Crickhowell High School’s girls’ team pulled off a spectacular and hard-fought victory at the British Schools Ski Championships in Stoke-on-Trent last weekend.

44 school teams from all over England, Wales and Scotland qualified through National Championships to compete for the British trophy.

Competition was very tight and one tiny slip or one small error of judgement would have lost the competition. There was one heart-in-the-mouth moment but Crickhowell girls skied beautifully, beating predominantly English private schools to the top slot.

The team of captain Saskia Henry- Davies (Year 12), Manon Higgins (Year 11), Evie- Mae Phillips (Year 10) and Erin Higgins (Year 11) won the trophy for the second year in a row. The trophy was first awarded in 1969 and during the last 53 years only one other Welsh team have ever won it - Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy in 1988.

Welsh female skiers did well as individuals as well. Erin Higgins, from Crickhowell, who is currently Welsh female dry slope champion, took second place individually.

Four Welsh skiers took the top four individual positions, with Crickhowell’s Saskia-Henry Davies coming fourth individually. The Crickhowell team have two more members in training in Tilly Phillips (Year 7) who skied for Crickhowell in the Welsh Championships in Llangrannog in October and Tamar Felix Smith (Year 6) who will start in Crickhowell High School next year.

The girls’ success is down to their dedication in attending every possible training session, whatever the weather, at Pontypool Ski Slope and the training by the excellent coaches at Pontypool Ski Racing, Adam and Ryan Bloom.