A new British Champion - Ben Clatworthy, Meribel
Tuesday April 6, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

Douglas Crawford is crowned British Alpine Ski Champion whilst a crash for Louise Thomas means Chemmy Alcott retains her title. It's been a Championship to remember, but the future is uncertain for British racing with a funding crisis. PlanetSKI reports.

After winning four of the five events in Meribel this week Douggie Crawford has been crowed as the British Alpine Ski Champion 2010.

The 23-year old from Glasgow won the Super G, Giant Slalom, Downhill and Super Combined, and finished second in the slalom behind Noel Baxter.

He joint won the title in 2007 with Noel Baxter.

This year he went one better and won it outright.

Douggie also won the Super-Combined race on Saturday, the final day of senior competition, leading the field by 1.03 seconds after the Super-G leg of the event.

Crawford: thrilled to winFor more information on Dougie see his web site here.

Fellow Brit, Georgie Hunt, skied the fastest slalom run in the second leg of event and joined Crawford on the podium in second. Frankie Clough finished in third.

Crawford's win of the Super-Combined gave him the edge over Britain's number 1 female ski racer, Chemmy Aloctt, to win the Victor Ludorum title as well.

He is the first male to win the title since Alain Baxter won it in 2001, nine years ago.

"It a big thing and I am really pleased. I could not have thought about winning this at the beginning of the week. I am thrilled to win. I am really pleased to win this many titles, to be up there in everything," said Crawford after the prize giving ceremony.

"I don't like to ski tactically and I really have gone for each title each day. I skied most of the Super G really well. I made a bit of a mistake near the end, so the pressure was on a bit in the Slalom."

In the Women's competition it looked like the tide might be turning as Louise Thomas was momentarily in the lead of the Championship until a nasty crash in the Downhill left her injured and out of the competition.

The 21-year old beat Chemmy Alcott in the Super-G on Monday and won the Slalom by 4.3 seconds.

chemmy_sf_400 Long season for AlcottAlcott told PlanetSKI, "I've had a very long season and can't wait for a break. I might not have won the Super-G but I'm just back from the Olympics and it's been a tough season with a lot of uncertainty."

With Louise fighting for the title Chemmy Alcott turned up the heat and went on to win the Giant Slalom, Super-Combined and Downhill and therefore regained the female British Champion title for the fourth year in a row.

Testing times ahead

The loss of SnowsportGB, the ex governing body for skiing in the UK, has meant for an uncertain couple of months in British ski racing and the end of the season can only come quicker for some racers.

Just last month the future of the British Championships was looking uncertain and the prospect of the races going ahead slim.

However the organising team, headed by Marre Rudd, managed to pull together and with the help of Meribel to run the Championships with a full programme of events.

None of us would have been racing without them!

This week a public meeting was held in Meribel to discuss the future of British ski racing and the newly appointed governing body, Team GB - trading as 'British Ski and Snowboarding'.

The meeting was chaired by Lord Moynihan, the chairman of the British Olympic Association.

It was designed as a forum for athletes, coaches and racers to voice their opinions on the situation.

"Sponsorship is vital to the success of the new company and with Land Rover pulling out earlier this season new ones are needed," Lord Moynihan said.

"Winter sports work in a four year cycle around the Olympics and now is a prime time to attract new sponsors. We have contacted 120 companies, of which 6 are in early talks and we are trying to secure a deal with them all."

Assets impounded

Sponsorship opportunitiesFollowing SnowsportGB going under the administrators impounded the 6 company vans; Dave Edwards, the CEO of the new British Ski and Snowboarding has now bought back 4 of these for the use of Team GB.

Emphasis was heavily put on the selection criteria for the national teams and how they would work to create a much more streamlined approach with only the very best of the British being selected for the teams.

Anyone who was underperforming would be removed and replaced with a racer who is doing well, even mid-season.

"Right now we just have no idea what is going to happen, so it is hard to think about targets for next season when there is no guarantee, it is not looking very good for a programme to support us," observed the new British champion, Douggie Crawford.

"So immediately it will be about getting a break, relaxing getting time off from skiing with some sunshine and golf, and then be back motivated to get training hard."

PlanetSKI will have a full report on the future of British ski racing in the coming weeks so keep an eye open for that.

The Junior Championship continues until Monday and then the Children's and Mini's Championships run until the end of the week.

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

Day 1 - The weather closes in