Tuesday: Super G race
• 6am: Load minibus with people, skis, wheelchairs. Ride minibus up, listening to some tunes and getting excited about racing my favourite discipline.
• 7am: unload in the rain. Told to wait ‘Race is on hold!’
• 8am: message to wait until next announcement at 10am (still feeling positive and excited about the prospect of racing although the rain doesn’t look pleasant).
• 10am: told to wait until 12 (the rain eventually stops).
• 12am: Inspect the course, it looks nice, the snow has held up really well and is perfect for me, hard packed but not icy. Feeling positive about racing.
• Race ‘On hold’ for a few more hours, then told to go to start. The weather has improved. Forerunners run the course.
• ‘Race postponed until tomorrow’. It turns out the timing gear was run over by groomers and is not working.
Wednesday: Super G race, take 2
• Load bus, get up hill in rain. Rain stops, racers warm up.
• Race on hold, safety netting has blown off course.
• Chairlift stops due to high winds but the race organisers are doing everything they can to make the race happen so we take another chairlift then get dragged by skidoo to the start for course inspection (its now an ice rink).
• The able-bodied guys do their race, and make the steep icy section look difficult.
• We get dragged up to the start again to wait for another hour, the safety netting gets blown off the track again and the organisers call it a day.
No Super G race for team GB in NZ. Really frustrating but that’s ski racing.
27 August 2009
26 August 2009
Pre-race training at Queenstown
Monday:
5am start, 6am load bus. Skiing Coronet Peak for sunrise on 2m speed skis. We skied straight down the race hill at 20s intervals with other disabled and able-bodied (AB) racers. Good practise to experience the course and be surprised by a little air (flying). There’s lots of terrain on this course and a tricky steep section but I know I can do it.
Then I did more super G turns with the Winter Park Team who I trained with last season, before the lifts opened to the public at 9am (it’s unsafe to train at speed with the public). I am feeling really positive about my speed skiing and ready to race!
5am start, 6am load bus. Skiing Coronet Peak for sunrise on 2m speed skis. We skied straight down the race hill at 20s intervals with other disabled and able-bodied (AB) racers. Good practise to experience the course and be surprised by a little air (flying). There’s lots of terrain on this course and a tricky steep section but I know I can do it.
Then I did more super G turns with the Winter Park Team who I trained with last season, before the lifts opened to the public at 9am (it’s unsafe to train at speed with the public). I am feeling really positive about my speed skiing and ready to race!
21 August 2009
Slalom and adrenaline training!
Excellent slalom training last week at Mt Dobson and my summer training in UK snowdomes has paid off. Dobson is the only mountain I've ever skied at without any permanent buildings, just a caravan, container selling lift tickets, mini cafe and drop toilets (no flush necessary)! The skiing however was well worth the minimalist amenities. We had mostly sunny weather, just one snowy day followed by powder 'training'.
After a beautiful drive through the Mackenzie country, we are now in Queenstown where we started the NZ Winter Games with some adrenaline training today, swinging off a 60m rope swing into a dramatic river gorge!
The plan is: race training Monday, then racing Super G Tuesday, Giant Slalom Friday and Slalom Saturday. Bring it on!
After a beautiful drive through the Mackenzie country, we are now in Queenstown where we started the NZ Winter Games with some adrenaline training today, swinging off a 60m rope swing into a dramatic river gorge!
The plan is: race training Monday, then racing Super G Tuesday, Giant Slalom Friday and Slalom Saturday. Bring it on!
12 August 2009
TRAINING IN NZ
The British Disabled A, B and Development Teams arrived in New Zealand two weeks ago, for some excellent training. Mt Hutt has some good steeps for gates training. Last week we focussed on Giant Slalom and got a few runs in on speed skis. We've been doing early starts - on the lift at 7:30am, which means 5am rise, so lots of early nights and beautiful sunrises. Unfortunately its turned windy and the mountain’s been renamed ‘Mt SHutt’ for the last couple of days.
We move onto Coach’s home mountain, Mt Dobson on Saturday to train Slalom for a week followed by the NZ Winter Games for which we’ll be based in Queenstown.
This country is beautiful, my wonderful cousin Rob’s been putting me up, helping out with the team and adapting, fiberglassing and fixing my monoski which all seem pretty successful. Thanks cuz, you’re a superstar!
