Clubs join ESC as full members and automatically become members of their Regional  Association. Each Region has the right to elect two representatives to serve on the ESC Executive Committee which determines ESC policy. Our region, NESA, is  represented by two  members of the NESA committee, we also have an Ex ESC Vice President  in the club Mike Elliott and Gillian Todd sits on ARC. 

  Within ESC is the Alpine Racing Committee (ARC). They are responsible for all racing on snow and artificial slopes. ARC control all the competitive racing on plastic slopes, so if you wish to race in national competitions, a start license is required. 

  To obtain a start license you must join ESC as a performer, to initially register, costs an under twelve year old £17.00, followed by renewals of £12.00 in subsequent years. Over eleven year old is £38.00, registration and £26.00 in subsequent years. Once 
registered you will receive a log book, start license, information on all ESC races and entry onto the ESC seed list. The racing structure comprises of   The All England Artificial Ski Slope Championships for Children, Juniors and Seniors. International 
Jubilee Slalom for teams of the four home nations. National Circuit Racing, which brakes down as follows. The Grand Prix series, a series of competitions organised by the regions for Juniors and Seniors with experience of racing. A series of Qualifying races organised by Clubs for Juniors and Seniors. These are for racers who wish to obtain or improve their seed points in order to gain entry into the Grand Prix Series. A 
Children's Race Series run in association with Qualifying Races for children aged  over 7 and under 11. All ages refer to 1st January for any competition year. A series of  Alpine races on snow held abroad. 

  The ESC Seed List is a list of points earned in races by performers on plastic slopes,  Points are calculated on the best two results of the current season. The aim of the seed  list is ensure a fair means of determining entry positions into competitions and the  order of the start list. At is also an indicator of the performance of racers. (I will go into the method of calculating seed points in a later article). The BASS Seed List 
(British Alpine Seeding Systems) is similar to ESC Seed List but is used on snow,  Entry on to this list also comes with ESC registration. 

  Once registered, it is up to individual racers to enter the races they wish to attend.  Most races have an entry fee of £13.50 and of course take a full day to complete. As the Ski slopes are situated all over the country, travel arrangements can be a problem!  This is where parents come in as taxi drivers. It also helps if racers can group together in one car sharing the cost of petrol to keep cost down. 

  ESC also have a very good third party ski insurance for its members. Once registered  your covered on plastic or snow.