Racing at Norfolk Snowsports Club

There have been a few races since the last report (including the conclusion of all three series). Here's what you may have missed.....

Chatham weekend saw a the Chatham Club National followed by a Dash for Cash head to head race on Saturday, and the Alpine 100 Club national on Sunday. For the Chatham Club National it was HOT and the course was a bit tricky with a speedy top section followed by tight turns around the roller.
🥈Clara U10
🥇Harry U10
🥇Elsie U12
🥉Sia U12
🥇Betsy U14 (🥉overall)
🥇Henry U14 (maiden CN win!?) 9th overall
🥇Isaac U16 (4th overall, fastest run of the day)
🥉Lewy U16
7th Sam U16
4th Jemima U18
5th Issy E U21
This was followed by the Dash for Cash head to head racing, fortunately with added rain to speed things up. There was some incredibly close racing (one race decided by 0.004s). Harry and Elsie walked away with 2nd places and a nice Cash prize in the mini races, and Betsy grabbed 3rd in the ladies race.
Sunday's Alpine 100 Club National saw fewer Norfolkians competing.
🥇Betsy U14 (5th overall)
🥈Henry U14
🥇Isaac U16 (🥉 overall)
6th Sam U16

The following weekend was Manchester/ERSA Tallington.

Manchester GBR 5
🥈 Ida U12 (Series winner 🏆)
🥇 Fred U14
🥉 Elliot U16 (8th overall)
4th Isaac U16 (9th overall)
Also, Alfie C won the U16 series 🏆 despite not being at race 5! Norfolk were 4th Club overall in the series, impressive from only a handful of skiers attending these races (basically Crofts+Elliot)!

English Indoor Champs
A very successful day for the guys involved as all were on the podium on what were pretty nice courses for a race of this level. There was a rather bizarre podium for the U16 boys with joint 1st place and joint 3rd 😆
🥇Ida U12
🥇Fred U14
🥇= Elliot U16
🥉= Isaac U16
3 Champions, not bad!

Tallington ERSA
🥇Clara U10
🥉Isla U10
4th Aurelia U10
6th Willow U10
🥇Harry U10
🥇Elsie U12
🥈Sia U12
🥉Isabella U12
4th Daisy U12
6th Arla U12
🥈Percy U12
4th Raffi U12
5th Jacob U12
7th Jack U12
🥈April U14
🥉Adelaide U14
🥇Ollie U14
🥈George U14
🥉Felix U14
5th Jasper U14
6th Arthur U14
🥈Georgina U16
🥈Harrison U16
6th Sam E U16
8th James U16
9th Sam P U16
🥇Jemima U18
🥇Issy E U21
🥈Jasmine SM1
🥇Jack SM1
🥈Edgar Ma3
🥉Mark Ma3
4th Richard Ma3
🥉Neil Ma4

The following weekend saw a choice between Hemel/Milton Keynes for indoor club nationals or Pontypool for yet another CN/GBR weekend in Wales.

At Ponty on Saturday's CN we had Henry 🥇U14 and Georgina 6th U16 on Saturday, before Sundays GBR where Henry repeated the trick with another 🥇U14 and Georgina was 7th U16. Both races were run in sweltering conditions, well over 30 degrees! (poor ski bases)

On the other end of the scale it was approx -5 degrees in the snowdomes. Shoutout to the Bridges (and Harry who was along for the ride) for a well deserved Wilson award due to car troubles meaning they arrived just about in time for course inspection.
Hemel results:
🥇Clara U10
4th Isla U10
🥇Harry U10
🥈Elsie U12
7th Sia U12
11th Daisy U12
🥇Betsy U14 (🥉overall)
🥈Jemima U18 (10th overall)
🥇Fred U14
🥈Alfie C U16 (5th overall)
🥉Isaac U16 (6th overall)
9th Harrison U16

For the ERSA CN, held at Milton Keynes snowdome, it took over an hour to find enough places with suitable depth to set the full gates course, so with run 2 then going between the pillars onto the warm up slope, but being a much more rhythmical course to ski.
🥇Clara U10
4th Isla U10
🥇Harry U10 (fastest mini)
🥇Elsie U12
5th Sia U12
8th Daisy U12
🥉Raffi U12 (congrats on his first podium!)
🥇Betsy U14 (and winner overall🏆)
🥇Jemima U18 (5th overall)
🥉Ollie U14
🥉Harrison U16
5th Richard MA

