Wellington College – Success for Girls Ski Team in Flaine

14 Feb 2018

The Wellington Girls Ski Team travelled to the gloriously sunny French resort of Flaine to compete in the British Schoolgirls races. The girls started with two fun, but tough, training days with the Impulse ski trainers and were ready to face the competition. The eve before the event, some of the more experienced racers were to be found in the boot room waxing their skis and getting psyched up for the next day. First up was the highly anticipated Giant Slalom. The girls had great spirit and thoroughly enjoyed the event. Ophelia Vesely was placed 14th overall 3rd in her age group, Miranda Vesely was placed 15th overall and 10th in her age group. That afternoon saw the Parallel Slalom with both Wellington A and B getting to the quarter finals in their respective competitions.

Day 2 was the slalom race; the course was a challenging one and was running very fast. All our racers made it to the bottom in both runs and Ophelia was placed 2nd in her age group and 12th overall. The combination of good race times and consistent results led to the Wellington As being crowned 3rd best team overall out of 54 teams. Well done Ophelia, Miranda and Lucy Bryer.

Special mention must go to Captain Margaux Gathy both for her excellent leadership and for her individual performance (she came 10th overall in her age rank of unregistered racers) and to Evie Tipple who came second in the Edge award for showing huge support and selflessness to her team mates.

The girls had a great few days on and off the pistes. Despite the fact that most of them had never raced before, they smiled continuously, and they should be very proud of their efforts. This is the first time we have taken home silverware – the future of girls skiing at Wellington is very strong.

Medals:

Ophelia Vesely: Bronze GS, Silver Slalom and Silver overall in her age category

Wellington A: Bronze overall