Hero photograph
Mt Cheeseman Ski Competition 2018
 
Photo by Matt Allin

Mt Cheeseman Ski Race

Ryder —

Skier Ryder, recently competed at the Mt Cheeseman P & I Ski Competion on Sunday 19 August. Here is his recollection.

On Sunday I woke up at 6:00am and got ready for the big day up at Mt Cheeseman. I had never used a t-bar before so I was quite nervous but I was also excited because I was doing my first ever ski race. As we were driving up the hill to Mt Cheeseman I was getting more and more nervous. We got our ski gear on, then we had to put on a race bib, my number was 106, and you also had to wear a transmitter on your ankle.

Once we were all ready I went for a run before my race as it was a really good day for skiing and there was some great snow. Then it was race time, me, Joe and Buzz were all waiting for about 15 minutes and Joe was first out of us three. The man on the start-gate said “3, 2, 1, go” and Joe was off, he looked pretty fast. Once he was finished it was Buzz’s turn, he went up to the mark, the man said “3, 2, 1, go”, Buzz went and he looked even faster. It was then my turn.  I was nervous, the man said to me “Are you ready?” I said yes, he said “3, 2, 1, go” I was off, going around the first gate, around the second gate and I was trying to go as fast as I could. I thought I was going pretty fast and I tucked in for the finish line and Joe and Buzz were waiting for me. My dad said that me and Joe looked about the same time and Buzz was a little bit faster.

We had another run to do so we got on the t-bar again to do a second run for the race.  Me and Buzz were on the same t-bar and Joe and Nash were just in front of us. We went up to the start line for the red course and no one was waiting. Joe went first again and he went really fast, then it was Buzz and he looked like he went even faster than the last time. It was finally my turn and my last run so I wanted to go faster than anybody and I was going to try my hardest. I went to the mark, he said “Are you ready?”, I said yes and then he said “3 2 1 go”. I went off as fast as I could, I was trying to get more speed by tucking in and then boom, I was finished. The lady asked for my bib and transmitter. Then we watched Nash’s races, he was super fast and looked good. Once Nash was finished we went off and did some skiing with Dad and the Roycroft’s.

At 3.30pm we were standing waiting for the prize giving with Olivia and Josie, they were very excited and so was everybody. No one from West Melton got a placing, which was a shame but it was a great day.

This is the top West Melton placings:

Nash - 25.4 seconds

Mia - 25.8 seconds

Buzz - 27.0 seconds

Harry - 27.0 seconds

Josie - 28.2 seconds

Logan - 30.7 seconds

Joe - 31.3 seconds

I was just behind them in 33.5 seconds.

Thanks to Mrs Hawkins for organising all our skiing and all of our parents for taking us up the mountain.

By Ryder