Zak Vinter made it two wins from two races that he has contested this summer on the Indoor scene in the United Kingdom. Having won the Scottish Indoor title in June, Vinter added the GB Title to his roll of honour with a hard fought but comprehensive victory with the fastest time on both runs. Ashley Breese, ex British team and now a coach with Kandahar, ran him close to take second with Sam Carson third. Owen Vinter and Toby Case rounded out the top five finishers.
No matter what some may say, there is still a certain amount of prestige in winning national titles. It was great to see a number of current British Under 21 and Under 18 Team members taking part in the GB Indoor Championships. The inspiration that it gives the younger racers is great to see as they watch from both the top and the bottom of the course.
After the first run Zak Vinter lead the field but it was a close run thing: The top five racers were separated by just 0.35 seconds. Vinter, a member of the GB Team at the World and Junior World Championships last season lead the way ahead of Carson, Breese, Owen Vinter and Case. There was plenty to fight for in the group following these as well.
With five to go on the second run, a tremendous second run by Rob Holmes saw him in the lead of those in the finish. Holmes had been in seventh after the first run but knew that he would require a great run and some luck to gatecrash the top five, he was too far off the pace. Holmes produced a run that while it was sixth fastest, was much more akin to what he knew was possible and was closer to his undoubted ability.
Next up was Case. The talented Excel and Aldershot racer went faster than Holmes to maintain his position yet you could sense that his chances of making the podium were slim due to the standard of those still to come. To finish first, first you have to finish!
Owen Vinter, the current British Overall Senior Champion, was next down and he eked out a few more hundredths from the time that Case had set. This was the sort of event that British Indoor racing had been crying out for all summer: This was top British racers pushing each other to go faster and faster.
Next down was Breese. This was Breese's first race in a year and yet here he was battling it out with full time athletes and in the mix for the overall win. You had to think, if only injury had not deprived him of racing full time...
Breese went faster still than Owen Vinter to be almost three tenths ahead of Vinter but with two more racers to go, could he stay in the lead?
With an advantage of just one hundredth over Breese, Sam Carson could not afford any slip up if he was to stay in contention. The fine line between being on the mark and trying too hard is a hard place to find. the course may have been only thirteen and a half second long, but any mistake would be costly. Just one slip could see Carson drop off the leaderboard.
Carson was fast but could not live with the speed that Breese had generated and while he was faster than Owen Vinter and Toby Case, he dropped behind Breese into second at the time.
This left Zak Vinter at the start. This was the racer that they had all come to race against. This was the racer that had it all to lose and nothing to gain by pitting himself against the rising talent in the finish.
Vinter did not disappoint.
Faster than any other racer on the course meant his lead over Breese in the finish was three tenths. This gave plenty of footage for the coaches down the side of the course to show their charges after the race in seeing how to ski the courses. The politeness of the racer to his fellow racers was great to see as he wrapped up the GB Championship title.
The age groups were won by Lewis McKey (Under 14, 19th Overall), Fraser Baggaley (Uner 16, 12th Overall), Toby Case (Under 18, 5th Overall), Sam Carson (Under 21, 3rd Overall), Zak Vinter (Senior, British Champion) and Will Manns (Masters, 14th Overall).
Full results
action shots from the racing are on www.racerready.zenfolio.com
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