Saturday 25 to Thursday 30 January 2020
Written by Lower Sixth students, Matthew and Liam.
The Ski Race team headed to Wengen DHO Schoolboys Races with a blend of experienced skiers and youthful debutants. Training (Slalom) on Sunday 26 January, ahead of the races, provided the team with an opportunity to prepare for the competition ahead and, despite a few significant absentees through injury, the team were optimistic ahead of the races. Unfortunately, due to poor weather being forecast for the scheduled Giant Slalom race day, the event was moved forward, meaning that the boys were unable to train on Giant Slalom skis.
Despite the lack of training, there were some strong performances, particularly from the younger skiers, including a first place in the U12s for Year 7 student Boden (despite attempts from the Chief of Race to sabotage his second run!) and a 4th place for Adam (Year 8) and Luke (Year 10) in the U14s and U16s respectively. The boys did particularly well in the second run set by our Head of Skiing – Emily Evans, who was on hand during inspection to help the boys find the fastest racing line. Unfortunately, neither of our teams made it onto the podium, but the strong performances from the younger skiers bode well for future years.
On the third day, it was the Slalom race. Bad weather meant that the race had to be moved down the mountain to avoid the strong winds and heavy snowfall. Nevertheless, the team prepared fully and skied excellently. Great skiing from Theo (Year 10) and Luke (Year 10) saw them placed well in the U16 category, a great result for the younger members of the team. In the U18 category, there were more good results with great skiing from Daragh (Lower Sixth), Kyle (Lower Sixth) and Tom (Lower Sixth) who all placed personal best finishes on top of an excellent 4th placed finish from Matthew (Lower Sixth).
Similarly competitive skiing in the Dual Slalom on the final day of racing saw both teams ski into the later rounds of the knockout competition, narrowly missing out on the finals. Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable week of ski racing, which despite achieving fewer medals than previous years, the performance of both senior and junior members of the squad promises much for next season.
