Llangrannog: Sunday Oct 11th 2009

Following their fine performance in the South Wales Artificial Ski Championships that took place at Cardiff Ski Club back in May, Cowbridge Comprehensive School qualified 6 teams (3 girls and 3 boys teams) to race in the Welsh Schools Artificial Ski Championships that was held on Sunday October 11th at Llangrannog.

The Cowbridge contingent consisted of a range of abilities; some very experienced skiers and some pupils who were enjoying their first ever competitive ski race for the school. Nonetheless, both the girls and boys teams were under pressure to retain the title from last year and despite the horrendous weather conditions in Llangrannog, which left visibility on the slope extremely poor, the pupils certainly did not disappoint!

The order of races was altered slightly because of the heavy rain, with the primary schools opening the competition, followed by 2 consecutive runs from the girls and finally 2 consecutive runs from the boys. Alice Hales in Yr 13 got Cowbridge’s campaign off to a flying start recording an outstanding time of 9.01secs in her first run and 9.0secs dead in her second run, which proved to be the fastest girls’ time of the day. This was quickly followed by Sarah Williams in Yr 11 who produced an impressive time of 9.41secs in her first run and 9.46secs in her second run, setting the president to the other racers and putting Cowbridge Girls A Team in strong contention. The other girls quickly responded to the high standards set by Alice and Sarah and produced an excellent set of times:

The boy’s races were equally exciting with Cowbridge’s own Scott Sanger in Yr 13 and Sam Stephens in Yr 12 battling it out for first place in the individual competition. Scott opened the competition with an incredible time of 8.65secs in his first run, which Sam responded to by shaving away 0.1 of a second with an excellent time of 8.64secs. Both boys came out strong in their second run but it was Sam who proved to have the edge on the day recording a time of 8.55secs (the fastest boys’ time of the day) to Scott’s time of 8.62secs.

Excellent individual results also put them in strong contention in the team competition and as with the girls; the boys went from strength to strength and recorded a set of excellent times:

An excellent set of times saw Cowbridge pupils collecting the following individual medals:

Girls:

Overall Girls Competition:

Boys:

Overall Boys Competition:

Special Recognition Awards:

In the team competitions the pupils gained further honours and were successful in retaining both the girls and Boys titles:

As a result, the Girls A, B & C teams and the Boys A & B teams have qualified for the British Schools Artificial Ski Championships which is to be held in Pontypool on Sunday November 15th. We are extremely grateful to Coyote of Cowbridge who will yet again be sponsoring the school teams in his event.

To have 5 teams qualify for a British final is an outstanding achievement. Through their hard work and dedication to the sport, the pupils are a credit to Cowbridge Comprehensive School and we wish them luck in the British Championships.

Thanks yet again to the parents for their continued support (despite a very wet day!) and to Mr Walsh for giving up his Sunday to support the pupils and help navigate the roads of West Wales!