results:
Mini results: