A team of three snowboarders from Sutton Public School has come away with silver from the Australian Interschools Snowsports Championships earlier this month at Perisher.
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Jet Lange, 9, Caiden Broadbent, 8, and Jack Broadbent, 10, came second in the giant slalom event for students between kindergarten and year 4.
This was the first time the school had fielded a snowboarding team at an Interschools event.
Jet told the Chronicle the result was a total surprise.
“We didn’t expect to go as well as we did. We didn't expect to get anything at all,” he said.
“No one was preparing for the announcer to call out Sutton,” Jack said.
While the trio came second overall, the team also recorded impressive individual results, with Jet, Jack and Caiden placing 5th, 12th and 24th respectively.
The team qualified for the nationals after podium finishes at the ACT and Southern NSW championships and the NSW state championships in August.
More than 1800 students from 320 schools took part at the recent nationals.
While some members of the team had competed at previous Interschools events before as individuals, this year’s event marked the first time any of them had competed in a team.
“Dad asked the school [earlier this year] if Sutton could do a team for this year, and we managed to get a team together,” Jack said.
The year 4 student has been snowboarding for five years and said the best part about it was being able to explore the slopes.
“It’s fun because you get to venture around and find out about more places,” he said.
Meanwhile, his brother Caiden said there was often a fair bit of sibling rivalry on the course.
“I really like getting vertical metres so I’m able to beat my family,” he said.
Jet said throughout the various competitions, his favourite part was going over jumps.
With the ski season about to draw to a close, the team from Sutton Public School finished with five podium finishes across the different team events.
The school’s principal Clare Pritchard said she was “delighted” with the recent results, with the entire school proud of the boys’ performance.
Going off the success of this year’s Interschools competitions, the team from Sutton said they’re looking to improve upon their performance in 2017.
“We’re probably going to be putting another team together,” Jack said.
