The race on Saturday was well attended with 132 racers coming from all over the southern region and some as far as Cardiff and Chatham. This made for a highly competitive field, both on and off the slope with servicing technicians (enthusiastic parents) frantically waxing and sharpening skis between runs.
The racing this weekend was a little different as the main lift was out of action and the decision was made to race on the left hand slope which due to its undulations made the top of the course quite technical. There was a fantastic team spirit amongst the SASA team with all eight of the attendant racers supporting each other and making sure everyone knew and was happy with the course and cheering each other on after every run. The day wasn’t without incident with one young lady falling after she crossed the line and landing on the sharp edge of her ski and putting a rather large hole in her behind (recovering well now and smiling on Facebook) and another young lad who bent his ski dramatically on the crash barriers at the bottom of the slope, he would have grown out of those skis anyway. As one of our young racers pointed out to me during the delay “its ok coz at least they still got a time” True racing spirit.
We had some notable success for SASA with Geno Hounsham winning a bronze in the U12 male in a very competitive group and Hunter Barnes winning Gold in the U8 male, and our 2 female racers Imogen White and Imogen Miller both putting in great performances and winning all 3 of their head to head races. All our racers recorded very respectable times on a tricky course and should be proud of themselves.
All in all a great day in the sun, I would encourage everyone to try it, there is lots of support on the day for new racers and its great fun to watch.
Mike Barnes
