Schools’ Skiing: Cairngorm club trio earn GB honours

ingussie High School’s Robert Sircus and Sam Cairns plus Lachlan Cowie (Fortrose Academy) have been named in Team GB for the  European Youth Olympic Winter Festival starting on Friday at Brasov in Romania.

The trio will be competing in the biathlon and they are all members of the successful Cairngorm Biathlon and  Nordic Ski Club, based at Glenmore Lodge, Scotland’s National Outdoor Centre.

“Representing your country is a huge honour,” Said Robert. “I am really excited about the competition as well as meeting other GB athletes and those from other nations. I am sure the experience will help me gain a great deal of experience, both on and off the snow, and it will bring me one step closer to my ambition of competing at the Winter Olympics.”

The Festival involves 17 Team GB youngsters and is held every two years.

The British athletes will be joined in Brasov by Team GB 2014 Ambassador Amy Williams, who won a medal in the skeleton at the 2010 Winter  Olympic Games in Vancouver.

“I am thrilled to be accompanying such a talented group of dedicated young athletes in their participation at the 2013 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival,” she said. “It’s a fantastic opportunity for young athletes to experience high-level competition against some of Europe’s leading winter sport nations.”

The three boys prepared for the Romanian adventure with two weeks of intense competition at the World Cup venue of Ruhpolding in Germany, where they were competing in the GB Biathlon Championships and the GB Cross-Country Ski Championships.

Robert, 17, won three junior (Under-21) and three youth (Under-18) titles in the Biathlon Sprint, Biathlon individual and Cross-Country mass start Championships.

In the extremely tough 15km classic style cross country ski event, Sam overcame the challenging soft snow conditions to take his best result to-date  with second place at both Junior and Youth levels behind Norwegian Glen Martin, who originally comes from the Isle of Harris.

Lachlan also showed terrific form by claiming the top GB place in the under-18 youth event and fourth overall in the under- 21 junior mass start.

Hamish Irvine and Rex Sircus (Robert’s dad) will be leading the GB Biathletes at the  European Youth Olympic Winter Festival. “The past few weeks have shown just how strong a force the club has now become in British Biathlon,” said Sircus, chairman of the Cairngorm Biathlon and Nordic Ski Club.

“We now look forward to our young biathletes enjoying a highly rewarding and successful experience in Romania  over the coming week as they follow in the footsteps of Calum Irvine and Scott Dixon, who competed at the same event just two years ago and have since gone on to represent Great Britain at the very highest levels”.