Kewstoke Primary School finish in third place in the Southwest of England Schools Ski Championships.

AFTER a gap of some 15 years, the Southwest of England Schools Ski Championships, were held at the artificial ski slope in Gloucester.

Divided in to two parts, years 4/5/6 and years 7-11, the Weston area was well represented with skiers from Churchill and Backwell secondary schools and Kewstoke and St Marys C of E primary schools.

Kewstoke Primary, consisting of Lauren Black, Thomas Read and Callum Black, battled to a well-deserved third place behind Cheltenham College Prep School and Upton St Leonards Junior School.

Lauren Black was just beaten into to overall third place in the primary section, by 0.11 of a second, by another Avon Ski Club member, Paige Thomas from St Mary’s Cof E Primary.

In the secondary school section, Maddy Brown from Churchill took ninth place overall, beating Georgina Cooper from Backwell by 0.03 seconds in three closely contested runs. Christian Plaster, also from Backwell was 16th overall and Mike Gahagan from Churchill 19th overall.

All the local racers train over at the Avon Ski Slope with the Avon Ski Club, and members of the club took on a variety of duties, ably co-ordinated by Malcolm Plaster, and Peter Kennell, who made sure the racers took off in the correct order.

If any other local primary or secondary schools would like to discuss how to prepare and enter a team for next year, or to start up a ski club, please contact Fraser Black, vice chair of the South West Ski Association on 01934 427534.