Flaine seems like an old friend these days, having hosted the Schoolgirls’ Races for many years now and back they were again on 26/27 January. Anne Taylor and her band of organisers arrived to find some terrible weather, rain on Friday with few lifts open and concern about the forecast for the following few days. But on Sunday, the first day for most of the girls, the sun came out and everyone had a wonderful time with plenty of fresh snow about for those who wanted to venture further afield, away from the giant slalom and slalom training pistes on the Stade de Slalom.

The first race on Monday, the giant slalom, took place on the fleche course in sunny weather much to the relief of everyone. It is always a popular race to start with as it gives the girls an opportunity to get some miles under their skis before they have to tackle the slalom the following day. Ali Jubb was Chief of Race for the first time, having taken over from the retiring Sarah Robinson, and was ably helped by Maud Instone and the TD, Martin Leach, while Sarah was confined to the commentary booth.

There was some terrific skiing from the girls with Emily Evans from Rochester Grammar winning ahead of many older girls. Both she and Mary Denning, who was skiing for Surbiton High’s A team, had only returned from the British Children’s Team races in the Czech Republic the night before. Stephanie Espinosa, skiing for Sandown Park, came in second with Emily’s older sister, Charlotte Evans, in third place. Charlotte was skiing for the Kandahar again this year and both Shirley Stevens and Georgina Morris were on hand to witness events and cheer on their girls from the finish area. They also had the daughter of Sir Steven Redgrave in their team and he was on hand to witness proceedings and be a general help.

Emily was not only the overall winner but also the best in Children 2 (13/14 year olds) with Violet Miller (Queen Margaret’s York) second and Mary Denning in third place. Laetitia Hawkins Hooker (LEH) was first in Children 1 (11/12 year olds) with Florence Bell (King Edward VI) second and Annabel Wright from Heathfield St Mary’s third. Clementine Wood (St Mary’s Calne) was the best unregistered child (14 and under) and winner of a training week with the DHO, and Ingrid Christophersen, the DHO’s Racing & Training Manager, was on hand to present the prize in person. Ophelia Taylor (Cheltenham) and Maya Gordon (City of London Girls) were second and third respectively. The best unregistered junior (15 and above) was Ella Hartley (Bryanston) with Lottie Hagemann (Millfield) second and Lucy Wallace (Downe House) third. Surbiton High’s A team was the best British school followed by Queen Margaret’s York and Rochester Grammar.

The parallel slalom, always the most fun of the three events, took place on the bottom of the Stade after the finish of the giant slalom. There was plenty of cheering going on from the finish area and those in the finish hut had trouble hearing at times! The young girls from the Club des Sports in Flaine, the organiser of the races, and who had entered a team hors concours in the GS and slalom, took first place in a very close run final with Surbiton High’s A team. The Surbiton girls were thrilled to be dragged up the slope by skidoo, along with their coach Paul Telling, in order to compete in the final. Sheffield High and Sandown Park were the losing semi-finalists.

On Tuesday the weather wasn’t as nice but at least there was no snow nor, thank goodness, rain or wind. The slalom was moved back to the Stade because the powers that be decided to build large jumps in the middle of the GS piste. The experienced racers love the Stade but for those who have done precious little racing it is extremely daunting and the whole slope can be seen from the finish area. At one point the weather closed in so you couldn’t see the top from the finish, probably a good thing as far as some of the girls were concerned!

This time the tables were turned and Charlotte Evans came in ahead of younger sister, Emily, in second place with Lottie Mayer of Queen’s Chester third. This was a great result, not only for Emily but also for Lottie as she is also in the children category and they both beat many older girls. Emily and Lottie were first and second respectively in the Children 2 category with Rosamund Lees from the Samoens based College Andre Corbet third. Sophie Caldwell (Abbey Gate College) was first in Children 1 with Annabel Wright again featuring, this time in second place, and Charlotte Ashworth (Godstowe) third. Clementine Wood was the best unregistered child while Lucy Lintott from Wellington took the junior title. Rochester Grammar was the best British school this time with Sheffield High second and Queen Margaret’s York third.

Emily Evans was the overall combined winner ahead of sister Charlotte and Rachel Wyld from Millfield. All three train with the Kandahar so Shirley and Georgina were no doubt very pleased! BASI (British Association of Snowsport Instructors) was the major sponsor of the races this year and very kindly gave a training course as a prize to each of the first three overall as well as the best unregistered junior, Ella Hartley. Emily was the winner of Children 2 with Lottie Mayer second and Alice MacAulay (Surbiton High) in third place. Sophie Caldwell came in first in Children 1 with the consistent Annabel Wright second and Laetitia Hawkins Hooker third. Annabel was, not surprisingly, the best unregistered racer in Children 1 with Clementine Wood taking the Children 2 prize.

The team event is always keenly fought and the team spirit is there for all to see. Rochester Grammar came in as the best British based school and the best team overall. A wonderful achievement as the third member of their team was unable to complete so Emily and teammate, Alex Askew, had to finish both events without mishap. Queen Margaret’s York was second British school and third best team overall while Sheffield High was third school. The second best team overall was the Kandahar, lead by Charlotte Evans. A proud day for the Evans family and father Keith was there to see it all.

As well as BASI, the DHO and Kandahar, the races were sponsored by MPI insurance brokers, Mind The Gap Year, Base Camp Group – who gave many hoodies as prizes, the Ski Club of Great Britain, Snow+Rock – who gave some good prizes, Meritz – who produced the T-shirts for the participants, Filarinskis – who donated vouchers and Atomic.

The LSC would like to thank all those who helped at the races. The official organising committee also consisted of Tony Pearson (who did the calculations), Jim Hewitt, Sue Glover, Lara Crisp and Christine Graves plus partner Steve who were in charge of the race office apartment. The President, Jill Coke, and Gill Head were also there to help.