On Saturday 19th September the South Island Secondary School Ski Champs were held at Cardrona.

The school was represented by Ella Meikle Year 10 who entered the event as an individual for the second year running. This is an interschool ski and snowboard competition for secondary schools located in the South Island regions. Competitors compete in Giant Slalom & Slopestyle competitions. Each school can enter teams or individuals of snowboarders & skiers. This event is open to individuals, however competitors must have competed in their own (Otago/Southland, Canterbury, Tasman or Aoraki) event to be eligible. Due to Covid-19 concerns, the school pulled out of the Canterbury Secondary Ski Championships held at MT Hutt on the 13th August and as the team had been originally entered Ella was eligible to complete.
The trip down to Wanaka was interesting with very strong winds along the way. Friday was set to be used by the schools for practice but due to high winds on the field Ella was only able to put in around 30 minutes of practice. Race day was Saturday, with an early start arriving at the field just after 7am. With clear skies, a little wind and firm underfoot the event was able to take place on the upper Goldrush trail which is at the top of the Whitestar Express Chairlift.
Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of double gates (poles) as opposed to the slalom which uses single poles and the poles are placed further part as more speed is involved. Giant slalom is one of the technical events in alpine ski racing. The race consists of two runs, the second run is in reverse order and the result is the accumulative time of both runs. Both boys and girls ski the same course and there are no age categories.
Ella had a good start in both runs and maintained a consistent pace throughout the course, resulting in picking up the bronze medal for the girls.