PHOTO: @amarcster.sport
The Skier & Snowboarder magazine has joined forces with British ski racers Robert and Charlotte Holmes to provide readers with a more comprehensive coverage of the ski racing scene.
The brother and sister team will be supplying regular news and views on training and racing from grass roots level up to the UK’s elite athletes. Their reports will appear in the racing section of the Skier & Snowboarder website.
The siblings started racing with the Pendle Ski Club in Lancashire – the same place as Olympian and World Cup race winner Dave Ryding – and both were later invited to become members of the Team Evolution Race Programme in Austria.
During their childhood days Robert and Charlotte won an impressive array of British titles. This led to Robert being selected as a member of the GB Children’s Team to compete in the Czech Republic and the ESSKIA ISF Team in L’Aquila, Italy, and Chamrousse, France.
His progression into FIS racing has seen him participate in the 2020 Youth Olympic Games and the Europa Cup. The 18-year-old is now focussed on representing Great Britain at more international races, with the ultimate goal of competing at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, Italy.
Charlotte’s first race on snow was in 2015 in Scotland when, aged 10, she came first in her age category. The following year she attended the English Alpine Championships in Bormio, Italy, and in 2017 she returned to take victory in the U12 girl’s category.
More success led to 17-year-old Charlotte joining the GB Under 21 Alpine Team and she recently became the 2022 Junior British Alpine Ski Champion.
Here is their first report:
ROBERT: I am a current member of GB Snowsport FIS team and 2020 Youth Olympian looking to follow in Dave Ryding’s footsteps of success and take a leap of my own onto the Europa cup slalom tour this season.
CHARLOTTE: Often named as ‘Rob’s little sister’ I am also a current member of GB Snowsport FIS team going into my second year of FIS racing hoping to carry on what I started during my first year FIS.
As a pair we both learnt to ski at Pendle ski club and fell in love with the sport, consequently spending the majority of our childhood weekends there and at other dry slope in the UK.
Robert getting some air
We both competed on the dry slope circuit for around six years before we ever started our first race on snow. Fast forward to this year (2022) and we are both ready to kick start the new season chasing our dream of competing on the world cup tour as a brother-sister duo.
What can you expect next? We will bring you the latest news from events such as the opening world cup race of the season in Soelden Austria. Where we will see our very own Team Evolution teammate Alex Tilley kick off the world cup tour in GS style.
It’s been a tough time for Tilley. After achieving a 13th place at Soelden, she suffered an ankle injury putting her out for majority of last season. Things are looking hopeful for the season opener as the British no.1 posted via Instagram she has had the metal work removed from her ankle and has returned to training on the European glaciers.
September also marked the ending of the UK’s artificial dry slope season, which runs from April to September, with races at over 15 venues throughout England, Scotland and Wales.
The Enola GBR series is the highest level of dry slope race series for grassroots in the UK which concluded up at Hillend in Edinburgh, Scotland, at the start of September.
The final championship races – the Welsh and British dryslope championships – held in Llandudno, North Wales, also took place recently.
The slope has recently been refurbished with a £100,000 grant from Sport Wales, and this has made it one of the best dry slope facilities in the UK to hold the national championships.
Charlotte in action
The women’s race saw new and upcoming female talents battle it out for the title with an exciting two-run race.
After the first run, Georgia Hyett a more senior racer led the field just hundredths of a second ahead of Rebecca Hart and Anna Sarkar in joint second. They were closely followed by the Putman sisters.
With Robin Kelly setting the second run, it was time to dance for the British titles! Daisy Putman and Rebecca Hart were the first to post times under 15 seconds and this sent a message up to the top that this race was far from over.
The penultimate racer was Essex Ski Racing’s, Anna Sarkar who put down a blistering time of 14.70, nearly three tenths quicker than any run so far.
Last to race was Cardiff’s Georgia Hyett who skied a beautiful run posting a time of 15 seconds dead, but this couldn’t match Sarkar’s second run pace which gave the Essex racer the womens title.
The men’s competition proved to be equally as exciting. Joseph Thomson of Norfolk take led after the first run, closely followed by Alexander Penneck and Remy Van Brugel who were both under two tenths behind.
Welshman Joshua Price put down a time 13.44, nearly half a second faster than any other skier with only the top three still to follow. Van Brugel was the the first down of the top three but was unable to beat Price’s time. This meant with two skiers left to go Price was guaranteed a spot on the podium.
Young gun Alexander Penneck was next to respond to Price’s late challenge for the win but he was unable to match the time of Price and he slipped down to 3rd with Thompson still to ski.
Having won the previous day’s Welsh Championships, Thomson produced a confident and tidy second run to become British Champion by two hundreds of a second crowning him British Champion.
Robert Holmes is supported by: Hippo Motor Group; Fischer Skis; Shred; Leki; Winter Sports Foundation; Ski Bartlett; Pendle Leisure Trust; Tass; Pendle Ski Club
For more info on his racing go to: robertholmesski.com/
Charlotte Holmes is supported by: Fischer Skis; Shred; Falke; Leki; Winter Sports Foundation; Ladies Ski Club
Categories: Racing