THE NATIONAL SCHOOLS OPEN RACES 2021-22

THE NATIONAL SCHOOLS OPEN RACES

2021-22

From one indoor race in September 2013 with under 200 skiers, the National Schools open events have grown fantastically over the last 8 years to 8 events at numerous venues, both indoor and outdoor around the country.

We were fortunate to be able to run some outdoor events over the last year whilst it wasn’t possible to run indoor events and these are now part of the schools racing calendar.

We’ve avoided stepping fully into dry slope racing previously out of courtesy to other bodies who run national schools dry slope events. Unfortunately, we’ve found that, in England, many schools are unable to take part in these events due to numerous entry restrictions so, as we believe there needs to be greater inclusivity at grass roots level in our sport, we started with a scheduled a Uk National Schools Open Championship event back in the autumn of 2019 at Swadlincote, a slope which had just returned to traditional matting with resurfacing taking place over that summer, making a great venue for the event.

Over the last year we have added to this race with two other open championship events on dry slope, a National Schools League (set up to work within covid guidelines but proving very popular) and our Indoor events have expanded to 5 in total.

NSSA programme director, Phil Brown, says of the new calendar addition ‘I think it was only a matter of time before we took our successful schools race formula onto dry slope, straight to the heart of grass roots ski racing in the UK. With Swadlincotes history and recent resurfacing, I believe we have a great venue for the NSSA outdoor event. I myself remember taking part some great racing there in the triple slaloms, English champs etc. Even to the point that it was the venue where I once had my head shaved for charity – between runs one and two of the English Champs, back in 2000. It should prove a great addition to the series’.

With numbers capped at the three Hemel events, we hope to see growth over the other events we run.

As always, accessibility is very important for these open events with an unrestrictive race entry. Many other schools events tend to restrict entry by insisting schools are members of the organisation running the events or restrict the entry to teams of single age group only. This excludes small schools or schools with less than 4 skiers. It also handicaps schools which cannot raise a team consisting of skiers within a single age group. The NSSA format allows for mixed age groups and individual entries, so being more inclusive and less intimidating for many children.

These events work as a great feeder series into club national and GBR events with many racers competing for the first time alongside children from the national team and full time academy programmes. This gives the newer racers some inspiration and exposure to skiers that they may not usually see.

Placings in the races and series will qualify racers for selection to the National Schools Snowsports Squad for the following school year/season with squad training camps, races and exposure to a national programme for these pupils. More information on the squad can be found on page 6.

For more information on any of these events or, if you’d like an event run for your school, school trust or against another school, Please contact The NSSA, or Impulse Racing, who run events on our behalf.

NSSA website www.schoolssnowsports.co.uk e-mail: office@schoolssnowsports.co.uk

SCHOOLS SERIES

20TH SEPTEMBER 2021 –

National Schools Indoor Open – North – Chill Factore, Manchester

27TH SEPTEMBER 2021 –

National Schools Indoor Open – South - The Snowcentre, Hemel Hempstead

4TH OCTOBER 2021 –

ISA National Schools Indoor Open Championships - The Snowcentre, Hemel Hempstead

21ST NOVEMBER 2021 –

UK National Schools Outdoor Open Championships – Swadlincote Ski Centre

25TH APRIL 2022 –

English Schools indoor Open Championships - The Snowcentre, Hemel Hempstead

MAY - DATE TBC –

National Schools Outdoor Open – North – Stoke

MAY 2022 -

National Schools Outdoor Open – South – Welwyn

JUNE 2022 –

British Schools Indoor Open Championships – Chill Factore, Manchester

• No membership required • Mixed teams, boys teams and girls teams • Racers ski in their own age groups • Selection events for the National Schools Squad • Prizes for each event and for the series

Open to all schools whether individual or team representatives

For more information, contact

office@schoolssnowsports.co.uk | www.schoolssnowsports.co.uk

schoolssnowsports | @schoolsnowsport