5 January 2003
Val
D'Isere, France, 17th - 19th December
The rumours were true - this year Val D'Isere had the best conditions
in living memory - well, what more could we do to make up for last
year? So whilst most of you were waist deep in powder, a gallant
few spent three days throwing themselves down the perfectly groomed
Stade, you lucky people.
Once again, Evolution 2's Olivier (the only
sarcastic man in France) and Robert joined us for a spot of race
training, which for some people involved being told which way to
go around the first gate (Mentioning no names, Miss Hedley-Lewis).
Sunshine and GS
The first of the race days brought glorious sunshine - a welcome
change for competitors and officials alike from sitting around on
the glacier last year. A good number of skiers turned out for the
Giant Slalom, whilst only 4 boarders could tear themselves away
from the snow parks long enough to negotiate the gates.
In
the morning the slope was dominated by Bristol, who made themselves
very much at home. With the Milky Bar Kid absent, the field was
wide open for the first time in years, which allowed Bristol's Bevan
Farmer (usually Exeter!) the opportunity to clinch the men's gold
(although I'm sure he'd argue that he'd still have won it even if
Mr Hothersall had been there) whilst his team mate Melissa Hedley-Lewis
took the women's title. After a short break for lunch the boarding
competition commenced.
Elliot Green (Napier) adopted the tactic of
intimidating the opposition (all one of them) by turning up in hard
boots, Scotland helmet and talking very loudly about the World Student
Games - and it worked. Despite pleas from the two female officials,
no board could be "acquired", so for the umpteenth time the 3rd
place Ladies boarding medal goes to… Mark Jones, University of Life.
Official injuries
The slalom racing days saw a change of Race Director as, in a spectacular
piece of extreme officiating, almost half of the Kings officials
out in resort sustained injuries to either the nose or left knee
(although Mark gets extra points for doing both, which had the desired
effect of inspiring sympathy from every scantily clad lady in Dicks
Tea Bar). The Midlands league's Will Dockerty took charge of the
racers who showed up for the Individual slalom over three, then
four, then five runs… until, exhausted, the racers rebelled and
escaped the then very rutted course to the sanctuary of the powder
fields.
Milky
Bar put in a celebrity appearance with his 15 year old protégé who,
despite it being his first time racing on snow, managed to put most
of the opposition to shame. The afternoon saw teams from BUSC, Milky
Bar, Kings and, eventually, Wasteland competing for the team prize,
which was won by BUSC for having the most intimidating titles for
their skiers, although they loose points for trying to take out
an injured official flagging at the bottom of the slope.
The winners
So, onto the prize giving where, controversially and not for the
first time Bristol lost out on the Alpine Championship title, due
to their lack of snowboarders - this left the door wide open for
Durham University to be crowned KSC Alpine 2002 Champions. A full
listing of the
results is also available in pdf format.
Thank you to...
Big thanks to all those that made is happen - cheers to Matt Dors
for conscripting the majority of Bristol's racers, Skiworld Special
Events for their sponsorship and organisation of the officials transport
and accommodation, to Dick's Tea Bar for their hospitality (although
we may have cursed them the following morning…).
Special thanks to Iain from Natives for his continuing support and prizes. And finally Leeds Uni who, although not competing, participated in the greatest snowball fight known to man.
Report from Mark, Will, Nick, Ruth, Matt,
Robin and Helen
KSC Alpine Officials 2002
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