In January, the Eltham College Ski Racing Team headed to Wengen, Switzerland for the DHO British Schoolboys Ski Race after a 2-year break from attending due to COVID. The team was thrilled to be back in the stunning Jungfrau region, sporting a mix of experienced racers and some newer members of the team. On day one the team perfected their on-snow skills and got on with training for the Slalom and Giant Slalom events, we had fantastic weather throughout the day and all boys were eager to get training. At the end of the day, we made our way to the first event of the competition for the Dual Slalom event, Harry (Year 7) finished 2nd in the U12 category a fantastic result for his first time at the competition beating some very talented racers from Reed’s. Unfortunately, our older boys had a few stumbles along the course and were knocked out just before the finals.
Day two was when the major events competition begun starting with the Giant Slalom, skiing out of the famous Lauberhorn Start Hut with a picturesque view down the World Cup Racecourse which has been used for many years. It was a challenging course with some start list issues causing some later starts for our experienced racers. Despite the late start for run one with a rutted and icy course the boys made it through the challenging course and the boys were excited for run two set by our Head of Ski Racing – Emily Evans. With a change to the order run 2 was great with plenty of excellent fast runs for the team. Congratulations to Alex (Upper Sixth) for finishing in 1st in the U21 age category, a fantastic result for Alex at his last ever Schoolboys Ski Race.
Day three we were onto the Slalom event a more familiar event for the team due to our dry slope training. Another spectacular day on the slope with the sun just peaking over the top of the mountains around the course, unfortunately cold weather and minimal snow overnight did mean some icy patches to the course which took down a few of our racers. Excellent skiing from Boden (Year 10), Oscar (Year 7) which saw them place well in their age groups. Boden secured 2nd in the U16 age group and Oscar finished in 3rd for the U14 age group. Well done to the whole team who competed and congratulations again to those that made it onto the podium.
A fantastic week of ski racing with some great performances from the whole team. We look forward to being back next year even stronger and achieving the excellent results from our teammates before us. Well done to all skiers involved in the competition and a big thank you for the excellent leadership of our older racers Alex (Upper Sixth), Boden (Year 10), Freddie (Year 10) supporting and encouraging our younger students at their first ever British Schoolboys Ski Race.
