Ski Championships in Llangrannog October 2018
“The 170 best skiers from schools all over Wales competed in the Welsh Schools’ Ski Championships in Llangrannog on Sunday. Gwynllyw’s Girls’ and Boys’ teams were amongst those that battled Storm Callum and widespread flooding to make it to the race. Despite only having 3 instead of 4 in each of their teams, Gwynllyw did well again this year. The boys’ team (captain Ioan Higgins Year 11, Joshua Jones Year 10 and Tom Davies-Cren Year 8) missed bronze medals by 0.8 of a second and the girls’ team (Captain Angharad Morley, Year 10, Melody Archer, Year 8 and Catrin Morley, Year 7) came fifth in the team competition. Both teams qualified for the British Schools’ Championship in Edinburgh, where only the top 25 school teams in Britain qualify to compete. This was an extraordinary achievement, given that they did not have full teams. There was no leeway: no team member could afford to make a single mistake and they didn’t.
Tom Davies-Cren won gold for being the fastest unregistered Under 14 boy in Wales as well as bronze for unregistered boys in the overall competition. Ioan Higgins, won silver in the Registered Under 16 category and Joshua Jones also posted a good time, resulting in team success. Catrin Morley won bronze for Registered Under 14 girls and Melody Archer posted a great time for her first ever entry in the competition. A good performance by captain Angharad Morley assured the team position. For the Gwynllyw teams, the day ended in what is now a traditional dip in the sea and an ice-cream and fish and chips on Llangrannog beach. However, not all team members made the beach as some were being brought home on the back of a breakdown recovery lorry. (However, the experience of Welsh as a vibrant, community language as we went from Welsh speaking bunkhouse owner to Welsh speaking recovery lorry driver to Welsh speaking repair man in Lampeter almost made that worthwhile!)
Gwynllyw Ski Squad are very keen to gain new members to join both the girls’ and the boys’ teams. If you are interested, whatever your standard, contact Julia Hawkins on [email protected] “
Photo 1: Gwynllyw ski teams enjoy the sunshine after the storm.
Photos 2,3,4: Gwynllyw girls in action(Angharad, Catrin and Melody)
Tom Davies-Cren won gold for being the fastest unregistered Under 14 boy in Wales as well as bronze for unregistered boys in the overall competition. Ioan Higgins, won silver in the Registered Under 16 category and Joshua Jones also posted a good time, resulting in team success. Catrin Morley won bronze for Registered Under 14 girls and Melody Archer posted a great time for her first ever entry in the competition. A good performance by captain Angharad Morley assured the team position. For the Gwynllyw teams, the day ended in what is now a traditional dip in the sea and an ice-cream and fish and chips on Llangrannog beach. However, not all team members made the beach as some were being brought home on the back of a breakdown recovery lorry. (However, the experience of Welsh as a vibrant, community language as we went from Welsh speaking bunkhouse owner to Welsh speaking recovery lorry driver to Welsh speaking repair man in Lampeter almost made that worthwhile!)
Gwynllyw Ski Squad are very keen to gain new members to join both the girls’ and the boys’ teams. If you are interested, whatever your standard, contact Julia Hawkins on [email protected] “
Photo 1: Gwynllyw ski teams enjoy the sunshine after the storm.
Photos 2,3,4: Gwynllyw girls in action(Angharad, Catrin and Melody)
Calling all Skiers!! (Any level of ability)
We need one more girl skier to complete Gwynllyw Girls' Team for the Welsh Schools Championships in Llangrannog on Sunday 14th October. We also want 2 more boys to complete a boys' second team. You don't have to be fantastic skiers - if you can snowplough down a dry ski slope, you're good enough. Please contact Julia Hawkins on [email protected] for more information if you're interested.
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South East Wales Schools Ski Championships, 21 June 2018
Gwynllyw Boys’ team won gold with Captain Ioan Higgins individually winning 2 more golds for being the fastest male registered skier under 16 and for being overall Secondary School male race champion.
Joshua Jones and Tom Davies-Cren both won individual gold for the fastest unregistered skier in the Under 16 and Under 14 categories respectively.
The fourth member of the Boys’ Team, Robert Lewis, who only started skiing from scratch a few months ago, did two great runs in his first ever slalom race.
Gwynllyw Girls’ team did equally well, also winning team gold, with Captain Rowena Smith taking two more individual golds, as fastest female registered skier under 18 and for being the overall Secondary School female race champion.
