50 years / 50
miles
Challenge
Over the weekend of the 23rd / 24th June Club members will be skiing 50 miles individually or as a team relay to mark the 50th anniversary of the first national race at Hartlepool.
Fundraising will be for the RNLI. If you want to donate please do so on this link
Tides are 1pm Saturday and 2pm Sunday.
1979 saw the first World Championships held in the UK at Whitstable and the Welsh Harp reservoir in London. Hartlepool teams were also competing there, notably Clive Griffiths who drove for Australian skier Bronwyn Wright, the first Ladies world champion. Ray Berriman was amongst the organisers of this first event and he went on to be an International Judge for many years.
In
1968 the first organised national ski racing series took place at several
locations across the UK. The
venues for that first series were Chasewater reservoir, Greatstone on Sea,
Hunstanton, Hartlepool, Penarth and the River Medway.
The race at Hartlepool in 1968 saw a small field
entered. The course of the day was from Hartlepool to Sunderland and back, some 32 miles. Most would have been using a pair
of skis. Competing for Hartlepool in Red
Devil were Ron Featherstone (driving) and Tommy Richardson (observer).
Their skier, a young Cliff Featherstone went on to be one of the UK’s top ski racers competing at many European
and World championship events. Thick fog that day caused some problems for
teams with route finding. The turn at Sunderland was marked by a trawler, but not everyone found it.
Red Devil alongside Snoopy Doop
at Hartlepool 1973
The Red Devil team ended up going ashore near Seaham to find out where they were. Every team made it back safely, though there were only about six teams in the race that day. Worse still for the Red Devil was that they picked up a plastic bag on the gearbox which slowed them to almost a halt. John Boardman was the winner that day receiving the Whitbread Trophy. John also won a number of the early cross channel races, or equivalent events in those early years.
 |
| Cliff with his trophy collection |
Over subsequent years Hartlepool became a
regular feature on the national circuit, however the racing changed from a
point to point event in the early 1970’s. Instead racing went onto a circuit
which was better for spectators and safety. The standard distance became 50
miles for a national race, hence the theme of this challenge.
Many teams from HYC (Hartlepool Yacht Club)
went on to compete in the national series and at higher level. Hartlepool also hosted
a round of the European cup in 1976 where the crowds came out in huge numbers
to watch the racing.
European cup 1976 Ray Berriman driving Bootlegger as the Godfather passes towing Cliff Featherstone.
1979 saw the first World Championships held in the UK at Whitstable and the Welsh Harp reservoir in London. Hartlepool teams were also competing there, notably Clive Griffiths who drove for Australian skier Bronwyn Wright, the first Ladies world champion. Ray Berriman was amongst the organisers of this first event and he went on to be an International Judge for many years.
Organisers of the 1st World Ski
Racing champiohsips 1979. Ray Berriman is 7th from right.
