Police Sport UK Snowsports Section

HISTORY OF PSUK SNOWSPORT SECTION

In 1983, 3 Strathclyde Police Officers met on the slopes of Cairngorm.  As they discussed the cost of day tickets and their costs in travelling to the resort they agreed if they enjoyed skiing there must be others within the Force who also skied.  From that meeting the Strathclyde Police Recreation Association Ski Section was born.

 In the 1984 Season the Section held its first Championships and various members attended Ski Race Courses run by the Scottish National Ski Council.

 In 1986 there was held the World Police Ski Championships in Trento, Italy.  The invitation to attend had been received by the Metropolitan Police and after representation 4 Scottish officers attended along with Met. Officers.

 The 1987 Season saw Strathclyde Ski Section host a Scottish Championship which was held on the M1 in Cairngorm.  5 Forces were represented by 65 officers.  During that year,  Assistant Chief Constable Cunningham and Inspector Arthur Donaldson, General Secretary of Strathclyde Police Recreation Association became involved in pressing that skiing should become a recognised Police Athletic Association Sport (the forerunner to PSUK).  In 1988 Strathclyde Police hosted a Scottish Open Ski Championship at which 27 Forces, from around the United Kingdom, were represented by 130 officers.  It was decided that with this number of skiers involved Forces would be restricted to 4 members competing in the Team Event.  Also that year 52 Forces were canvassed to guage support for a National Ski Section under the umbrella of the Police Athletic Association. 

 During the next 10 years the P.A.A. Ski Championships were held at Cairngorm in weather which varied from gusting winds of 80 m.p.h.  There were also 2 years where snow conditions meant the races were cancelled.

 In 1996 Nigel Wells of West Yorkshire organised a Nordic Event on the top of Cairngorm

 In 1998 Robert Cassidy, the Secretary of the Section, submitted a report to the P.A.A. Council requesting the Ski Section be allowed to hold their Championships in Europe.  This request was granted at the Council meeting of May 1988.  The Ski Section then contacted Ski Companies who specialised in organising ski racing in Europe.  In September 1998 Stuart Paterson and Robert Cassidy visited Les Contamines, France, courtesy of SkiWorld Special Events, who had been selected to assist the Section in running the Championships in Europe. 

The Championships of 1999 were held in Les Contamines and 15 Forces were represented by 65 men and 13 lady racers.  Part of the SkiWorld Special Events control was to move every 2 years to a new resort, so in 2001 we found ourselves in Les Arcs, France and in 2003 we moved to Hinterglemm where we have remained.

 During the running of these Championships our running order was found to be unsafe.  A Seed List to prevent a racer being overtaken on the race piste was devised and implemented by Lewis Grant, which was based on BASS and ESC Systems.

 Gordon MacDonald of the Met Police requested that snowboarding be included in the Championships and in 2004 the first snowboarding event was run in Hinterglemm.  In June of that year, Gordon initiated an indoor event within the Milton Keynes Xcape Dome which is hosted annually by the Met Police as a Regional Open Even. 

In 2005 the Constitution had to be re-written to include the amendment of the change of name from P.A.A. to PSUK, the inclusion of Nordic and Snowboarding events and also the inclusion of Civilian and Retired Officers to take part in the events.  Also in that year we learned our contacts within SkiWorld Special Events were leaving the Company.  We had forged contacts within the community in Hinterglemm and so requested Andreas Wering, who was involved in bringing tourism to the region, to give a presentationon with a view to keeping the Championships at Hinterglemm.  At the Annual General Meeting held in the resort the motion to remain at Hinterglemm was carried.

 During our time in Hinterglemm various suggestions for the Championships to be moved to other resorts have been put forward, however the majority of competitors have voted to stay.