British Schoolgirls Racing Championships in Flaine
02 February 2015
Flaine welcomed the 2015 British Schoolgirls' Races on Monday 26th and Tuesday 27th Jan, and Skiplex were proud to be Gold sponsors for the event. It was clear at the event that without the sponsors and supporters help the event would not be able to go ahead, and Skiplex were very proud to be a part of this. The event was well organised by a core team with great support from the Ladies Ski club.
Throughout the event there was an overwhelming sense of comradely and sportsmanship shown between all girls (aged 14-18 years) and schools competing within the races. This was optimised by the Parallel slalom event, where the eventual winners were Richmond "A" but each of the races in a knockout style format were closely run, with all girls embracing and congratulating each other.
After a full days practice and formalities on Sunday evening, the serious racing began on Monday morning. The event was welcomed in by flurries of much needed snow throughout the day. This led to softer conditions throughout the rest of the championships. On day one the Giant Slalom (GS) race took place and there was outstanding racing across all age groups. In the U18 year's age group Honor Clissold (Richmond School) took top honours by over 8 seconds from the next competitor. The U16 year's was won by Genevieve Baird (Loretto), and the U14's by Olivia Foster (Woldingham).
The much anticipated Parallel Slalom race took place on the Monday afternoon and after a fiercely fought out knockout competition was won by Richmond A, who beat Godoplhin & Latymer B in the final. The event reached new heights when Kandahar were narrowly beaten on the line by Godoplhin & Latymer B sending them through to the final.
The second day of racing welcomed the arrival of two British Ski Racing stars and idols to many of the girls competing; Chemmy Alcott and her partner Dougie Crawford who did some forerunning for each of the competitions. Chemmy started, and won many of these races as a child, and her presence elevated the competition with all girls looking to impress and have a photo with Chemmy at any opportunity. It was a great opportunity to catch up with Chemmy and Dougie as they have both been on Skiplex slopes before and we could talk about how race techniques could be used upon it. Watch our video .
The racing on day two comprised of the slalom event. Again a highly contested competition with Honor Clissold (Richmond) winning the U18's, Genevieve Baird (Loretto) winning the U16's and Anna Rogers (Millfield) winning the U14's. The team points overall competition was won by Richmond, second place was Loretto A and third was Kandahar.
Overall the competition was highly competitive but surrounded by a buoyant atmosphere that Skiplex was very proud to witness and be a part of. Skiplex firmly believed that every one of the children at the races could benefit from our slopes in terms of technique and the ability to train the race teams during off season or pre season before each of the championships.
Check out our album on for pictures!
