Round 4 Snowsports South Race Bowles 26 August 2017

Three SASA Racers attended the 5th round of the Southern Region ski races at Bowles this weekend. The sun shone and we arrived at a newly refurbished bottom area of the ski slope equipped with catch netting and an amphitheater area for the racers to set up camp (much safer than in previous years apparently) Numbers were down on other rounds  and this was probably due to the bank holiday, however this made for a very quick turnaround  of racers especially with a shorter slope and a well organised event.

Daniel Hutchings made his first SRSA podium of the year with a third place position and picked up three head to head wins in the boys under 14s. Imogen Miller skied very strong and traded places for the third place spot  during the morning in the girls under 14s category just to slip in to fourth place on the final run but picked up two head to head victories to help boost her seasons points tally.  Geno Hounsham skied to the silver medal position in the boys under 12s finishing 0.01 of a second  off first place and rounded off with two head to head victories.

SASA managed to enter a team in the Club races  again but failed to make it through the first round.

With  the last race of the series on the 16th September at Snowtrax it would be good to see a few more SASA members competing so please check your diaries and if you can make it please sign up.

Shaun Hounsham

SASA Training Camp Pamporovo February 2017

SASA Skiers Isabella Egerton,  Zac Egerton, Oliver Folloy-Marsh, Adam Harrison-Smith,  Laura Harrison-Smith,  Geno Hounsham and Logan Vickers took part in a race training camp during February half term.  The skiers were coached by Peter Todorov at his ski school, Interski Pamporovo, We were lucky to experience good weather throughout the week, especially for the first few days when the snowfall of our first night consolidated into a firm, grippy training surface.  Black 2, also known as “the wall”, provided a great training piste with a varied gradient and plenty of width to separate trainees from recreational skiers.  The northern aspect and relative high altitude ensured that the conditions on the piste remained good even later in the week when higher temperatures led to softer, wet conditions on lower and sunnier slopes.

Training was largely based on GS turns with a focus on posture and angulation, as well as building confidence to ski fast on steeper ground.  Afternoons were a chance to explore more widely both on piste and through the trees as a way to have fun an also to build wider skiing skills.

Skiers and their parents enjoyed the warm Bulgarian welcome, especially from the team at Interski, and a chance to socialise.  New friendships were formed and all pistes were explored while the children were training.  We look forward to future visits to Pamporovo, and thank Peter for his support.

Tony Smith

If you are interested in race training for February 2018,  please take a look at the News item from January,  where you can register interest for a trip to Italy.  We expect to get more details in late April/early May.

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Anglo – Scottish Championships, Pila 3 – 5 January 2017

Adam and Laura Harrison-Smith and Harvey Stanley recently attended the Anglo-Scottish Championships,  which were held in Pila for the first time.

They all did fantastically,  competing in slalom,  giant slalom (GS) and a GS/slalom combo race,  bringing home a total of 5 (very chunky!) medals between them!

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