Where to Ski And Snowboard - £1m funding given to snowsports

£1m funding given to snowsports

7th February 2017, by Abi Butcher

Snowsport England hopes Dave Ryding's success will inspire people to start skiing

Snowsport England has been given funding of more than £1 million to support up-and-coming athletes over the next four years. The funding, from Sport England, will go into fostering current talented athletes and growing the participation of snowsport in the UK.

Together with the success of British skiers over the past month, the funding of £1,050,000 — including £200,000 from the National Lottery — represents a big boost to Britain’s skiers and snowboarders.

A large chunk of the funding — £850,000 — is aimed at supporting Snowsport England’s plans to invest in the core of the sport including inspiring people to participate at their local club/facility, growing young talented athletes, get more people competing, getting more coaches coaching and encouraging more volunteers to make snowsports happen in clubs and organised activity across England.

The funding will also allow Snowsport England to further develop relationships with clubs and facilities across the country and improve the experience of existing skiers and snowboarders.

“We are also pleased that we got the maximum investment for our strategy to help young talented athletes reach the top of skiing or snowboarding,” said Jan Doyle, head of development for Snowsport England. “The recent success across all the snowsports disciplines is helping to bring the sport to a wider audience and is hugely exciting times with the Winter Olympics taking place in 2018.”

She added: “This level of funding shows confidence by Sport England in our strategy to develop snowsports at a grassroots level and our commitment to their Towards an Active Nation strategy.”

In the past few weeks, British successes include Dave Ryding’s second place in a World Cup slalom event in Kitzbuehel and James Woods’s gold in the big air at the X Games in Aspen. At the same time, Paralympic skier Millie Knight and guide Brett Wild won downhill gold on the opening day of the World Para Alpine Skiing Championships in Italy.

If you fancy getting your kids into ski racing, read our guide on how to start here.

For more information on Snowsport England’s campaign to get people into snowboarding and skiing, visit goskigoboard.org.uk