Successful YUsnow season ends with national qualification
York University’s Ski and Snowboard teams rounded off a successful King’s League campaign with mass qualification for May’s national finals over the weekend. In only their first year of competition in the north-west division, both snowboard teams finished in the top three, sauntering into the main event at Brentwood. They will be joined in Essex by the ladies’ and the mixed ski teams, who did enough to overcome tough opposition and earn progression.
The snowboard first team – comprising Eugene Dodd, Max Potter, Marlies Neuner and Richard Ramsbottom – pipped Leeds University to take first place, despite being comparatively inexperienced in the King’s League, which features five regional divisions and almost every English institution. Remarkably, the second team – made up of Captain Kate Hicks, Ben Ward, Tom Beviss and Liam Griffin – finished in overall third place, also qualifying to ensure a strong York presence. Hicks was understandably ‘ecstatic’ following the achievement, telling Nouse, “I’m so proud of each and every snowboarder who races for York. It’s been a great year so far, loads of fun!”
“It’s the enthusiasm, hard work and perseverance (snowboard racing generally considered a silly idea and we’ve had all the bruises to see why!) that have made this such a successful team,” Hicks added. “Regarding the finals, the competition is huge with other, larger universities having strong and experienced teams, so who knows. I do have every faith that we’ll all put in 100% effort.”
Meanwhile, the mixed ski team – which features James Lodge, Ben Corbey, YUsnow President Katy Huckle, Michael Perkins, and Great Britain skier Max Hardy – chose the hard route to qualification. Finishing only eleventh after the first round in October, they needed to finish in third position or higher at each of the three remaining rounds to book their ticket. This they achieved, ending up fourth overall, sandwiched between two strong Manchester teams.
Huckle gave her thoughts to Nouse afterwards, saying “so far, this has been the most successful season ever in the history of snowsports at York, and this is entirely down to the commitment and enthusiasm of every single individual who has taken part in racing” in an echo of Hicks’s sentiments.
“We’re sending our teams to the British University Snowsports Championships (BUSC main event) at Easter, where they’ll be competing for real points on real snow, and we’re expecting some good results.”
The mixed second team of Matt Thomas, Emily Scott, Conrad Bartos, Emily Bird and Hannah Cooper, just missed out on qualification, finishing sixth, one place outside where they needed to be.
The ladies’ ski team enjoyed an excellent, and consistent, season, finishing second in every round, and, therefore, second behind Manchester overall. Emily Scott unofficially took charge of the team, which also included Katy Huckle, Emily Bird and Hannah Cooper, and was understandably delighted at qualification and extremely proud of the team.
With thanks to Emily Scott and Katy Huckle
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Congratulations to all the YUsnow teams, awesome achievements so far! I heard the Treasurer is pretty amazing too…