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EWUDS REPORT |
24 May 2002 |
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The individual was a close run race with the home boys dominating in the men's skiing, Tom Francis from the Sharks team claiming a very close first place from Frank Reardon by a mere 0.06 seconds. Peter Thelwell completed a Sheffield 1,2 and 3. In the Ladies, Melissa Hedley-Lewis from Bristol took her first championship title home peaking at just the right time to become English and Welsh University Dry slope Champion. She was very closely followed by one of the very able EWUDS officials Vic Sarsfield and Ex BUSC rep Lucy Williams. The women's snowboarding was however the talk of the day, with one young lady dominating every event. A comfortable victory for Annie O'Sullivan in the individual. Certainly a name to look out for in the future. The Men's race was slightly closer with Dan Pupuis piping Owen Bird and Andy Heaps to the title of individual champion. Party and Big Air Qualification By lunch time the party was in full swing. With
tunes provided by the Redbull Landrover we moved onto the qualification
for the Big Air. Competition was hot, if it wasn't inverted it was
on the way home and most of the uni competitors were feeling the
heat from the Sheffield sprogletts, a crack team of young individuals,
including an extremely talented young lady, who considered anything
less than a 720 a waste of time. With beer, banter and bodacious
big airs aplenty, qualification was concluded. The parallels could
begin. Also of interest was the abduction of the flag judges, who had to be replaced by far less qualified, far more enthusiastic individuals who spent most of their time jousting. In the boarder event Manchester took honours, with close second and third places going to the Plymouth Massive. Worth mentioning was the contribution by the Bird Man (known not for his bird pulling abilities but for his aerial acrobatics) who completed the race for no less than five teams, unfortunately not any that won. Big it up the Bird Man. Big Air Finals
Of course all of them neglected to tell the organisers that as far as they were concerned a chicken salad was something you ate not pulled and a rodeo would usually be performed in the bedroom not on a ski slope. But enthusiasm was the name of the game, and this they had in abundance, informing the competitors that they were all to pay the extra 30p and go large. A lot was expected and even more delivered as we were treated to some of the most G7 (nu skool translation: extremely impressive) spins, rotations and inverts to hit the streets. The Sheffield Sprogs dominated taking home almost all of the silverware, but once again Annie O'Sullivan kept it real and walked away with an easy and much deserved win in the female board comp. It appeared that none of the other competitors could even get close. The day was completed with prizes presented by our resident celebrity Gareth Trayner, who although worn out from all his arduous activities during the day, still managed to bring a smile to a number of female faces while dishing out the prizes. Thanks to...
We would also like to thank everybody who helped out on, before or after the day, to all the competitors, and to the supporters, who between them made a good day fantastic. | |
C.Mattock:
"Al, Al, wake up!"
45
minutes later we arrived at Sheffield Ski Village to begin the inaugural
English and Welsh University Dry Slope Championships. Thanks to
a couple of cans of Redbull, control was established and fevered
activity ensued. Competitors arrived from unis around the country,
the course was set by the Sheffield Sharks Ski Team, and, contrary
to what had been predicted at 3:00 am the previous evening, the
event started on time.
Teams
from all round Britain including an invitational Scottish team,
lined up at the start of the parallel. Two races in and controversy
struck, the Scottish team female was not female. After a full gender
test had been completed and Alison turned out to be Jamie Allason,
the team was disqualified. This left the door open to an unbeaten
Bristol team to walk home, completing the most successful season
in the club's history. 
With
the parallels completed this left only the Big Air Finals. Phone
calls were made and a celebrity team of judges was called in consisting
of none other than Gareth Trayner (British Olympiad and expert Jouster),
Henry Taylor (Ex British Team and expert mincer), Big Matt (Kings
No.1 official) and Chris Mattock (EWUDS event manager, Vodka freestyle
demo team member, Freestyle Scotland demo team member and Dynastar
Sponsee). 
A
big thank you goes out to our title sponsors On the Piste and the
Pacific Bar (Val d'Isere). Also to ukskiersresource.co.uk, Skibartlett.com,
Natives, Sheffield Ski Village, the Sharks Ski Team, Kings Ski Club
and Red Bull. Without all of whom we would not have been able to
run the race.
