THE ski slope of Llangrannog might have seen more rain than snow last weekend (October 14) thanks to Storm Callum but the wet weather didn’t dampen the spirits of the 170 school skiers vying for the title of Welsh Schools Skiing Champion.

And Powys was well represented thanks to the efforts of Crickhowell High School and Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw, the school which provides secondary education for all Welsh Medium pupils from Powys. At secondary school level, there were plenty of individual medals. For Gwynllyw, Tom Davies-Cren won gold for being the fastest unregistered Under 14 boy in Wales and bronze for unregistered boys in the overall competition.

Ioan Higgins, the team captain won silver in the Registered Under 16 category and the final member of the team Josh Jones posted a good time.

Despite having a team of only three, the Gwynllyw boys missed team bronze by only 0.8 of a second.

Catrin Morley won bronze for Registered Under 14 girls and Melody Archer posted a great time for her first ever entry in the competition.

A good performance by captain Angharad Morley meant that Gwynllyw girls came fifth in the team event.

Crickhowell High School twins Erin and Manon Higgins won silver and bronze respectively in the Under 12 Registered category and Arwen Hobson took bronze for unregistered girls under 14.

An excellent performance by the final team member, Saskia Henry-Davies gave Crickhowell Girls’ a team bronze medal on their first ever entry to the Welsh School Championships.

All three secondary teams qualify for the British Schools’ Championship in Edinburgh, where only the top 25 school teams in Britain qualify to compete. With Gwynllyw Boys’ and Girls’ teams only having teams of three instead of four, this was an extraordinary achievement.

All three teams have been training with Torfaen Ski Club and Pontypool Ski Racing; the hard work has definitely paid off!