I made my first visit to Meribel to watch the British Land Championships this year. My younger siblings Sam and Honor Clissold were taking part for the fourth time and I was curious to see what all the fuss was about. Mingling with the crowds on the edge of the piste and at the finish, I could see that much is at stake.
Younger racers are either fighting for or looking to retain their places on the GB squad and those in their final year, like Sam who will be a junior next year, are looking for a place on the youth development squad with rumours of a place at the Youth Olympic Games being up for grabs. Despite what is at stake Sam and Honi are both in a good frame of mind, exuding a nervous excitement as they focus on their ski prep, handing each finished ski to the rest of the family allowing us to inspect the razor sharp edges and silky smooth base, before they disappear off to bed surprisingly early, ready for the races the next day.
The intensity of skiing at this level is something that makes my mind boggle. As a competitive sportsman and a reasonable skier myself, I am no stranger to the difficulties of competitive sport, but skiing seems to take many of its aspects, such as competition, focus, skill and luck and to increase them by a factor of ten. It is incredible to see the concentration of the competitors, especially considering their age, as they inspect the course, prepare for the descent, zone in and, of course, complete the race itself. Not only do they appear older than their years in the completion of the event, but their sportsmanship is also incredible, with the athletes all congratulating each other if they do well and being supportive of people that have a bad run, knowing full well that it could have been them.
Meribel is undoubtedly the biggest event in the British Children’s race calendar. In January, the peak of British Skiing’s financial crisis, it was questionable whether the British Children’s Championships would take place at all this year. The combination of Snowsport GB and the British Ski and Snowsport Federation going into administration cast a dark stormy cloud over the near future of the sport. Thanks to a the tremendous efforts of Colin Moynihan and others like him, the British Ski and Snowboarding (BSS) – Organisation was set up in the nick of time with new directors so there was an atmosphere of optimism among the racers, their parents and their coaches with talk of a new phoenix that will soar from the flames of the old system, taking off in a direction that really cultivates British talent and takes British Skiing to a new level.
The Championships comprises three disciplines: Super-G, Giant Slalom and Slalom. There is a minimum entry requirement of less than 400 BASS points for GS and slalom that can be achieved through a couple of solid runs in qualifying races. There is, however, no qualifying level for Super-G as many of the younger or new racers will not have had the chance to previously compete in this longer and perilously faster discipline. Instead there is an obligatory training day except that this year it was announced that, due to a bad weather forecast, the training day might be the actual race.
As the racers plummeted down the course at speeds of over 50 miles per hour, pushing themselves to the very limits of their ability, they did not know whether the run would count towards their overall result. In the end it turned out that the weather conditions were acceptable, so the real Championship race would be held the next day. Honi and Sam had a gold and silver between them so it was an unwelcome piece of news but they took it stoically. Some parents however did not feeling that the communication between the organisers and the competitors could be improved. As with many things in the system, there appears to be a need for more transparency.
The racers did experience some treacherous weather over the next few days, with a mixture of fog, heat, rain and snow coming their way. I was impressed by the organiser’s determination to keep, as far as possible, to schedule but it was the racer’s willingness to throw themselves out of the start gate in all conditions that seriously impressed me.
For Sam and Honi the races were a great success. Honi ended up taking home two firsts and a second, making her overall female children 1 winner and Sam achieved one first, one second and one third, making him the overall male children 2 winner. To win the Overall title a skier needs to perform consistently through the disciplines, a tough ask when there is a thin line between skiing to your maximum and pushing it too far. There are always a number of strong contenders and though Sam and Honi were both ecstatic with their results, they each took the time to give heartfelt commiserations to their fellow racers, who had mishaps that put them out of the running, especially the Australian Rebecca Brown for Honi and fellow GB racer Max Baggio for Sam.
Overall the event more than lived up to my expectations. The shoots of new beginnings are arriving as the season ends on a high, both personally for my family, but also on the wider scales of British skiing. The new direction to be taken by the Youth development squad as explained by Lord Moynihan and by the clubs looks set to bring Britain into the light as a nation that can compete in skiing on an international level. The proof of this possibility is partly in the movement towards better organisation, but is mostly found in the skiers themselves. There is real talent in skiers such as Robert Poth, Violet Miller, Max Baggio and Sam and Honor Clissold all we need to do is harness it. If we can do that then it is only a matter of time before results such as Sam Clissold’s tenth place in Slalom in Slovenia become common place. Let’s hope that The British races in Meribel this year shut the door on some of the attitudes that have dogged British skiing and opened it to fresh new approaches that will give young British racers the backing they deserve.