Being the final English Club Nationals of the season, Norfolk finished 3rd in the club series, narrowly just behind Chatham in 2nd with Aldershot in the distance in 1st place. Not a bad result given the small numbers of big gates skiers we have had travelling. Well done to Isaac, Betsy, Marley, Sonny, Lewy, Elliot, Henry, Jemima, Georgina, Charlie, Sam E, Zack, Alfie C, Fred C, Harrison and Ollie who have all counted for us at some point/s in the season.

Next weekend was a choice between Silksworth for the final outdoor GBR races of the season or Hemel for the English moguls championships (back for the first time in 8 years!)

The moguls saw Betsy finish a narrow 4th in the Junior (U16&U14) category, with Isaac taking 🥇despite declining to spin on his 1st run.

Silksworth saw some very close racing with Marley holding the lead of the race on Saturday only to be thwarted by a ferocious headwind on his 2nd run (more from that mean guy later on).
GBR5
🥇Henry U14 (with a big pb for his points)
8th Georgina U16
🥇Marley U18 (4th overall)
🥈Sonny U18 (5th overall)
GBR6
🥇Henry U14
7th GeorginaU16
🥈Lewy U16 (9th overall)
🥇 Sonny U18 (4th overall)
🥈Marley U18 (6th overall)

And that was the GBR outdoor series complete. Norfolk finished a creditable 4th behind Aldershot in 1st with RTR and LSR 2nd and 3rd. Not bad considering our points came almost exclusively from the Ward-Hartnell-Hale axis of power, with Betsy and Thomas contributing once each at Llandudno. Reward for traipsing to all ends of the country were strong series results with Henry 🥇U14, Lewy 🥉U16, Marley 🥇U18, Sonny 🥈U18 and Marley also finishing 🥉in the overall Male series 👊

And finally, the British Outdoor champs were held at Stoke last weekend. It was a hard day for our U14s, with Zack and Henry skiing out run 2 (Henry having been in the lead after run 1). Madeleine also skied out run 2, but had a safe run 1 in the bank and finished 11th U12. Betsy skied well to take the U14 title 🏆 and Isaac put in a blinding run 1 to lie 3rd overall before dropping to 5th overall in run 2, but still winning the U16 title 🏆

Now there is a welcome break in racing for a couple of weekends, though there are the upcoming Junior Club Summer Camp and UNIQ pre All-England camp at Norfolk before All-England, then that's the season pretty much done! (except ERSA Champs, Brentwood ERSA, Scottish Champs, Welsh Champs, Lowlands.........)

What's a ski parent/coach to do when stuck at an indoor snowdome and they are bored? Write some catchup ski reports!

As today is Tallington ERSA, I'm guessing everyone probably wants to read what happened at Vikings ERSA a little while ago....

Well the individual slalom largely went to form. With a simple course and lots of space skiers could be as aggressive as they liked. Some of the big gates skiers were concerned by the proximity of the verti entry to Ipswich's kicker jump, but in reality the banking would help them into the combination if they had gone too wide. The minis had a very friendly course too, with all their turning gates on the better matting (big gates had been shoved across for once instead). Aside from Caitlin getting a bit off track and ending up in Ipswich's "moguls" the individual slalom was pretty much as expected, with Sonny blasting away the field in the Men's race and Betsy holding the lead in the women's before getting pipped by Vikings Maddie and Esme on the 3rd run. The real entertainment came in the head to head racing.

In the team races, our Children's B team unfortunately got DSQed after a wrong direction round the first gate, but the Children's A team progressed serenely into the final vs Vikings A. A potentially very close race went our way after one of the Vikings had to hike. The Open A and B teams met in the semi-final, where Richard employed a very clever tactic of distracting Jemima in the start gate by having a conversation with her causing her to miss the start beep to start and lose some of the lead Sonny had built up 🤣. No problem though, she extended her lead over big Rich and the A team progressed. Another tight final vs Vikings A was expected but once again a mistake in the middle of the race handed Norfolk A the win.

