First time to represent my new School, Akeley Wood School, at the BISS National Indoor Champs @ The Snow Centre at Hemel.

Only been at AWS for a few weeks (and spent most of my time skiing, so thank you for the Support from all the School).

So here is my report, Mr Tombs, Head of Sport at AWS asked me to prepare:

On Monday 25th September Akeley Wood School entered its first ever 3 person team into the British Independent Schools Skiing National Indoor Championships which took part at The Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead, accompanied by Mr Seddon.  With not only age group category medals at stake, there are rankings for best Female, Male and Mixed Teams.

Led by Callum Millard (U18 Category) the team included Kayne Stanway (U14 Year 8) and Zachary Metheringham (U14 Year 9) students.

With 192 skiers aged U14 to U21 racing over two runs of the same course, with the best time of the two runs to count towards age group places, a good first run from all the team was essential.

After open practice and course inspection all three AWS racers posted fast first run times (Callum 15.21s, Kayne 14.16 and Zac 13.17).  With a large field taking part, the slalom course cut up very quickly and run two times for most of the field where slower, including the three AWS racers.

Final results placed Callum in an amazing 8th place in the U18 Male category, Kayne into 3rd and Zachary in 1st place in the U14 Male category.  Zachary’s first run time placed him in 4th position overall in all the Male age categories (U14 to U21).

With three good results, the team thoughts turned to the Male Team awards.  Many of the schools attending have a large ski racing presence and several with two or three teams taking part.  Based on points from age group positions, Eltham College and Akeley Wood School where tied for 1st place and with a count back based on which team had the higher podium positions, AWS where awarded 1st Place Senior Male Team.

The afternoon of racing was a great experience for the whole team and to walk away with a debut 1st Place Senior Male Team was a bonus.  Due to the team and individual podium places, all three team members have been invited to be part of the National Schools Squad for the 2017-18 Season.

Well done to Callum, Kayne and Zac.

Over the Winter Season and into 2018 there are several Schools Alpine and Schools UK based Indoor and Dry Slope races and it would be great to expand the number of students taking part in ski races representing Akeley Wood School.