Alana Pocknell also took 2 individual golds, for fastest unregistered skier under 18 and for fastest unregistered female skier in the whole championship.
The third member of the team, Melody Archer, who has learnt skiing from scratch at Pontypool dry slope over the last year did brilliantly in her first ever race, coming away with a bronze medal in the female under 14 category.
Both girls’ and boys’ teams will now go on to compete in the Welsh National Schools’ Championships in Llangrannog in October.
Gwynllyw Ski Squad is always looking for new members and as these results show, you can start as a total beginner and progress to race for Gwynllyw.
Photos by Andrea Davies
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the British Schools Ski Championships NoVember 19, 2017
Well done to all Gwynllyw Ski Team members who competed in the British Schools Ski Championships in Pontypool on Sunday!
The boys' team (Louis Davies-Cren (captain), Ioan Higgins, Tom Davies-Cren and Joshua Jones) came 17th out of all the schools in Britain, an improvement of 4 places on last year. The girls' team (Alana Pocknell (captain), Rowena Smith, Angharad Morley and Georgina Belcher) came 18th in Britain, also an improvement of 4 places on last year. The combined team times for Gwynllyw boys' and girls teams was incredibly close with the boys pipping the girls by only 0.06 seconds! Thanks to Miss Rogers, Miss James and Mr Morris, who showed their support by coming to see our skiers in action. |
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Competitive skiing in Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw
is going from strength to strength.
Gwynllyw Girls Ski team
Latest round of Successes - October 2017 - Wales schools championships
The nine strong Gwynllyw ski squad have just spent a weekend in Llangrannog in West Wales competing in the Welsh National Schools Championships with pupils entering from over 26 secondary schools throughout Wales.
The girls’ team consisting of captain Alana Pocknell, Rowena Smith, Angharad Morley and Georgina Belcher came third in the team competition, winning bronze medals and qualification for the British Schools Championships which will be held in Pontypool on 19th November. Alana Pocknell was the highest placed female Unregistered skier, winning gold for the Unregistered Under 16 category and gold for the best overall Unregistered female skier. The boys’ team consisting of captain Louis Davies-Cren, Ioan Higgins, Tom Davies-Cren and Joshua Jones came fifth in the team competition. This is their best ever ranking and was in a year where competition amongst the boys’ teams was particularly strong. Their performance at these National races also wins them the prized qualification for the British Schools Championships. Head Boy Louis Davies-Cren won silver for the Unregistered Under 18 category and also silver for the best overall Unregistered male skier. Younger brother, and newcomer to the squad, Tom Davis-Cren won gold for the best skier in the Unregistered Under 12 category. Alasdair Bowring competed as an individual Gwynllyw racer and also put in a solid performance. Former pupil, Stephanie Belcher, now excelling in her new course at Cardiff and Vale College, won bronze for best unregistered Under 18 female skier. |
The Ski team at Gwynllyw have had many years of success - currently mentored by PTA volunteer Julia Hawkins, the ski team meet on Wednesday evenings at Pontypool Dry Ski Slope, to practice for upcoming competitions and have a lot of fun.
It doesn't matter whether you are a complete beginner or a more experienced skier, if it interests you, you should contact Julia to make arrangements to go along to a session. If you don't want to compete, why not just go along to practice for the school skiing trip? You never know, you might be really good at it! Two of Gwynllyw’s skiers (Ioan Higgins and Rowena Smith, both in Year 10) have taken the next steps in ski racing by becoming registered skiers, which enables them to compete in the GBR national ski races for the best British skiers. Both Ioan and Rowena have been training with the Welsh Ski Academy since last November alongside the current Welsh ski team and Ioan also trained with them at a specialist indoor snow slope with them in July.. This year, Ioan competed in 6 GBR and national races, culminating in the Irish Championships on 30th September and 1st October, where Ioan was selected to represent Wales in the International Team Relay Slalom.
Being a registered skier has its’ downsides however: both Ioan and Rowena would have won gold medals this weekend for the Under 16 category, if they had still been unregistered skiers! The Gwynllyw ski squad celebrated the National Championships in what has now become traditional form: ice cream and fish and chips on the beach combined with a ski squad dip in the sea, often fully clad. Gwynllyw ski squad is always looking for new members – please contact Julia Hawkins, the parent who organises the teams on [email protected] |