The top 16 races were a much tighter affair than the team races. In the minis there was a little confusion early on as Percy and Harry raced when they were supposed to be against other people.... back round to the top for them to both win the correct races. They then DID have to race each other and Harry progressed through to the final where he took on Elsie, with Harry taking the win. (Fair play to Hemel skier Ollie who called his own straddle on the last gate in the semi final 👏).

In the women's top 16 Betsy got revenge for the morning slalom by going through 4 Vikings to take victory. The Men's top 16 went to form until the final, where Sonny and Isaac put on a synchro skiing display until Sonny skied out at the death with Isaac taking the win.

U10 girls
🥇Clara
🥈Isla
5th Aurelia

U10 boys
🥇Harry

U12 girls
🥇Elsie
🥈Isabella
🥉Sia
4th Madeleine
8th Daisy

U12 boys
🥈Percy
5th Raffi
7th Jacob
8th Jack

U14 girls
🥇Betsy (3rd overall)
5th April
6th Adelaide
8th Millie
9th Lottie
10th Katie

U14 boys
🥇Henry (9th overall)
🥈Ollie
🥉Zack
5th George
8th Arthur
10th Toby

U16 girls
🥈Georgina (6th overall)
4th Sophie
6th Caitlin

U16 boys
🥇Isaac (2nd overall)
🥈Sam (6th overall)
4th Harrison
10th James
13th Sam
14th Harry

U18 ladies
🥈Jemima (4th overall)

U18 men (boys really)
🥇Sonny (1st overall 🏆)
🥉Thomas (5th overall)
5th Charlie (10th overall)

U21 Ladies
🥈Issy

Senior/Masters 1 Ladies
🥈Jasmine

Senior/Masters 1 Men
🥈Jack

Masters 2 Men
🥉Tom S

Masters 3 Men
🥈Mark
🥉Richard

Masters 4 Men
🥉Neil
4th Doug

Catchup report number 2..... Swadlincote

Last weekend saw our skiers have a choice between the indoor ERSAs or the Midland and UNIQ club nationals at Swadlincote (or a weekend off!?!?). Swad always attracts a high quality field, so those hunting for good seed points found the right place.

Saturday was Midland CN and a nice challenging course. Speed at the top then a turny section over the sole roller required good set up out of the combination and correct body position (anyone in the backseat with ceramic on their skis soon went shooting out of the course).

The Bucklees had signed up very last minute, but thankfully arrived very early and set up the world's largest gazebo to house the Norfolk crew (plus Viking Maddie W). Wilson award went to the Cheongvees, though some Bucklees were still having breakfast at the Golden arches when we left it 🤔

For the minis we had Madeleine and Felix (it was skiing with Elliot or ballet with Charlotte for him, he made the sensible choice). Madeleine skied clean if a little safe into 6th place in a competitive field and Felix 12th but improving every run.

Only a handful of big gates skiers. A single female, but Betsy had the bit between her teeth back on her trusty 149 skis after a disappointing "home" weekend where longer skis hadn't quite worked. Aggressive if slightly messy skiing saw her into 3rd place overall in run 1 which she maintained at the end - despite being chased down the hill by a gate she demolished - to happily join two Putmans on the overall podium 👏

Zack skied clean lines into 6th place. Charlie skied out run 1 and inexplicably skied into the lift pillar at the bottom of the slope, clearly a bit of red mist clouded his vision. Isaac also joined in with the 28 males who skied out run 1 😵‍💫. No such problems for Elliot who put in a very nice run into 6th overall. Run 2 saw improvements for all the boys. Charlie completed. Isaac held nothing back and stormed into 2nd place overall with some very aggressive skiing. The 3rd run saw an agonising last gate straddle for Charlie and strong runs from Elliot and Isaac to lock out the top 2 U16 positions with Isaac falling just off the overall podium in 4th overall and Elliot 6th.

Midland CN
U12 girls
6th Madeleine
U12 boys
12th Felix
U14 girls
🥇 Betsy (🥉overall)
U14 boys
6th Zack
U16 boys
🥇Isaac (4th overall)
🥈Elliot (6th overall)

Sunday: rinse and repeat for the UNIQ CN. There were some familiar faces running the show..... Joel Marsh (mini coach extraordinaore at UNIQ) was the stubbies course setter and Ben Clubb was on MC duties for the day.

