Picture British Indoor Championships 2014
It was bandied about that one of the biggest challenges following a successful Winter Olympics would be managing expectations and ensuring there was a strong wave of young talent being groomed in the wings, and on the showing of this weekend’s Picture British Indoor Championships it’s satisfying to report that we appear to be on track.
In terms of participation, snowboarding, for the first time in many years overtook freeskiing – The Jones effect, perhaps – but it was a strong and nationwide field for both codes and ones which were dominated, pleasingly, by U16’s and U12’s. A video review due next week will make for much more interesting viewing than a catalogue of trick listing in print, and this in turn permits an opportunity to focus some of the post-match punditry on the stand-out groms and the unsung influencers doing great work.
Three such outstanding youngsters (and there were many), were 7 year old Mia Brookes (snowboard), 9 year old Bradley Fry (freeski) and elder statesman, 11 year old Will Gilmore (snowboard), who are all achieving great things with the combined efforts of some selflessly motivated individuals, coaches such as Rebecca Hammond, James Webb, Jon Weatherly and Steve Addicott expertly stewarding these youngsters, park shapers across all of the indoor domes constantly going above and beyond (special mention to the Chill Factore crew), and of course the parents who get dragged everywhere. The performance from these individuals is reminiscent of a young Jamie Nicholls and that is an exciting prospect.
One the day, the Snowboard Championships was awarded to the unsurprisingly consistent Team GB protégé Matt McCormick, who seems to have built-in slo-mo, chased very hard by new kid on the block and double front-flipping wonder Corey Copeland, with the hugely promising Will Gilmore taking the last podium spot. For the ladies, the career-long rivalry between Becky Menday and Cerys Allen continued and finally swung in Cerys’ favour thanks to solid rail work and numerous 5’s on the kicker, followed by relative new-comer Ella Fry Taylor.
For Freeski, it was an even closer affair where it has to be said the Jam format is unbeatable for game-raising, but it was younger brother Chris (who has similarly inherited the rail-rinsing gene) making it a clean sweep for the McCormick family and forcing a very talented Mikey Rowlands to settle for Silver for the second year running. Chris Wadsworth, only months back from a 2 year absence due to extensive knee surgery barged his way into 3rd with the ‘all-in’ mentality that we expect from the Former British Champion, and on the ladies side of the draw Sarah Hoefflin ignored the advances of the younger guard to take the British Championships with floaty corked spins, followed by Sissy Herant with some inventive transfers and young Thea Fenwick taking Bronze.
Picture British Indoor Snowboard Champions 2014
OPEN MEN – 1st MATT MCCORMICK, 2nd COREY COPELAND, 3rd WILL GILMORE
OPEN WOMEN - 1st CERYS ALLEN, 2nd BECKY MENDAY, 3rd ELLA FRY-TAYLOR
U16 MEN – 1st Tomski Robinson, 2nd Billy Cockrell, 3rd Leo Fordham
U16 WOMEN – 1st Cerys Allen, 2nd Luci Winnard, 3rd Jade Walsh
U12 MEN – 1st William Gillmore, 2nd Lewis Moore, 3rd Lewis Hopkinson
U12 WOMEN – 1st Mia Brookes, 2nd Anya Allen, 3rd Erin Dormer
Picture British Indoor FreeskiChampions 2014
OPEN MEN - 1st CHRIS MCCORMICK, 2nd MIKE ROWLANDS, 3rd CHRIS WADSWORTH
OPEN WOMEN - 1st SARAH HOEFFLIN, 2nd SERVANNE HERANT, 3rd THEA FENWICK
U16 MEN – 1st Kyle Jenkins, 2nd Hayden Fiori, 3rd William Feneley
U16 WOMEN – 1st Thea Fenwick, 2nd Eve MacKenzie, 3rd Olivia Burke
U12 MEN – 1st Bradley Fry, 2nd Cameron Kirby, 3rd Sam Annis
U12 WOMEN – 1st Kirsty Muir, 2nd Bonnie Kirby, 3rd Lara Shaw
Attention is now focused on the overall British Championships staged at The BRITS Festival in Tignes from March 21st - 28th 2015. Packages are online now and include a 10% discount off lift passes. Go to www.the-brits.com for all details on The BRITS Festival.
