It was 20 years ago today! (Well, just a week longer in fact)

Arnie Wilson reports on City Ski Championships’ 20^th anniversary weekend in Courmayeur

With apologies to Sgt Pepper

It was 20 years ago today!

That Momentum said “wahay!” …
Let’s run some races – City Ski
On the scenic slopes of Italy!
Since then it’s really been a blast
Of racers skiing really fast!
Guaranteed to raise a smile
As they raced down every mile…
The act you’ve known for all these years
Came back in style to Courmayeur

(PART 2 OF THIS VERSE CONTINUES AT THE END OF THE FEATURE !)

Yes, it really has been 20 years since the very first City Ski race – on January 22, 2000. Gosh, that even pre-dates our brilliant commentator Matt Chilton. He joined City Ski around 2003 or 2004 and has been dispensing his mellifluous and sometimes mischievous wit ever since. How did we ever cope without him in those very early formative years?

Weather-wise, City Ski Championships 2019 and Financial Times Alpine Forum were certainly a mixed bag, but it speaks volumes about the tenacity of the racers – getting on for 175 of you – that the Wonderhatch Dual Parallel Slalom went ahead in almost blizzard conditions.

In the open category, Savills were victorious over Lloyd’s of London, while in the mixed event, Sandstone CH versus Sandstone.co.uk was an intriguing battle, with Sandstone CH emerging victorious.

For the giant slalom under blue skies on Saturday, Sandstone were on great form again in both the Open Anniversary team medals, while Lloyd’s of London and Knight Frank respectively triumphed in the FT open and closed team championships.

Spectacular Tumbles

There were of course some spectacular tumbles on both days but then that also speaks volumes about the derring do required to have any chance of success. So we have to salute Grace Owens, of The Channel Managing Agency for the most spectacular fall of the weekend in the giant slalom. Not one fall in fact but two. What a gal!

On a more successful note, the Super FIS Instructor Ladies Champion was Franki Simonds of Sandstone Communications – yes, them again! – while the Serenity & Grace Absolute Amateur Ladies’ Champion was Sammy Filsell, of Alan Filsell Wealth Management.

The Absolute Amateur Men’s championship went to Louis Tucker of Barbican Syndicate, winning a “totally bespoke Saville Row suit from London Persona”.

The slowest GS skier award went to Jacob Robinson of Gately PLC which earned him the twin titles of Most Challenged Skier and – above all – hero of the day. Quite possibly even hero of the weekend!

My own racing days are over (old age seems to have crept up on me) and in any case once Anthony Barrow of Cogent Resources joined the Masters’ brigade I never stood a chance.  Speaking of age, the Snow+Rock Men’s 50-plus trophy this time went to the hugely popular Filippo Guerrini-Maraldi from RK Harrison/Hyperion, who was also celebrating 19 consecutive outings with City Ski. In the ladies’ camp, the celebrated Paula Boyagis, part of a legendary ski racing family, carried off the women’s 50-plus trophy for Lloyd’s Clients.

In the Snow+Rock senior awards (40+) there were trophies for Annabel Fell-Clark of Neon Underwriting, and Will Armitage of Lot 18. Just to show that snowboarders can hack it just as well as skiers, Sam Clark carried off the Snow+Rock Snowboard Championship in fine style.

New this year was the Team Distance Challenge sponsored by Snow-Camp, the charity dedicated to transforming the lives of inner-city children by bringing them to the mountains to enjoy skiing and snowboarding. The idea was to see how far teams can ski during one hour on the slopes Lloyd’s 1 carried off the prize in magnificent style by skiing for 25.55 kilometres but even so only just managed to beat Savills by half a kilometre.

In the individual awards for members of London Private Member Clubs such as Hurlingham, Queens, Lansdowne, RAC, Pall Mall 67 and Whites, Amin Momen (yes the man himself) was named individual men’s champion for The Hurlingham Club and Kate Rowe Ladies champion for Queen’s Club. The Legal Cup went to James Gopsil, of Gateley PLC, while the Medical Cup was awarded to Jacopo Mattaini of Isokinetic. Gregor Strazar of Triglav won the Insurance Cup.

Meanwhile the Chel-Ski Financial Services medal went to Louise Favre-Gilly of J.P. Morgan.

The Rumknuckles Europe “Open” Trophy – for skiers outside the business categories, and anyone outside the City of London – went to Kent Berglund from Performance Verbier ski school. And the Courmayeur Mont Blanc Technology trophy was won by Kyran Savage of Chel-Ski.

I mustn’t forget to say what wonderful hosts Patrizia and Andrea Casale Brunet at the Bouton d’Or always are. I’ve stayed there many times and it must be one of the friendliest hotels in the world!

Sadly it’s now time to check out of my oh-so-cosy room and hit the road for Turin. It’s been a simply wonderful 20^th anniversary, made possible by the terrific Momentum team. Roll on 2020!