The Wilson award went to the Wilsons who had shot across country after racing Hemel ERSA on Saturday in a move that was becoming Henry Hale's signature.

Joel set a very fast, flowing course that the minis seemed to enjoy. Madeleine was still warming up to start with but reached her aggressive mode by run 3, skiing into 6th again but very close to the podium. Felix also got faster every run and was very happy with his time at the end. No problems with the superfluous banana gate for either mini.

The full gates had a diagonal verti that needed care both in and out before once again a turny, technical section over the. roller though not quite as tricky as Saturday's course (the course setter had been told to be nice). Betsy took the win in U14 and 6th overall.

Zack and Charlie were closely matched throughout, with Charlie just coming out ahead. Thomas had an incredibly scrappy run 1, which included nearly stopping, followed by a ski out run 2 which led to an early trip home. Isaac and Elliot were after the top guys again, both in the top 3 overall after run 1! They kind of stayed there, with Isaac joint 2nd overall, very pleased to share the podium step with Monty B and Elliot declared 3rd overall on a crowded podium - prizes were handed out by Billy Major at the end of the day!

UNIQ CN
U12 girls
6th Madeleine
U12 boys
15th Felix
U14 girls
🥇 Betsy (6th overall)
U14 boys
6th Zack
U16 boys
🥇Isaac(=🥈overall)
🥈Elliot(🥉overall)
U18 boys
7th Charlie

A strong weekend from Zack who improved on his seed points in both races 🤩, with Isaac, Elliot and Betsy all improving theirs marginally too.

Not many more reports to catch up on now........

It appears we are a little behind on race reports. It hit me while at Vikings ERSA there hasn't been a report from the Vikings CN a fortnight ago...... so......

Following on from the Norfolk CN, Vikings the next day was another hot one. The Wilson award was taken jointly by Thomas Wilson and his chauffeur Charlie (who recently passed his test), which allowed their parents to have lie ins.

After watching Luke do and amusing shuttle runs drill to set both stubbies and full gates we had a handful of minis racing. Harry was the only boy from Norfolk, but laid down the fastest run of the day on his first go (essential on hot days when the slope is drying out) to win U10 boys and be the fastest mini overall. There were plenty more girls and we had a podium lockout for U12s with Sia taking her maiden win at Club National level with some superb fast skiing after a DNS run 1. She was followed by Daisy, Elsie and Madeleine in a very close race. We also had 2 minis on the U10 podium with Clara 2nd followed by Isla in 3rd. Those girls made up 6 of the top 9 🤩

The full gates course had a very well set hairpin at the bottom where you could either ski "normal" or reverse if you were willing to dance quickly afterwards. Only a handful braved it run 1, but that increased once everyone saw it could be done. In the women's race we had 3 competitors with Jemima and Betsy sharing a DNF each run 1&2 but all 3 including Georgina made it to the end with 5th places in category for Georgina and Jemima with Betsy taking the category win.

The Men's race had quite a handy batch of Norfolk skiers. We unfortunately lost Thomas to illness before he could start run 1 🤒. Charlie has been determined to lose his "tidy" reputation and followed some DNFs at Norfolk CN with another one in run 1 on the turny section over the roller. Fortunately he tidied up his line for run 2 & to make the finish this time. Zack got caught out on the same section both runs 1 & 2 but provided excellent race support for Madeleine after he had taken his ski boots off. Henry skied aggressively into 2nd place U14. Lewy and Isaac had strong runs to make it on the U16 podium together. Sonny and Marley put down very similar strong times, matching each other's Run 2 DNFs but finishing the other runs only a tenth apart - 2nd and 3rd overall just behind the experienced Will Manns. Its great to see our Norfolk U18s challenging right at the top end of races now.

