This was Emanuel’s third year entering the Independent Schools Ski Championship and by far the most successful so far. Thirty-eight pupils from year 8 and above were selected to represent the school in Slalom, Giant Slalom, and Team Parallel events throughout the week.
This year’s team consisted of returning participants, pupils with prior ski racing experience and several pupils racing for the first time.
The team was led expertly by captains Etienne Boles and Meg Radford (Year 12), previous silver and bronze medal winners in the giant slalom respectively. Eti, an experienced skier and member of Alpha Project Ski Team, Serre Chevalier, has skied since the age of 3 and grew up in the French Alps. He helped pioneer the Emanuel Ski Team, having expressed a keen interest to set up a team in Year 8.
Individual podium finishes at this year’s championships came from Year 9 students Immy and Maxi. Immy spends most of the school winter holidays with Mountain Masters Race Group in Val d’lsere and trains in the UK whenever she can at Aldershot Ski Race Club. She produced outstanding performances finishing in 3rd place in both the U14 Individual Slalom and Giant Slalom events. Maxicomes from a skiing family, skis in Austria every winter and had ski training experience but not race experience. He produced a 3rd place finish in the U14 Individual Slalom event. This was an incredible result considering he completed the course using Eliott ’s skis after an equipment mix-up at the start line!
Emanuel also placed 2nd in the Team Senior Girls Combined Event and 3rd in the Team Senior Mixed Slalom Event. These results brought Emanuel’s silverware total to five for this year’s championships, a school record.
There were a number of other notable performances in this year’s championships in the Slalom event: Etienne only just missed out on a podium finish, with 4th place in the U18 Slalom (31.78 seconds); Soren (U18) finished 17th/49; Max (U14) finished 13th/59. In the Giant Slalom, Caitlin (U18) finished 5th /10; Agnese finished 10th/27; Max (U14) finished 6th/97; and Eliott (U18) was placed 18TH/41.
Crucial to Emanuel’s success on the slopes was the sense of team spirit, which was enhanced by team après ski. From pirouettes on ice rinks to outings to the local ‘creperia artigianale’ (artisanal creperie) and energetic games of ‘hungry hippos’, the fun continued into the evening.
A hugely successful trip overall. Congratulations to all pupils involved for a brilliant trip – bring on ISSC 2023!
Miss Fitzgibbon (Deputy Head of Middle School)