Alltracks Sponsored Edinburgh Uni Dryslope Competition

On the weekend of 6th-7th November, Mid Lothian Ski Centre at Hillend was brimming with skiers and boarders representing their Uni in the Scottish Universities Dryslope Competition. There we the likes of Edinburgh, Napier, Aberdeen, Dundee and Strathclyde.

The Competition kicked off on Saturday morning with racing events where Edinburgh University dominated with Dave Harrison winning the men’s GS and individual slalom, Nicola Oglivie coming 3rd in the women’s GS and the individual slalom. Holly Aird won the women’s board GS as well as the woman’s dual slalom. Strong performances from the race teams were also given with the First ski race team winning the dual slalom and the board dual slalom team coming in 3rd place.

The second half on the day was dominated by the freestyle events: slopestyle and big air. The standards of these events are ever increasing and the competition this year was no exception. Once more Edinburgh showed their capability with Mark Ratnage and Michas Jablonski earning a place in the finals both the Big Air and slopestyle. As for the female skiers, Charlotte Clarke dominated earning 1st place in both freestyle events.

These results lead to the Edinburgh teams been awarded 1st place overall in the Scottish Universities Championships, closely followed by Napier in 2nd and Glasgow in 3rd.

The following weekend of 13-14th saw Edinburgh overrun with 1500 students from Universities all over the UK! The weekend of British Universities Dryslope championships are always an exciting weekend and a chance to see the talent from all over Britain! This year was no exception!

Despite the tough competition, Edinburgh’s boarder dual team put in a strong performance and were rewarded by earning a place in the quarterfinals. On the ski side, a brilliant performance was shown by James Filsell, Ross Bannon and Dave Harrison all qualifying in the top 30. As far as the female racers go Laura Swayne made it through to the second round, but failed to complete her second run.

Onto the freestyle events, which luckily for some were held in the afternoon, the Friday saw the slopestyle event. The competition was higher than ever and despite efforts only Charlotte Clarke managed to gain a place in the finals and came an impressive second on the podium overall.

After a heavy night in City nightclub socialising with all the other unis, we all took back to the dry slope on Saturday morning. Dave Harrison once again gave a brilliant performance in the slalom earning second place. The dual slalom team showed a great effort, with the First team having a superb round to finish third.

In the afternoon the crowd congregated around the kicker where there were raving DJs and plenty of red bull to go around, the big air kicked off. Charlotte Clarke again earned a place in the finals and eventually finished off 3rd on the podium.