01 April 2005

The 2005 British Mogul Championships were held in Oberstdorf, Germany over Easter weekend. The competition was staged jointly with the German and Dutch National Championships.

The top 16 men and 8 women went into the final of the FIS event, then each nation paired their skiers to decide the German, British and Dutch national champions.

A tumble by Martin Nankoo (Kent) in the qualification round caused him to be the lowest ranked Brit for the finals. This meant that he drew Simon Bates (Edinburgh) in the next round, but a good start by Martin gave him the edge so he won through to meet Jack Mallalieu (Aviemore) in the final. Martin easily beat Jack and was delighted to become British Dual Moguls men's champion.

Two newcomers Ellie Koyander (Derbyshire) and Kate Williams (Sheffield), who were too young to enter the FIS event, battled for the British women's title with Ellie clearly beating Kate.

In the international FIS event Simon Bates was on form and ended 7th being knocked out by the eventual winner Grischa Weber of Germany.

Easter Sunday was Ski Cross day, not part of the British Championships as this event was included in the Orange Brits Championships in Laax, Switzerland earlier in March. Simon Bates was joined by Angus Morrison as the two Brits fought their way down the twisting course with four racers in each heat. Morrison put down and excellent qualification time to reach 9th place but some body contact with another racer sent him off into the netting, ending his chances in the next round. Bates was lucky to come 3rd in his heat when another racer tumbled but this did not improve his overall ranking.

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