New awards, what has alpine got to shout about?

It is ten years since Snowsport GB went bust on the eve of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. For a moment people were talking about whether or not the alpine team would even be heading to Vancouver for the Olympics, yet they did. Dave Ryding, who has since gone on the become the most successful British Alpine skier of all time with a string of podium places on the World Cup, made his Olympic debut in Vancouver and is now on target to become a four time Olympian when the 2022 Olympic Games happen in Beijing, China (all things being equal).

While Ryding, Alex Tilley, Charlie Guest and Laurie Taylor have all scored World Cup points this season, alpine skiing is notoriously bad with promoting itself. Some athletes are better at using Social Media to thank their sponsors and fans and let people know how they are getting on but the vast majority of alpine racers, clubs, academies and Governing Bodies are streets behind their Freestyle counterparts in using social media to raise awareness of what they are doing.

Social media following is something that sponsors are after as it gets their message out. With sponsorship for the next few seasons going to be very hard to come by, those looking for sponsors will need to be innovative in how they go about raising funds that will fund their programmes. Success on the slopes will not guarantee sponsors coming forward to help pay their way. Without funds many athletes could see their dreams evaporate as the Bank of Mum and Dad funds dry up as well.

Collectively the situation could be better but now is the time to change this and start giving the athletes, clubs, academies and Governing Bodies something to shout about. Let's change the direction and celebrate the success that has been seen this winter. Fans of winter sport, get involved!

With this in mind, and to celebrate Racer Ready going into its twentieth season of covering British winter sport, we have started the Racer Ready Awards. Twelve awards have been set up:

• Performance of the Year by a British athlete
• Sponsorship campaign of the Year
• Social Media campaign by an athlete
• Social Media campaign by a club, academy or governing body
• Volunteer of the Year
• Race Official of the Year
• Race resort of the Year
• Male athlete of the Year
• Female athlete of the Year
• Para athlete of the Year
• Back up staff of the Year
• Race equipment retailer of the Year.

In these days of lockdown and keeping distance, winners will receive an electronic shield they can use on their website to announce their success.

The awards can be voted on by clicking on this link

While you do not need to subscribe to Racer Ready to vote, subscribers get in-depth coverage. For ￡20 a year you get coverage from the Alpine World Cup plus membership to the Racer Ready Premium Group on Facebook. www.racer-ready.co.uk/join_us