THE West of England Ski Team, have just returned from a successful 10 days race training in Borovets, Bulgaria.

THE West of England Ski Team, have just returned from a successful 10 days race training in Borovets, Bulgaria.

Hosted by the Chamkoria Race Club, the party of 21 had a varied programme to keep them occupied. The training consisted of exercises with and without poles, and typically started at 8.45am and finished at 4pm.

The main event, the FIS children’s races were attended by more international teams than last year, including teams from Greece, Lebanon, Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Montenegro, Latvia as well as five or six Bulgarian teams.

In the giant slalom race, Eloise Brown was 22nd after the second run and Maddy Brown and Brendon Byrom finished 19th and 33rd respectively. On the second day, Maddy Brown returned a top 15 finish, coming in 13th and Brendon came 27th, his first races on snow, Eloise Brown having to withdraw due to injury.

The other trainees, Callum Black, Lauren Black, Paige Thomas, Meg Bray, Max Schubert and Sasja Tarrant all coped with the differing snow conditions, from ice to powder that was knee deep with extraordinary finesse.

Thanks go to trainers Peter Kennell and Fraser Black, to Stuart Robertson for handling the adults, and to the coaches and members of Chamkoria Ski Club.

All the children train with Avon Ski Club at the ski centre in Churchill, and more information is available from www.avonskiclub.co.uk or Fraser Black on 07721 594676.