ISSA Skiing

Canterbury Primary and Intermediate Independent Schools Ski Race

On Monday 20 September, in the last week of Term 3, a mob of ski mad Medbury boys travelled to Porters Alpine Resort for the annual ISSA races.

A committed group of intrepid parents accompanied us, which was lucky as of course we can’t yet drive! The ski field was packed with over 200 racers from other Independent schools, plus there was also a local schools’ ‘derby’. The Medbury ski teams were excited but we were quietly confident - even after not being able to race last season. Medbury had a big group with 5 teams and 17 racers.

We met up with Ms Fitzgerald at 8:30am and she briefed us on the race. Boys were ready to attack the course and give it everything for 20 gates. We had 3 runs and luckily, this year they took your 2 best times, meaning you were allowed one crash. Some of us took this opportunity (to crash) in the testing conditions... including myself! After lunch we met up again, this time for a free ski. After taking a few photos on the steps, we met at the top of T3 where we sussed out some terrain. We started ripping up snow and spraying Ms Fitzgerald - efficiently snow bombing her. Our next task was to find a powder run and then do some jumps. Although we found some awesome runs and jumps, we didn’t find much powder. The next day, there was an online presentation of the results. We did brilliantly, with Medbury taking Gold for the fastest boys’ team, the fastest team for Years 1 to 6 boys, the fastest team overall, and I was the fastest boy overall. No pressure to next year’s team but they need to win in case Ms Fitzgerald can’t find the trophy. The winning teams were: Years 1 to 6 Male: Medbury Green: Edy Johnson, Dexter Marr, Alexander Marr and Gabe Botherway. Years 7 to 8 Male: Medbury Red: Seb Gray, Luca Arthur, Josh Brown and Riley Crampton.

Seb Gray, 8D