Stover Ski Team Gold at British Indoor championships

Over the Autumn Term, there are three key ski races for the Stover team. These include two rounds of the British Indoor Schools Competition and the Devon Schools Championship, on our home slope.

After an 8am start, at 9:15am we arrived at Milton Keynes, full of the joys of Spring. Racers from the Prep School included a number of first-time participants and an all-girls team competing in different age groups.

The girl’s team finished just outside the medals but Emily Sell, Emily Gaffney and Madi Cooper Thompson all made the top 20 and Rosie Arnold broke into the top 10 and scored points for Stover. The entire team were each around 10 seconds faster than last year which was fantastic to see.

The indefatigable Jack Cox, led from the front and won both his age group and the overall race for the boys, with his brother, Fraser Cox, coming a strong second. However, Harrison Ball, who only started racing a couple of seasons ago, was the ‘find of the day’ and finished 11th, only one place out of the points. Together with Hudson Cooper Thompson, the boys won a superb team gold.

For the Senior School, Elliot Edwards, an established and strong racer in his own right but making his school debut, threatened to break into the points until he skied out on his second run. 

Our heroine for the day was Kate Watt. Kate picked up racing 18 months ago and has gone from a ‘nervous novice’ to a ‘roaring racer’. On Friday training before the race, she clipped a gate and took a nasty fall but on race day she charged down the hill and finished several seconds quicker than last year.  Very inspiring.

The team have a very enthusiastic cohort of 20 new pupils who have joined the club this year and as their skill level starts to improve, we should all watch out for some new names!

A big thank you to Frederika, Mark and all the parents who travelled to support!

Ms Robinson