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Wessex Rollerski Sprints report Wessex Biathlon & Nordic Ski Club races For a club only recently established - and barely registering on the rollerski racing circuit - it would have been easy to underestimate their ability to put on a good race. Any doubters were confounded by the 'Wessex Rollerski Sprint' races, hosted by the Wessex Biathlon and Nordic Ski Club on 29th October. Bob Anderson, kit supplier to the army, and WBNSC race secretary, was the driving force behind the event, and succeeded in attracting racers from across Southern England. For the first time in an English race (in recent times) all competitors were on the same rollerskis - sourced by Bob from the army - meaning no competitor had an equipment advantage, and leading to much fairer racing. Another masterstroke was the timing system, supplied by the British Army under the auspices of Mark Goodson, the organiser of the most high profile of British cross-country ski races, the British Championships at Ruhpolding. With the growing popularity of rollerski racing, accurate timing has increasingly become a challenge for race organisers, with certain clubs facing particular difficulty in ensuring accurate results. Teams from the Army, RAF, London and Wessex took part, but it was a group of Russian ex-pats living in the London Region who took top honours in the mens relay race. The 'official' London Region Nordic Ski team finished second, only 4 seconds ahead of the Wessex team, which included both Bob Anderson and young GB racer Simon Spencer. The LRNSC team were allowed second place despite the presence of Czech international skier Karolina Bicova, the fastest woman of the day. On the individual side, it was Wessex's own Martin Watkins who took top honours - beating all visitors to win the 9k sprint by 12 seconds from Russian youngster Ivan Gorbenko. The highest ranked military competitor was Chez Davies of the RAF, who finished in a very creditable 4th position. In the 6k womens and juniors race, Simon Spencer finished in first place, while youth skier Alex Skelton - who had only set foot on rollerskis back in August, and whose only previous experience of skiing had been watching the Biathlon on Eurosport - finished just 2mins 10secs behind. On the womens side, Karolina Bicova of the LRNSC finished first, with Anna Barker of the army just under 2mins behind. All in all it was a very successful day's racing, and a terriffic start to what will undoubtedly become a proud heritage of rollerski racing for the Wessex Club. It would be great to see more competition from other army teams - whose on-snow performance can only improve with some off-season training - and the inclusion of the Wessex Races in the GB rollerski series for 2008. For racers from London it was a good day out, and well worth the short drive down the M4. Thanks must go to Bob Anderson and Rupert Butcher for their organisation, to the British Army and Mark Goodson for timing and results, and to race sponsors, MilSys UK Limited. Our congratulations in particular go to everyone we've introduced to rollerskiing! Glennis Dore, Kristian Callaghan, Alex Skelton, Dagmar Junghanns, Gemma Gaskell, Iain Sheridan, Megan Lennard, Michael Lennard and Marne Salter. Well done all.
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