Alcott and Crawford win - Ben Clatworthy, Meribel
Sunday April 4, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

Both the training run and race have been completed following heavy snow that cancelled the training runs on Thursday.

Freezing temperatures overnight left the course hard and packed; perfect for speed racing.

Alcott won the race by over 3 seconds followed in second place by Dana Markova. The win gave Chemmy a further 100 Championship points and put her once again ahead of Louise Thomas.

Thomas's day came to an abrupt end as she hit the safety netting just 30 seconds into the course.

The courseThe up and coming British racer, who was having a great Championships up to that point, suffered a bang on her head and was taken down the mountain in a blood-wagon.

She is reported to be fine, but whiplash means her Championships are over.

It was a sad end after she had done so well.

"Louise has been the best up and coming racer for the last 5 years, winning the British Junior overall title at 17 and at 18 she won all of the junior disciplines to retain the overal," her coach, Matt Buck, has told PlanetSKI.

"She has huge potential to go on to be a truly outstanding World Cup racer but her future is uncertain due to the finanical crisis the governing body is in and some big decisions need to be made in the summer."

The financial crisis he refers to is the fact that the governing body, Snowsports GB, went into administration just before the Olympics.

No clear way forward has been revelaed despite plenty of positive spin and we will be watching it closely here at PlanetSKI.

Meanwhile back on the slopes, up and coming racer, Niki Sole, of Great Britain finished in a very creditable 3rd position, 4.34 seconds behind Alcott.

In the Mens' race victory went to Douglas Crawford who lead the field in both the training and race.

Last years overall Junior Champion, TJ Baldwin, finished in 3rd a mere 0.92 seconds off the pace.

Arjan Wanders from Holland finished in second place.

The win confirmed Crawford's dream of becoming British Champion, after he missed out last year to Ed Drake and Dave Ryding.

Ryding finshed 3rd amoung the British racers.

Now Crawford will be looking to win the Victor Ludorum following his overall win.

This goes to the racer, male or female, with the most points.

He would be the first male winner since 2001 when Alain Baxter won the award. He's 80 points ahead of Alcott at the moment.

See our daily pieces from The British Championships here on PlanetSKI.

Day 1 - The weather closes in

Day 2 - Alcott beaten.

Day 3 - Alcott wins but Ryding crashes

Day 4 - Alcott crashes out

Day 5 - Weather closes in again!

Ben Clatworthy is sponsored by Skiforce - Instructor Training. See www.skiforce.org for more information.

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