Saturday 21st saw 11 of our skiers making the long trek down to Norfolk ski club to compete in the British Championships and ERSA/SSE minis combi-race. Many highlights but top mentions have to go to Chris and Callum who both finished in the top 10 overall, having won their respective categories (U21 and U16 respectively.) Silverware also to Dex who finished 2nd in the U16’s giving Pendle a tremendous 1-2. Despite valiant efforts no other silverware. The unfamiliar combi format of the U10/12 race denied Josef a podium. Eleanor took an uncharacteristic tumble on the 1st run, which aggravated a previous injury and prevented her from starting the 2nd run. She assures us she will be well and racing for the 1st WRL at the start of October.
Sunday saw the 2013 Inter-regional finals take place at Norfolk ski club. Pendle provided 10 of the 14 team-members. Thanks to all who competed, and also to the support teams. Special mentions to Stefan/Andrew/Kathy for ski-prep work, Roland for marshaling, Lins & Dave for coaching, and the cheer-coven at the bottom!
Excellent solid skiing in the league stages by both teams. Unfortunately the B team (Comprising Kaigan, Morgan, Louise, Kelly, Jonny, Joe & Matt (CHF) )were narrowly defeated in 2 of their races, which denied them the right to progress to the knockout stages. Certainly not for want of trying. The A team fared better courtesy of exceptional skiing from Mikey (MSR), Francesca (CHF), Sophie (CHF), Callum Dex, Andy and Chris. They progressed to the knockout stages, having topped the leader board for their league. A nail-biting series of knock-out races saw them progress to the finals, which was to be a best of 3. The opponents were an incredibly strong Eastern Region side who had won their league in the morning. ERSA won the 1st ski-off by a fraction, so it was all down to the second race. If we were to win it would go to the 3rd race, a loss would confine us to 2nd. The tension was palpable, and many of the spectators were, literally, on the edge of their seats. However it wasn’t to be our day – an uncharacteristic, forced error from NWSF A meant that 2nd place was our final result. We must not under-estimate what an achievement this is – it is a fabulous result and with such a young team (4 of them are in U16/U18 categories) we can only dare to dream what we are still capable of