IT was a highly successful weekend at the Welsh Schools Ski Championships for Abergavenny and Crickhowell’s young skiers as they raced to success in the secondary schools championships in Llangrannog.

Crickhowell High School’s girls delivered a superb team performance as they brought home the ski trophy after winning the girls’ championships outright, in only their second year in the competition.

In the individual competition, team captain Saskia Henry-Davies took top honours with gold in the Registered Girls Under 16 race, with team mate Arwen Hobson taking silver in the same category. 12 year old Erin Higgins, who posted the fastest Crickhowell time in the competition, came second in Wales in the Registered Girls Under 14 ,with her twin Manon Higgins taking bronze. This win qualifies Crickhowell High School Girls’ Team for the British Schools Championships in Stoke on 1 November 17, where the top 25 Secondary School teams in Britain will battle it out.

Pupils from Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw, which provides Welsh medium education for Monmouthshire and South Powys, performed strongly taking home bronze in the highly competitive secondary boys Welsh Championships.

In the individual competition, team captain Ioan Higgins, from Crickhowell, posted the fastest Gwynllyw time and took bronze for Under 18 registered boys. Teammate Josh Jones, took silver for Under 18 unregistered boys. Tom Davies-Cren was crowned Under 14 unregistered boys’ champion and Dino Bartlett-Jones, a registered skier, skied well in his highly competitive Under 14 boys class. Evan Davies-Cren showed great race craft to take bronze for the Under 12 unregistered boys, despite a fall.

For Gwynllyw girls, Angharad Morley, from Abergavenny, took bronze in the Under 16 race for registered girls and Melody Archer put in a strong performance in the Under 16 unregistered girls. Coming third out of the 13 Welsh boys teams qualifies Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw boys for the British Schools Championships in November.

Both ski teams train with Pontypool Ski Racing, a ski race club that started at the Torfaen Leisure Centre dry slope last year.

Julia Hawkins who manages both Crickhowell and Gwynllyw teams said, “ This was an extremely strong performance all round by these two schools who have a great team spirit and who train together at their local club Pontypool Ski Racing. They and their coach, Adam Bloom, have worked really hard and it has really paid off.”