Delancey British Alpine Championships 2013 Day One
The Delancey British National Alpine Ski Championships kicked off with the Super G in Meribel today - Sunday 24th March - with a fantastic turnout from the world's top alpine athletes.
Despite poor visibility during the early morning course inspection and the substantial changes to the layout of Meribel's race piste, Glasgow's Dougie Crawford and Kingston's Darcie Mead showcased peak performance as they raced their way to the Men's and Women's Super G titles.
Both skiers have won discipline titles here in Meribel in previous years, but with the limited visibility this morning - a time when the skiers seek to learn the twists and turns of the course through mental mapping, and the new, faster track - they couldn't simply rely upon past experience, instead confidence and quick thinking was key.
Crawford (Bearsden, Glasgow) collected the British Men's Super G title for the third time when he held off Thomas 'TJ' Baldwin (Norfolk) by 31 hundredths of a second. And one of Britain's brightest alpine skiing prospects, Mead (Kingston upon Thames), at 16 years old becomes one of the younger winners of the Senior Women's Super G title after winning the Junior Super G here last year.
Crawford missed much of the 2012 and 2011 seasons through injury, so opening his championships with a title win is a welcome fillip for the Scottish skier who enjoyed the technical challenges of the new look course: "It was a pretty difficult course, not least because when we inspected in the early morning you could not see very much and that made it very hard to know what your plan was coming into the race. It is nice to win. There have been three year gaps between each time I have won and so hopefully it won't be three years before I win it again."
Although she won in Meribel three times last season, Mead admitted that winning was something of a surprise: "It is a bit of a shock, just as it was last year. Last year I won the Junior Super G but this season coming into this I just did not expect to win very much. It means a lot to me to win here because I am one of the youngest, so it is a real honour to win at 16 years old. Last year the course was much straighter and there were not many problems with it, but this time it was much more technical. I am not the best technical skier here but I am prepared to take the risks."
RESULTS for the Delancey British National Alpine Ski Championships, Super G, Sunday:
Men: 1 Douglas Crawford (Bearsden, Scotland) 1min 25.33secs, 2 TJ Baldwin (Norfolk) 1 min 26.04 secs, 3 Bradley Morgan (Lancashire) 1 min 27.28 secs 4 Roy-Alexander Steudle (Berkshire) 1 min 28.08 secs
Women: 1 Darcie Mead (Kingston upon Thames) 1 min 31.48 secs, 2 Giulia Harte (Kent) 1 min 34.70 secs, 3 Alice Macaulay (Surrey) 1min 35.13secs, 4 Violet Miller (Nottingham) 1 min 36.8 secs.
The British Alpine Ski Championships in Meribel is sponsored by Delancey - a specialist property advisor who last year partnered with Qatari Diar to purchase and lead the legacy of the Athletes' Village (legacy name East Village, E20). This year is a particularly special year for all involved, as the team is also celebrating the recent announcement that Delancey has extended their support and signed up as principal sponsor of the British Alpine Ski team.
Chairman of Delancey's Advisory Board and President of the old British Ski Federation Sir John Ritblat, has been involved with sponsorship of the sport for 35 years. When discussing his on-going support and passion for the sport, he said: "Britain has tremendous young prospects across all of its skiing disciplines. However in order for them to be in with a chance of challenging for medals at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympic Games, it is crucial that they have the opportunity to attend race events. We hope this funding - that they and the sport so desperately require - will help some way to ensuring this happens, and will encourage other businesses and members of the public to pledge support too."
Details of the Delancey British National Alpine Ski Championships, including race programs and details of how to attend as spectator can be found on the official website: www.britishalpinechamps.com. Further information on Delancey and the services they provide can be found on: www.delancey.com.
