When the news came through from UK Sport that they would not be funding the alpine programme for 2022-23, tough decisions had to be made. The Alpine team stood up and became business people as they made compelling case for sponsors to come forward and as a result of the decision by UK Sport, one of the two new positions that have recently been announced has been that of Fundraiser. Paul Trayner also stood down after six years as Chair of the Alpine Committee.
Juliet Foster has stepped up as a volunteer to take over from Trayner as Chair of the Alpine Committee. Foster is well versed in the machinations of GB Snowsport as she already runs the GB Children’s team. While Trayner was employed by GB Snowsport, Foster is keen to emphasise that she is taking no remuneration from GB Snowsport as she feels all the funding should be going to the athletes.
Foster explained “First, I would like to thank Paul for his 6 years as Chair of the Alpine committee. Having been on the committee for two of those years, I know first-hand how much Paul has contributed to recent alpine successes.
“Last year, alpine had its best ever season of results, this season too has seen athletes regularly scoring World Cup points and in the last fortnight, we saw the next generation of athletes performing at the World Championships. This is a real high point in terms of performance and is massively to the credit of clubs, academies and families. However, U.K. Sport’s devastating decision to reduce funding, just at the time of most need and most potential, means that, in addition to continuing to ensure fair and consistent selection polices and processes, as a committee, we must also enable more of a focus on fundraising to help build a solid financial platform for these athletes. To this end, I look forward to supporting Mark Quinn as he spearheads our fundraising initiatives.
“The Alpine committee will also do as much as we can to liaise effectively with the clubs and academies which are at the very heart of British ski racing. It should help that I will continue to be manager of the GB Children’s team, and so in direct contact with children, coaches, clubs and academies in that role.“
Mark Quinn, already an enthusiastic supporter of the British team through supporting all six of the World Cup team in various capacities as well as support for the Evolution Racing programme, “will also join the Committee and be directly responsible for helping to raise funds for Alpine,” Rory Tapner, Chair of the Board explained to Racer Ready.
Quinn added “I am delighted to be appointed to The Alpine Selection Committee with my role focussed on fundraising. I look forward to working with the federation to help better fund our superbly talented and hardworking athletes.”
This season has seen what is possible on limited budgets, all the Men’s slalom World Cup team have scored points to date yet it is the racers lower down the pyramid that are starting to show exceptional promise that will encourage both Foster and Quinn for the future. A number of top ten results at top children’s races, including two wins at the Skofja Loka that will see Zak Carrick-Smith forerunning at the Men’s World Cup in Kranjska Gora this season.
There is so much to be positive about regarding results on the slope at the moment including the super impressive results from Owen Vinter, Ed Guigonnet, Calum Langmuir, Reece Bell and Vicki Palla at the World Championships amongst others moving up the pyramid.