The British Land Junior and Children's Ski Championships
4th April 2003With a whole range of changes for the first day of The British Land Junior and Childrens National Ski Championships - not least the venue as the championships move to Meribel following their senior counterparts - there were a whole range of challenges facing both organisers and competitors alike.
With over 240 youngsters competing and the Scottish FIS Giant Slalom Championship running simultaneously on the same slope, even the comprehensive resources of the Olympic venue were tested. Boys and girls slaloms ran simultaneously through the morning with four course set across the piste.
It was also the first major championship to utilise the change to the children's start order, an initiative designed to both reduce the inherent advantage afforded to earlier starters, and also to better prepare young racers for the bumpy, rutted courses which they are likely to encounter when the start out on the full international circuits.
The combination of what became bumpy and rutted courses, produced by the effects of the strong sunshine and high number of competitors, as well as the demanding, steep piste proved testing and it was a slalom which required even the top seeds to use their heads as well as their technical skills. Several of the favourites learnt the hard way, losing valuable time as they skied off their lines, or even crashed out of the courses.
With the championships titles decided over both slalom runs it was Norfolk's Harriet Steggles who won the Girls Children 1 title, winning by over one second from the Les Houches, France based Louise Russell-Henry. In the Children 1 Boys championship slalom Chichester's Jack Breton triumphed, winning both races to give himself a substantial cushion of over three seconds. Breton was the quickest of the whole 120 strong boys field over both runs. In the younger age-group (Children 2, Year of Birth 1989-90) Michael Colyer (Fareham) won the Boys title while Harpenden's Hannah Wright, who has already scored one of Britain's best international results with an 11th in Abetone, Italy this season, won comfortably.
" It is a difficult hill for younger skiers who may not be so fully developed with their technical skiing and their strength, and so it needed even the better guys and girls to use their heads a bit." Commented Snowsport GB's Performance Director Mark Tilston, "But even saying that there it was great to see some new skiers coming through that looked to be skiing really well that we have maybe never seem before."
In the Scottish FIS Giant Slalom, which was moved to Meribel to complement the British Land Junior FIS races and because of the lack of suitable snows at home, British Junior Cahmpion James Barcock (Bath) of the The British Land National Ski Team won conclusively from Ireland's Thomas Foley.
British Land Junior and Childrens National Ski Championships, Meribel, France, Day 1. Children's Slalom.
Slalom Championship: Children 1 Girls (Year of Birth 1991-1992):
1 H Steggles (Norfolk/Dragons) 1-25.48,
2 L Russell-Henry (Les Houches, France) 1-26.66,
3 S Bissett (Grantown on Spey) 1-26.83.
Children 2 Girls (Year of Birth1989-90):
1 H Wright (Harpenden/British Ski Academy) 1-22.73,
2 J Mashiter (Milnthorpe, Cumbria/Kandahar SC) 1-25.13,
3 L Hall (Killearn/Aberdeen Ski Club) 1-25.96.
Children 1 Boys:
1 J Breton (Chichester/British Ski Association) 1-16.80,
2 N Robinson (Camberley/DHO) 1-20.20,
3 L Laidlaw (Victoria, Australia/Sandown Park SC) 1-21.86,
Children 2 Boys:
1 M Colyer (Eastleigh/Kandahar) 1-19.89,
2 F Clough (Chelmsford/DHO) 1-21.47,
3 B Hall (Birmingham/Dragons SC) 1-22.71.
Slalom Race 1: Children 1 Girls:
1 Steggles 40.25,
2 J Baggio (Harpenden) 40.63,
3 S Bissett (Grantown on Spey/ Scottish Ski Club) 41.43,
Children 1 Boys:
1 Breton 36.86,
2 N Robinson (Camberley/DHO) 37.63,
3 Laidlaw 39.52,
Children 2 Girls:
1 S Ovenden (Sandown Park SC) 39.48,
2 H Wright 42.48,
3 Mashiter 40.43,
Children 2 Boys:
1 C Chan (Marcellaz, France/DHO) 38.34,
2 R Macdougall (Villars/DHO) 39.67,
3 J Greenwood (Farnham/DHO) 39.73
Slalom 2:
1 H Garwood (Bourg St Maurice) 44.44
2 L Russell-Henry (Les Houches) 45.15,
3 Steggles 45.23,
Children 1 Boys:
1 Breton 39.95,
2 J Evans (Stoke Poges/Kandahar) 40.99,
3 H Brown (Chateauneuf de Grasse) 41.36,
Children 2 Girls:
1 Wright 42.48,
2 S Fairweather (Swadlingcote/Dragons SC) 42.99,
3 Hall,
Children 2 Boys:
1 Colyer 39.07,
2 Clough 41.47,
3 F Paton (Ratho/Scottish SC) 41.55.
Scottish FIS Ski Champs. Meribel, Giant Slalom:
1 J White (Dorking/Scottish Ski Team) 1-07.38, 1-08.14,
2-15.52, 2 L Thomas 1-08.39, 1-07.49 2-15.88,
3 T Scilimati (Switzerland/GBR) 1-08.88, 1-07.24 2-16.12.
Men:
1 J Barcock-Edwards (Bath/The British Land Alpine Ski Team) 1-01.29, 1-03.24 2-04.53,
2 T Foley (Ireland) 1-03.47, 1-04.12, 2-07.49,
3 D Harrison (Edinburgh) 1-03.61, 1-04.00 2-07.61.