Ski Racers Finish the Season on Top
BackA group of 17 ski racers from Reed’s travelled out to Pila in Italy for three days of training before two days of fierce competition. With over 60 schools from England, Scotland, France and Switzerland represented and almost 500 racers, the Interschools’ Ski Challenge is the biggest and most competitive schools’ race on the British ski racing calendar.
With the sun shining, day one would see the U14 racers tackle the Giant Slalom course and the U16 and U18s taking on an icy Slalom course with everyone competing for individual medals and team points with a top 10 finish in their age category. In the massively competitive U18 group, ski captain George Dendle led from the front to take the gold medal. James Gillett’s two fantastic performances included a hike back up to a missed gate on run two but, were still good enough to secure him the bronze medal. Ben Hart was in outstanding form and his efforts were rewarded with a U16 silver medal. In the girls’ race, featuring a number of full-time racers and a strong international contingent, Rebecca Vernon agonisingly missed out on a medal by 0.1 of a second, whilst Miranda Vesely’s super efforts put her in 8th place. Matthew Gillett was the pick of the U14 boys in 10th place.
A chilly, but bright, start to day two saw the racers switch disciplines. The U14 boys had a tough time on the ice where 50% of the racers failed to complete both runs. Tobi Kadrnka held his nerve to finish 8th and Cameron McDonald battled his way to a top 20 finish. However, the business end of the competition was taking place on the GS piste where the first run witnessed some outstanding skiing from the Reed’s boys. After dominating the first run, James Gillett smashed his way to the U18 gold medal with Toby Fryers hot on his heels in 2nd place. Markus Kadrnka and Ben Hart made it an all Reed’s top four in the overall standings where the U16 duo completed a double one-two for Reed’s with gold and silver in the U16 category. George Dendle completed the Reed’s dominance to make it five out of the top seven finishes with an U18 bronze medal. Jack Greenwood had an up and down time picking up 20th place whilst Toby Barrand scored some great personal seeding points in 33rd place. In the U18 girls race both Rebecca and Miranda again secured top 10 finishes.
George Dendle and Ben Hart’s outstanding performances in the four runs over the two days would see them crowned as U18 and U16 Individual Champions respectively. The team efforts would also see them crowned as the ISSC British Schools’ Champions.
Huge congratulations to all our racers who took part, especially those who have not been mentioned, most of whom are at the start of their racing careers but who can be equally proud of their performances and achievements.
Mark Vernon, Head of Ski Racing
