YUsnow back up BUDS points with King’s League success
Dave Tee, YUsnow's first-year England Team representative, at the BUDS Championships in Edinburgh. Photographs by Louise Cotrel-Gibbons
After a steady start to the Kings Ski Club dual slalom league, York University Snowsports were back where they belonged on Saturday night. YUsnow’s first team came second in the third round of the Northern League, a merger of last year’s North West and North East leagues, with 30 teams participating.
This high finish came just one week after the club had picked up their first BUCS points at the British University Dry Slope Championships (BUDS) in Edinburgh, thanks largely to a second place finish by Marlies Neuner in the female Snowboarder Giant Slalom.
In the King’s League on Saturday, York had to fight hard in an expanded division where some universities, such as Newcastle and Manchester, had fielded five teams. York were further handicapped by their late start to term, giving them less time to recruit and train a team, and this showed in the early rounds.
However, it was definitely third round lucky as York entered an extremely experienced first team consisting of YUsnow Race Captain James Lodge, postgraduate Michael Perkins in his fifth year of racing for the club, YUsnow President Matt Thomas, first year Stephanie-Campbell Woodward, who has been racing for a number of years, and last but certainly not least, first-year England Team skier Dave Tee.
This exciting new team won every race on Saturday evening, until they just missed out in a tense and remarkably close final against Newcastle University’s first team, notorious for being one of the best university teams on the circuit with several England Team racers.
Michael Perkins, in his fifth year of racing for YUsnow, at the BUDS event in Edinburgh
Nonetheless, a repeat of this weekend’s performance at the next round will give York a chance at qualifying for the finals in Brentwood, Essex, in May.
Last weekend, York had participated in the prestigious BUDS competition, a two-day event attended by over 800 students from all over Great Britain and one of only two opportunities for snowsports teams to acquire BUCS points.
The performance of Neuner ensured York finished joint-fifth in the overall standings, collecting 2.5 BUCS points in the process.
Marlies’s result on the first day qualified her to take part in the Boarder X event – an event including a downhill section, a jump and a slalom course – the following day, which she went on to win. Tom Farrow also qualified in the Male Snowboarder GS for the Boarder X.
Steph-Campbell Woodward narrowly missed out on qualification in the Slalom event, finishing 33rd out of nearly 200 competitors
All the female skiers completed both the Slalom and Giant Slalom courses, with fresher Woodward only just missing out on qualification for a second run in the Slalom by placing 33rd in of a field of over 200 female racers; an excellent result she hopes to beat in her second and third years at York. Stephanie also performed well in the Giant Slalom, finishing in 46th place, with Emily Scott close behind her on 48th place.
The male skiers were not as successful, as, despite skiing well, several of our top racers suffered from bad luck on the course. Lodge and Thomas completed the tough Slalom course, coming a credible 74th and 100th respectively. Matt Thomas also completed the Giant Slalom course to finish 86th. Tee, an England Team racer and York University first year student, achieved a very impressive 14th place despite a minor mistake on the course which cost him valuable time – YUsnow has high hopes for him over the next few years.
The final event of the weekend was the dual ski slalom, in which both the York first and second teams finished within the top 16 teams out of a field of 60. The first team were knocked out in a very eventful race by Loughborough University firsts, a very strong team on the circuit, whilst the seconds team lost out to Newcastle University firsts, one of the most successful teams in university level snowsports.
A great weekend was had by all competitors and supporters, bring on the next BUCS event on real snow.
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