Interschools Sydney Region Snowsports Championships
In the last week of the recent holidays, the Shore Snowsports Team travelled to Perisher to compete in the 2024 Interschools Sydney Region Snowsports Championships. Fifty-two skiers and boarders from Kindergarten through to Year 12 competed in Alpine GS, Ski Cross, Moguls, Snowboard GS and Snowboard Cross.
A small number of the team competed in the Redlands Cup and Scots Race as a warm-up to Interschools on Sunday, July 14. At Redlands, Ari Ganasin placed 8th, and Duncan C clocked the fastest single time in Division 1 Alpine; Charlie Kovacs won individual Silver and Jack Steiger-Thorpe individual Bronze with the A Team winning Silver in Division 2 Alpine, and in Division 3 Snowboard, Cyan C placed 3rd for Individual Bronze. At the Scots race, Duncan C took home Individual Gold for Division 1, in Division 2 Micah Minchin placed 13th and in Division 3 Anders Minchin placed 25th.
The Interschools Sydney Region competition commenced on Tuesday July 16 with the Snowboard races. In Division 1 Snowboard GS, the B Team won Team Silver, with George L placing third overall for Individual Bronze. In Snowboard Cross, each team was allowed a single run on a very short and basic course – the best that could be provided under the conditions. In Division 1, the B Team won Team Bronze, while in Division 3, Cyan C blitzed the field for Individual Gold.
Wednesday continued the flow of success with Moguls Qualifier runs. In Division 1 Moguls Qualifier, Ari Ganassin and Alexander Yu placed 4th and 6th respectively; In Division 3 Charlie Kovacs placed 3rd; and in Division 3 Lachlan Jansen, Henry Grieve and Benjamin Rose placed 2nd, 3rd and 6th respectively.
On Thursday, Division 3 Ski Cross had our A Team place 5th and the B Team placed 6th, demonstrating the strong depth that we continue to develop in the sport. In Division 2 Alpine, the A xTeam won Team Silver, with Charlie Kovacs placing 4th overall. Our B Team placed 6th by 0.25 seconds. Division 1 Ski Cross was a nail-biting event, down to the wire. Our A Team raced brilliantly to hold on to Team Gold by 1/100th of a second. Duncan C took out Individual Gold.
The weather on the final day of competition was bleak, to say the least. The wind chill making an already cold day seem below -10 degrees. Regardless, our boys competed with vigour. In Division 1 Alpine, the A Team placed third for Team Bronze with Duncan C placing 1st in both his first and second run for Individual Gold. The Division 3 Alpine race was reduced to one run and, due to timing issues, the race took two and a half hours to conduct. It didn’t deter our boys, however, with the Division 3 Alpine A Team charging home for Team Bronze and William Thompson winning Individual Silver. In Ski Cross, the Division 2 boys continued their display of depth with the A Team placing third for Team Bronze and the B Team placing 5th. Jack Steiger-Thorpe’s Individual Silver and Charlie Kovacs’ 4th place show formidable strength.
All up an awesome week. Very special thanks to the parents for their support of the boys’ passion for skiing and boarding. The team now look forward to the NSW State Championships to be held in late August.
Stay tuned!
Mr WJ Payne
MIC Snowsports
