Saw the forum and just had to reply.
As you know the UK is an island nation, apparently at any one time you cannot be more than 70 miles from the sea.
Not being blessed with an abundance of skiable mountains our friends in the North of Scotland do their bit during the winter season but for us mere mortals we have found a way to keep the heart of ski racing alive and kicking for the remainder of the country.
The ski racing scene here is vibrant and we combine outdoor all season slopes with indoor snow facilities.
There are 75 registered Ski Race Clubs and the race calendar that operates generally between April to Oct for the artificial slopes is impressive.
Due to the length of the artificial slopes we tend to stick to slalom events.
http://www.skizog.co.uk/all_races
If you check the above link the first 6 races are to be held in mainland Europe the remainder all in the UK.
The list does not include Club Races.
The race club that I am involved with is one of around 6 that circle London and no more than 40 miles from the centre and even our little club boasts 75 members our larger indoor snow slope neighbour has around 200 racing members.
All clubs are operated by volunteers, so as you see we are doing our best.
One of our big problems is racers gaining experience of racing in Alpine locations, cost - accessibility - travel time etc = a situation where some very talented young racers will never be able to compete at international level. So it mainly comes down to a lucky few who's parents lets just say have the financial clout or are able to work 3 jobs to sustain the costs involved.
Long live the all season race scene and as long as we all have fun lets bring on the 2011 season.
Would be quite interested in exploring the idea of linking our Race Club with a US or Canadian club,even if only to exchange stories - results etc.
Never heard of the phrase skiing the "toothbrush" but yes I like that.
What will say is that if you could imagine taking a race tumble on what can only be described as thousands of up turned incredibly stiff scrubbing brushes... yes we are talking pain, and yet the race entries are consistently around the 150 + mark.
Keep up the good work and stay true to the cause of ski racing and count your blessings.
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