U10 boys
🥇Harry (fastest mini)
U10 girls
🥈Clara
🥉Isla
U12 girls
🥇Sia
🥈Daisy
🥉Elsie
5th Madeleine
U14 boys
🥈Henry
5th Ollie
14th Beau
U14 girls
🥇Betsy (8th overall)
U16 boys
🥇Isaac (6th overall)
🥉Lewy (9th overall)
6th Sam
8th Harrison
U16 girls
5th Georgina
U18 boys
🥇Marley (2nd overall 🥈)
🥈Sonny (3rd overall🥉)
6th Charlie
U18 girls
5th Jemima
Masters
4th Mark
6th Richard

Well done to all! I didn't get round to collecting podium pictures, so instead you get a photo of a very well parked pick-up.

This weekend saw the Cardiff & Dragons CN and Welsh GBR1 held at LLandudno (how close is Llandudno to Cardiff????)

The majority of the team who travelled excused themselves from school to make it in time for the Friday training session - always useful on an unfamiliar slope. Reports came back of bemusing course sets that the setter had to walk through to show the skiers a correct route through, but that will have been a helpful for Sunday's race...... There was a surprising winner for "first person to arrive at the training session", but that isn't an official award so they don't get credit for it 😉

Saturday's club national was jam packed with 180 entries. The scenery at Llandudno is spectacular, but the lift speed is not and anyone who was counting how many skiers the lift could push up the track per minute could work out that 180 skiers x 3 runs each was going to mean a LONG day (especially after starting with 90 minutes of open practice). Many skiers decided to walk rather than wait for the lift which helped proceedings a little. The course set was pretty generous with space on the steep starting gates followed by the only challenge of 2 hairpins in close succession over the ridge/uphill section and a simple corridor/verti to finish. Very attackable on a nice slick slope thanks to intermittent drizzle.

We had 3 mini girls with Daisy, Sia and Isla all skiing nice clean runs and getting faster each time as they got braver with how much they could push at the start heading down the steep section. In a close battle Daisy just pipped Sia as they finished 6th and 9th in a tight bunch of skiers. Isla had a little moment on run 1 where she seemed to change her mind about 3 times as to which way she would head round a control gate, but got it correct and made it down safely, finishing an impressive 3rd U10 on debut in Wales.

In the big gates we had Betsy and Georgina racing with adopted Hemel racer Sia S joining the Norfolk tent village around the Hale gazebo. Georgina continued her good form by just beating her list seed points as she fninshed 8th U16. Betsy lost her outside ski over the ridge in run 1, but improved in the following runs to win U14 and finish a respectable 7th overall, no obvious after-effects of an early start in the morning as her brother had to be dropped off at Manchester airport on the way to this race 😵‍💫.

There was decent bunch of boys skiing this weekend. Ollie G was first out of the gate - bib 68 (amongst the unseeded racer draw) in a huge field of racers. He impressively beat his bib by 20 places with aggressive skiing. Henry's first run had a questionable booting of a gate, he did the right thing and carried on skiing the course, and on video review saw he had indeed straddled and turned himself in to the officials 👏. No such problems with runs 2 & 3 with some excellent drive out of his skis into 3rd place U14.

Our older male skiers seemed determined to make life difficult for themselves. Lewy used his training skis for run 1 before skiing out run 2, while Thomas, Sonny and Charlie all got a decent run 1 and skied out run 2 trying to improve. Only Marley got both runs in, managing to improve his 2nd run to join Sonny in the "under 15 seconds" club. Sonny's run 2 looked incredibly fast before he got out of balance, surviving more gates than he should have but ultimately skiing out and (just) avoiding splatting himself over the slope. No wonder Lou can't watch him race!
Run 3 saw some different approaches.... Charlie skied safely, perhaps too safely, down while Lewy really went for it at the top, tripping himself round gate 2 and performing a sad somersault and breaking a pole. Despite grazing his arm badly he ignored the first aiders right next to him on the slope and skied straight down to Nina, who patched him up ready for the next day - no swimming in the sea for him! Thomas was a little rusty having only recently returned to training following a thumb break and run 3 was a little sketchy (though at least he didn't sit on his tails like run 1), while Marley and Sonny put in clean runs both finishing in the top 10 overall.

