Brentwood School - Brentwoodian 2020

17 ski championship In September 2018 we launched the Brentwood School Ski Team, with a clear target to enter a team in the Independent School Ski Championships in December 2019. We can be proud in having smashed this target, by taking 16 students to compete and returning with four medals and three trophies! The team set off in the early hours of Thursday 12th December, arriving in Les Deux Alpes with the threat of a storm coming in. This meant the first day of skiing was restricted due to the weather and a large amount of the resort being closed. However the pupils demonstrated a fantastic attitude and enjoyed their time with their instructors regardless. In fact, by the end of the week, it should be noted that all the ISSC staff and the ski instructors commented on the exemplary behaviour and attitude of our pupils, who were shining ambassadors for the School in our first competition. Despite the stormy weather, the organisers and resort worked very hard to ensure the race schedule was still followed. So on Saturday our Senior boys did manage to compete in the Slalom race. Our strongest performance came from the boys’ team captain, Oliver Sparks, who came 14th in the U16 category. We had three boys finish in the top 20 in their age group, which for our first time ever racing on snow, was a brilliant start! On Sunday the Junior boys’ and Senior girls’ Giant Slalom took place. A special mention must go to Evelyn Golledge, the only female skier on the trip, who competed for the School for the first time in our history in a ski racing competition. Eve skied with confidence and finished 30th out of all 106 senior girls and 12th in the U16 category - a fantastic result! Throughout the week Eve had to work independently a lot of the time, as the only Brentwood School pupil in the Senior Girls’ group, and she showed maturity and exemplary behaviour throughout the week. In the junior boys’ racing, the Kingsley twins, Max and Sam, from the First Year, were our only entrants. Having been told to “bring home victory” they surely did, with Sam winning the Gold medal and finishing with the only sub-30 second time, completing the course in 29.68 seconds. Max also had two excellent runs and secured the Silver medal to ensure Brentwood featured strongly at the top of the leaderboard. On Monday the senior boys raced again in the Giant Slalom. With a couple of days training now under their belts, every skier improved in their performance in this race. After a disappointing stumble in the slalom, which he resiliently corrected and still managed to finish in the top 20 despite it, Harry Toms had an outstanding performance, finishing 6th out of all the Senior boys, although he is one of the youngest in this category. This is a very promising sign for future competitions! Oscar Tweed, Jacob Sparks and Harry East also competed in the U14 age group and they all showed huge determination and improvement in the races. In the U16 category, Oliver Sparks again finished fastest from our skiers, finishing in 11th place. Excellent performances were also seen from Freddie Wise, James Pridmore (despite a shoulder injury), Oscar Graver and Damon Pearse. Damon also impressed the organisers with his freestyle skiing during training and a video of his 360 degree jump was retweeted! On the final day of racing the Junior boys and Senior girls completed their Slalom event and it was incredibly exhilarating. Once again Evelyn finished in the top 20 of the U16 Senior girls, with a best time of 47.48 seconds, and the Kingsley twins were inspirational in their performances. Sam once again brought the Gold medal home, finishing the course in 29.68 seconds (and again being the only skier to achieve a sub-30 second time!) and sure enough Max followed with flair and outstanding skill to bring the Silver medal home! As a result, in our first ever ski team competition we came home with four medals and three trophies in the Junior category! The final and most exciting race, the Parallel Slalom team event, took place on Tuesday afternoon. For this event we had to select