The country’s most promising skiers gathered at Chill Factor^e yesterday for the inaugural Anglo Welsh Indoor Championships – the first competitive race to be held at the Alpine ski village.

The unique race was a special slalom consisting of two runs down two different courses, with the top 150 entrants selected to take part in the race. Split into six age groups, from aged 11 and over, the winners were those with the fastest aggregate time over the two runs.

In the boys’ category, the overall winner was 18-year-old Devon teenager Jai Geyer with a time of 25.40. Telford’s Abby Clifford, 17, was the fastest girl with a time of 27.81.

Lancashire-born Dave ‘Rocket’ Ryding, recently crowned British Slalom Champion, presented the prizes.

The event was also the first indoor race to be organised by Snowsport England and Snowsport Wales – the national governing bodies for snowsports in England and Wales.

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Peter Hinde, Snow Operations Manager at Chill Factor^e, said: “This was a fantastic event, helping to develop some of the country’s top young skiers. There was a real buzz around the competition.”

Tim Fawke, Chief Executive of Snowsport England, said: “We are delighted at how well Sunday’s event went and hope this will become an annual competition. The snow conditions at Chill Factor^e were excellent and the balconies gave members of the public fantastic views of the action. This is an exciting development for the sport.”

Chill Factor^e is now widely recognised as the UK’s premier snowsports centre of excellence. Snowsport GB has its UK national training centre at Chill Factor^e, while the British Disabled Ski Team will also use the venue for training ahead of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

Salomon, one of the world’s top action and outdoor sports companies, has established its only UK on-site test centre at Chill Factor^e. The facility is also home to the best qualified instructing and coaching team in the country.

For more information, visit www.chillfactore.com.