The University of Nottingham Snowsports Club have delivered many fantastic performances in competition so far this year, both on the dryslopes as well as indoors. The BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) season began in earnest for the club at the end of 2023 with BUDS - the calendar's standout dry slope competition - taking place on the 10th November in Edinburgh. The University of Nottingham entered athletes into both snowboard and ski disciplines with a top ten finish for Eleanor Eaves in the Women's Ski Slalom. However, it would be on the snowboard that Nottingham found the majority of success.
Both Sam Massey and Ebba Cotton would also finish inside the top ten with an 8th place in the Men's Individual Slalom and a 5th place finish in the Women's Big Air respectively. Ebba Cotton would go even better in the Women's Rail Jam however, registering a superb performance to finish third on the podium. Cotton was only bettered by two other athletes which included University of Nottingham team mate Hermione Gray who put in the performance of the weekend for Nottingham, beating the rest of the field to become BUDS Women's Rail Jam champion, taking home a wonderful gold medal. Rounding out the achievements on the dry slope would be another medal for Nottingham with a bronze earned in the Mixed Racing category.
Our Nottingham snowsports athletes moved into 2024 with the confidence from these results and headed for the BUCS Indoor Championships at the start of February. At the Milton Keynes Snowdome, Hermione Gray continued her magnificent form by finishing on the podium once again, winning silver - this time in the Women's Snowboarding Slalom. Once again Ebba Cotton would be on her heels, but unfortunately narowly missed out on a medal with a 5th place finish and would demonstrate her consistency across the weekend with a 5th place in the Women's Freestyle too. Cotton, our freestyle captain, remarked that it was a "super fun weekend with exciting features and a great group of competitors." Cotton registered one of many top ten finishes at the Indoors for Nottingham as Craig Venables claimed 9th in the Men's Snowboarding Slalom, whilst Eleanor Eaves took 10th in the Women's Ski Slalom.
We congratulate the club and our athletes on their magnificent success and look forward to following their progress over the remainder of their season. The club are heading back to Scotland to take part in the Scottish Alpine Student Championships (SACS) from the 8th to the 10th of March. This will be a freestyle and racing competition for snowboarders and skiers on the Cairngorm mountain. Until then, they are running bi-weekly freestyle and racing sessions to keep our training going until SASC! You can keep up to date with everything going on with the club by following them on social media.
You can find out more about Performance Sport at the University of Nottingham by visiting our dedicated Performance Sport page.
Posted on Wednesday 14th February 2024