Freestyle Update

For the freestylers among you there is a Grom Camp being held at Bracknell on Sunday the 4th April in the afternoon. If you are interested go to http://www.salomongromcamps.co.uk/

Looking further forward the region is running its first competition series for freestyle this year. The first round is on the 8th May at Bracknell, the second is at Chatham on the 22nd May and the final round is at Warmwell on the 12th June. If you are interested I have a copy of the race poster with more details so please let me know.

Olly and Nick's Easter Training Days

Olly and Nick will be running some training days in the Easter Holidays, on the following dates;

7th and 8th of April

14th and 15th April

Racers of all levels are welcome and the days will run from 10:00 until 15:00 with a break in the middle for lunch. The mornings will focus on technical skiing and in the afternoon the intention is to use the gates in the afternoon and ski as many courses as possible.

The cost is £45 per day and if you would like to take part please let Olly know as soon as you can.

Level 2 Performance Course at Aldershot?

Snowsport South are looking to organise a level 2 performance course at Aldershot in the coming months. Before we look at dates we are keen to know how many people are interested in taking part. To attend you need to be over 18 and at least a level 1 instructor or have less than 80 seed points. Please let me know if you are interested in taking part. As with the freestyle course the intention is that the region will fund the course itself although it will be necessary to pay for the slope time.

Southampton Winter Series Race New Date

For those who did not know the Southampton winter series race which was scheduled for last Sunday had to be cancelled at the last minute due to a break in at the slope. The Southampton club have now arranged to hold the race on Sunday the 21st March with doors opening at 08:00 and racing starting around 09:00. Refreshments will be available and entry will be £8. If you would like to take part then please let me know by 18:30 on Wednesday the 17th March.

Ski Top Box Looking for a Good Home

Dave Fetherston has a Thule Alpine 700 Top Box clogging up his garage and has offered to give it to anyone who can make good use of it. It is in "pretty good order" and is complete and ready to fit to roof bars. If you are interested either let me know or contact Dave directly.

Freestyle Coaches Course, Bracknell

Snowsports South have organised a freestyle coaching course at Bracknell on the 10th and 11th April. The cost of the course will be met by the region but attendees will have to pay the slope costs of £60 for the two days.

Participants must be 16 years old and the freestyle course is one of the modules that must be completed for those wishing to become freestyle coaches. The other modules are first aid, level 1 instructor or similar and a judges course. To pass the module the participant will need to be able to do a 180 and ride the box rail.

If you are interested please let me know and I will put your name forward.

English Championships in Bormio

13 Aldershot racers (11 racing + 2 on reconnaissance) and their families made the long and eventful trip out to Bormio, Italy for the 2010 English Alpine Champs.

It seems that all possible travel & accommodation variations were explored some with more success than others, but all with interesting, frustrating & mostly amusing tales to tell. Whether you picked the short(!) driving route down through Switzerland, the long route through the Mont Blanc tunnel & up via Milan or the flying option with taxi from Milan, we were all met with good Italian hospitality, good snow & very good racing. Even Brian Long (Phoebe’s dad) was smiling after realising he had booked his flight for the wrong month, the Deighton’s kept smiling after having to pay 2 Euros an hour for heating in their apartment and we were all smiling at the prospect of Will Usher’s wallet becoming much lighter in the future after Annie’s excellent first foray into snow racing.

The racers; Euan Chapman, Oliver Deighton, Toby Deighton, Harry Deighton, Phoebe Long, Annie Usher, Will Wheeler, Jack Honey, James Sieber, Oliver Krahelski, Alicja Krahelski & with Chris & Will Reader supporting, recorded some excellent results proving that with some good training and a little talent our little plastic slope can still produce excellent skiers.

Results: (podiums in red)

Girls Slalom – Annie Usher 6^th Children 1 (21^st overall)

Phoebe Long 20^th Children 1 (41^st overall)

Boys Slalom - Will Wheeler 3^rd Children 1 (10^th Overall)

Oliver Krahelski 9^th Children 2 (13^th overall)

James Sieber 12^th Children 2 (18^th overall)

Euan Chapman 23^rd Children 1 (48^th overall)

Jack Honey 29^th Children 2 (58^th overall)

Girls Giant Slalom Annie Usher 10^th Children 1 (25^th overall)

Phoebe Long 20^th Children 1 (40^th overall)

Boys Giant Slalom Will Wheeler 10^th Children 1 (21^st Overall)

James Sieber 24^th Children 2 (44^th overall)

Oliver Krahelski 32^nd Children 2 (57^th overall)

Euan Chapman 37^th Children 1 (78^th overall)

Jack Honey 43^rd Children 2 (81^st overall)

Minis Girls GS

Race 1 Alicja Krahelski 1^st

Race 2 Alicja Krahelski 1^st

Minis Boys GS

Race 1 Toby Deighton 7^th

Harry Deighton 9^th

Race 2 Toby Deighton 3^rd

Harry Deighton 11^th

Girls SuperG Annie Usher 7^th Children 1 (20^th overall)

Boys SuperG Oliver Krahelski 12^th Children 2 (13^th overall)

James Sieber 16^th Children 2 (21^st overall)

The full results can be found at http://www.englishalpinechamps.org.uk/entry

Last but not least; Will Reader deserves a medal for persevering & mastering the art of snowboarding in such a short time…. a welcome new recruit to the dark-side!