On Monday 11 May, seven St Mary’s ski racers travelled to The Snow Centre, the indoor ski venue in Hemel Hempstead, to participate in the National Indoor Open Schools Championships. The competition brought together some of the best ski racers in the country. The championships provided an excellent opportunity for our team to test themselves in a national competition environment and gain valuable racing experience as, for some, this was their first time racing.
After a quick turnaround and some practice runs, the competition started with our skiers making their first runs. The course was short but testing and the racers had to get used to skiing in this environment and under pressure. The second run allowed participants to try and go quicker and get a quicker time.
As the pupils, Octavia S-P and Willough K (both UIV), explain:
‘We travelled to the competition, got our skis and headed onto the slope for some practice runs. Later, we did our course inspection ready for our first race. We were competing in slalom, which meant we had to learn the course by the colour and combination. For example, there was a hairpin combination, which meant you had to pay extra attention to where you were going.
Next, we were given our race numbers, which also set your start time. The races began, and we all took the button lift to the top of the slope, where the excitement started to build. With a strong first run from everyone, we all managed to get our ski legs back and get on track for the next run. We then all did a second run, with everyone greatly improving their time, which was good to see.’
The team performed very well even though they were all competing in the U16 competition. Indie F-D (UIV) finished the quickest of the St Mary’s Calne racers with a time of 19.25 in tenth place in the U16 women. It was fantastic to see the students racing and putting what they had learnt in their training into practice.
A huge thank you to the organisers (NSSA) and Mr John for his event support, including driving the minibus. Congratulations to all of the ski racers on their efforts as they look forward to their next event.
Mr David Abini, PE Department
