“We are the Bay of Plenty Schools’ Snow Sports Champions!”

This year’s BoP Snowsports Champs saw us bring home the BoP Schools Trophy! 19 skiers and snowboarders took on the Giant Slalom course at Turoa on Monday 13 August. The conditions were good, although the course had been shifted to the Yahoo due to an avalanche, the nearly 100 competitors took the icy conditions and new course in their stride. 10 schools from the Bay of Plenty were carving it up and battling it out on the Giant Slalom, a run of about 30-40 sec. Our placings were as follows:

Reef Sharp - 1st in Senior Boys Ski

Lachlan Powell - 1st in Junior Boys Ski

Fynn Powell - 2nd in the Junior Boys Ski

Naumai Hemopo - 2nd in Junior Boys Snowboard

Jayden Manu - 3rd in Senior Boys Snowboard

And….. we are the North Island Slope Style Champions and fourth for Giant Slalom!

The North Island Secondary Schools Ski Champs were held at Whakapapa with 121 teams from 75 schools with over 600 students competing and we came 4th in Giant Slalom and first in Slope style.  Racing conditions were challenging due to poor weather conditions which resulted in each competitor getting only one run. No pressure then!

North Island Secondary Schools Results

Slope Style - overall out of 44 teams, 37 schools

Fynn Powell placed 1st, Lachlan Powell 3rd in Junior Men and Reef Sharp came 3rd in Senior Men. These placings generated the points needed to place us first and winning Slope Style trophy:

1st Tauhara

Giant slalom - overall out of 121 teams, 75 Schools

Lachlan Powell 2nd and Fynn Powell 3rd in Junior Men out of 108, Reef Sharp 9th and Axel Mastny-Jensen 66th in Senior Men out of 88, Olesia Kavchik 43rd and Ellie Frew 55th in Senior Women out of 81, Ella Verhagen 30th, Nina Schwarz 58th and Serena Birtwistle 82nd in Junior Women out of 155 skiers.

Overall Result:

1st Diocesan B 2=Kristen 2=Diocesan A
4th Tauhara A and 32nd Tauhara B

Many thanks have to go to the parents who supported our snow athletes in not only getting them up to Turoa and Whakapapa for race training sessions and competitions but also for being course assistants, cooks in the huts and moral support alongside the slalom course. We can’t wait till next winter!