CRANMORE School's U14 skiing team have retained their national title for the third year in succession.
The title of U14 champions was scooped by Cranmore at the recent 2013 SATIPS Ski Challenge, held at the Hemel indoor snow centre. Competing against 14 of the country's top ski schools, the team turned in a gold medal-winning performance to retain their crown for the third year in succession.
But not to be outdone, the U11 team also flew to their second national title by a margin of just half a second in a field of 17 schools.
The two teams of four boys continued their exceptional track record at the final ski race of the season.
Cranmore's U14s (Joseph Davey, Harry Fish, Thomas Munday and Alexander Acomb) were victorious in both 2011 and 2012, and the Under 11s (Adam Fluck, Rory Lee, Ben Hart and Will Aldridge-Bate) won gold in 2011.
Also representing the school were Thomas Rochussen and Jack Mellstrom who acted as the forerunners assisting with the course set up and completing the race run before the actual competitors.
Cranmore's U11s were first out of the starting gate and led by just one tenth of a second after the first round.
In a tense final, when three out of four must complete the course for the team to stay in the competition, the boys drew ahead by half a second to clinch the title.
Individually, the boys also did extremely well with Adam Fluck finishing in third place, Rory Lee fifth, Will Aldridge-Bate seventh and Ben Hart 11th.
The older team are Cranmore's most successful ski team ever and there was the added pressure of knowing that this would be the last time they would ski competitively as a Cranmore team.
Overcoming the pressure, the U14s each put in a solid first run with Thomas Munday skiing his best ever single run and Joseph Davey putting in an equally impressive performance.
Leading by over 1.4 seconds meant a more relaxing margin than for the U11s and the title was theirs for the third and final time. Exceptional individual times saw Joseph Davey finish first overall, with Thomas Munday third, Harry Fish eighth and Alexander Acomb 13th.
The school's head of skiing, Mike Mellstrom, said: "Both teams put in a fabulous performance on the day.
"The U14s have had a glorious run for the last three years and we wish them every success on future slopes.
"It's a great joy to see the U11s coming through so strongly and to know that Cranmore's skiing reputation is in safe hands."