Saturday:

U10 girls
🥉Isla

U12 girls
6th Daisy
9th Sia

U14 girls
🥇Betsy (7th overall)

U14 boys
🥉Henry
8th Ollie

U16 girls
8th Georgina

U18 boys (not yet men)
🥉Sonny (6th overall)
4th Marley (9th overall)
5th Thomas

Saturday evening saw customary visit to the arcades on the pier for most of the skiers - a warning for future trips, do not stand anywhere near the air hockey table when our skiers play - the puck will often leave the table and occasionally hit you in the face if you aren't paying attention.

Sunday's GBR went back to the more exciting format of 2 courses, 1 run on each course for the big gate skiers. The minis were down to 1 as the Bridges were taking in a long birthday weekend full of activities for Isla. So Daisy had 5 people helping her course inspect 😂. Too many cooks did not spoil the broth with Daisy attacking the course (she got 2 goes on course 1) and getting nearly half a second quicker on run 2 despite apparently pushing her pole onto her ski halfway down.

Course 1 was surprisingly simple for a GBR race - the instruction was to ensure most skiers made it into run 2. In fact it was easier than the previous club national with a spacious corridor down the steep leading into a verti on the uphill section and then a long corridor along the flat bottom half with rhythm changes (including a diagonal hiarpin that just continued the corridor). Those hoping this would make for a fast time in run 1 had their hopes dashed by the Welsh sunshine drying out the slope, with a particularly sticky patch on the uphill section, just where you don't want it. All Norfolk skiers made it through cleanly to run 2, pick of the bunch being Sonny who blasted down into 2nd place overall!

Course 2 was much more interesting. A more swingy top section followed by a banana style entry/exit to a diagonal verti (which had been practiced at Wednesday training as its a firm favourite of setters at Llandudno) was followed by a very tight diagonal corridor into a reverse entry hairpin with delay gate on exit that demanded a shimmy rather than a big turn. Skiers needed to know what they were going to do and remember their plans as it was certainly not a "standard" course. Betsy hiked up and round 3 times at the tricky section to ensure she knew what was going on - excellent focus - and everyone went round more than once to inspect.

Georgina skied through correctly into 7th U16, then Betsy got backseat and late in the diagonal corridor and just made it through the tricky section to repeat Saturday's 1st u14 and 7th overall.

Ollie provided the entertainment (not just through his 3D printed toys). Many people will have seen the Carrick-Smith video over the Winter where Zak (?) ended up skiing backwards round a gate before continuing after a quick 180 to correct the direction - imagine that on dry slope! So not the fastest time for Ollie but an impressive bit of improvisation. Henry is making final run charges a bit of a trademark. He skied a brilliant line through the tricky section allowing him to drive through and move up to 2nd place U14. Lewy had a tough time today, bashing his already injured arm on a double gate in the verti with the pain stopping him from remembering to turn properly and getting another DNF - just one of those weekends for him! Charlie and Thomas made it through safely with varying degrees of lateness in the tight corridor and Marley put together a very clean run for 3rd U18 and 7th overall. With many of the skiers either going out of the course in the tight section or getting confused in the reverse hairpin section it was an impressive finish rate from the Norfolk skiers - lets put it down to excellent coaching. Last down the course for us was Sonny and though he pushed so hard at the top he nearly fell round the 3rd gate he kept it together and finished with speed through the tight section for an excellent 1st U18 and 3rd overall 🙌

The drama proved too much for Nic who needed a change of trousers after the race (it was just drink apparently), and the final drama came when Henry was at the top of the toboggan track as the podiums were being done. No problems though, he sped down (applauding the girls U14 podium as he went past) and sprinted back up the hill in time to make his spot.

Sunday GBR 1:

U12 girls
6th Daisy

U14 girls
🥇 Betsy (7th overall)

U14 boys
🥈 Henry
9th Ollie

U16 girls
7th Georgina

U18 boys
🥇Sonny (3rd overall)
🥉Marley (7th overall)
4th Thomas (9th overall)
9th Charlie

So next weekend people have the choice of Hill End for GBR 2&3 - whoever in GB thought 2 long weekend treks in succession around the country was a good idea?? Or a trip to Manchester for Ambition's indoor club nationals. Or.... a weekend off to start half-term! Skiers can tune up over half term at the Team Evolution camp held at Norfolk before the Norfolk/Vikings Club National at the end of half-term.