Skiing World School Winter Games - Turkey Feb 2023

Hi, I’m Harriet Scoular

I've been selected to represent England in alpine skiing at the 2023 ISF (International Schools Sports Federation) World Schools Winter Games to be held in Erzurum, Turkey, from 11-19 February 2023.

To help raise funds for the trip I'm going to ski/row/run/bike 1000km between Dec and Feb 2023.

The trip costs £2,200, an enormous amount of money, alongside training weeks on snow which cost an average of £1,500. So I’m trying to help finance some of the costs myself so I can attend the winter games and pay for some of the equipment and training needed.

The ISF World School Alpine Championships take place every two years and are hosted in different countries throughout the world. I have been selected for the U16 Female team, consisting of only 5 athletes, selected from years 10 & 11 (ages 14-15) across England.

I’m 14 years old and was originally born in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear and then moved to Allendale, Northumberland when I was 3 years old. I’m currently in Year 10 at Queen Elizabeth High School in Hexham studying for my GCSE’s and previously attended Hexham Middle School and Allendale Primary School.

I ski in the UK both on outdoor slopes (dryslope) and indoor slopes and race at a regional and national level.

I am currently top (no1) ranked female outdoor skier in the country for my YOB and have previously achieved

• English Indoor Champion in 2021

• 2nd Overall U14 across GB Indoor Series 2021

• English School National Squad selection 2019 & 2021

• British Outdoor Champion in 2019; and

• English Indoor Champion in 2019

I also managed to train abroad last winter with the British Ski Academy, racing and training in Europe (Italy and Andorra). Whilst I am away it’s challenging as I have to juggle training, racing and schoolwork, but I am lucky as my school (QEHS) is hugely supportive of my skiing. Some of my best results in Europe were:

Anglo-Scottish, Pila, Italy: Slalom – 4th U14, 1st English; Super G – 6th U14, 2nd English

British Schools Alpine Open Championships, Pila, Italy – Slalom – 2nd U14, 1st English; GS – 3rd U14, 1st English; and

Ambition Children’s Champs, Santa Caterina, Italy – Slalom – 4th U14, 3rd English

My journey started when I was 7 years old and I started attending Polar Bears Ski Club at Silksworth in Sunderland on a Saturday afternoon. When I was 9 years old I started attending RTR Race Club also at Silksworth, Sunderland. I started racing seriously in the summer of 2019 and then COVID struck! I worked hard to keep fit and was able to get back to racing and training in summer 2021.

I still train with RTR Ski Club at Silksworth and even though it’s over a 2 hour round trip I still do that 3 times a week, getting up at 6am every Sunday morning to attend training. I travel around the UK at weekends in the summer to race, from Pembrey down on the southern Welsh coast to Hillend up in Edinburgh, to Norwich, Chatham and Gloucester and everywhere in between!

I also enjoy other sports and am currently a member of Hexham Rowing Club, where I enjoy training and racing with my teammates on water rather than snow!

I never would of thought when I started skiing at Polar Bears all those years ago that it would lead to being picked to represent England and skiing in Asia! I definitely would not have got this far without the training, coaching and support of lots of people along the way including: RTR race club, Alpine Performance Racing, the British Ski Academy, ESSKIA, Team Evolution, Precise Racing, Polar Bears Ski Club, Winter Sports Foundation, YOP Bywell, Sport Tynedale, Queen Elizabeth High School and Allendale Coop – so a huge thank you from me.

I would really appreciate it if you could consider supporting me in my fundraising for this once in a lifetime opportunity, particularly as I know times are difficult.

Thank you,

Harriet x