Coach is pleased with my skiing progress. It’s all going well!
We move onto Coach’s home mountain, Mt Dobson on Saturday to train Slalom for a week followed by the NZ Winter Games for which we’ll be based in Queenstown.
This country is beautiful, my wonderful cousin Rob’s been putting me up, helping out with the team and adapting, fiberglassing and fixing my monoski which all seem pretty successful. Thanks cuz, you’re a superstar!
Coach is pleased with my skiing progress. It’s all going well!
22 April 2009
The Joys of Spring!
I'm now back in the UK enjoying a surprisingly sunny April. It's nice to be home although I hear the end of season snow's been good in Europe and Colorado.
I'm teaching again, earning a bit of money and working on fitness again after a short rest. The plan is to go to New Zealand in August to train then race in the Winter Games out there, so I'm building my fitness up again for that.
Oh the joys of spring!
I'm teaching again, earning a bit of money and working on fitness again after a short rest. The plan is to go to New Zealand in August to train then race in the Winter Games out there, so I'm building my fitness up again for that.
Oh the joys of spring!
7 April 2009
US Nationals
Training's continued with the Winter Park team in Colorado, they're like a big family, it's been great!
The US Nationals were a success, winning another bronze in the first downhill. I flew down the first half of the second downhill race in an excellent time but didn't quite react quickly enough to save myself from crashing out on a sharp right fall-away where half of the men crashed. However I was pleased with complements on my run from a few of the US athletes and coaches! I came 5th in the Super G.
So that's it for the season. Now back to the UK to earn some money and fund this expensive sport!
The US Nationals were a success, winning another bronze in the first downhill. I flew down the first half of the second downhill race in an excellent time but didn't quite react quickly enough to save myself from crashing out on a sharp right fall-away where half of the men crashed. However I was pleased with complements on my run from a few of the US athletes and coaches! I came 5th in the Super G.
So that's it for the season. Now back to the UK to earn some money and fund this expensive sport!
3 March 2009
2009 World Championships - Korea
After the Park City NorAms, where i won bronze in the GS and finished both slalom races, I travelled straight to Korea for my first World Championships! After 2 days of travelling we finally arrived, exhausted, in High 1 Resort. There was no snow to be seen but after a good rest we discovered pistes of man made snow streaking through a vast expanse of deciduous tree-covered hills. It was somewhat icy and strange to ski on.
The ceremonies and suppers were held in a large banquet hall, World Championships posters and the flags of the 25 competing nations, hanging from the walls. A blind orchestra opened the Championships with an wonderful show. I was surrounded by the best skiers in the world, and seeing the winners receive their medals, listening to their national anthems and stories, and seeing them race at breakneck speeds was incredibly motivating. The magnitude of the event overwhelmed me.
On most race days we had a 5:30am start and took the gondola and up the hill with our kit for a 7am course inspection when over 260 competitors side-slip and try to memorize the icy course simultaneously - hectic to say the least! I then warm up and visualise the course, and remember sitting in the start, the team physio rubbing me down, trying to focus my mind. The racer before me started and I tried hard to see my line down the first steep section and ignore the TV camera in my face!
"10 seconds!...Racer ready!...Go!"
I'm off!
I made it through the finish every run, and into the finish enclosure where the team psyche and Paralympics GB staff were waiting. I was gutted to have fallen and had to hike in the first slalom run, but managed to get my head together for a better second run and came 8th. Fortunately GS the next day was much more successful, I came 4th. Sean Rose got an awesome 9th.
These World Championships were a vital learning experience for me in the build up to the Paralympics. I experienced and saw so much, including my first random drugs test! Disappointingly, I didn't qualify for the speed events but watched with the coaches and learned a lot about race line.
Next stop Whistler, to learn the terrain for the Paralympics!
The ceremonies and suppers were held in a large banquet hall, World Championships posters and the flags of the 25 competing nations, hanging from the walls. A blind orchestra opened the Championships with an wonderful show. I was surrounded by the best skiers in the world, and seeing the winners receive their medals, listening to their national anthems and stories, and seeing them race at breakneck speeds was incredibly motivating. The magnitude of the event overwhelmed me.
On most race days we had a 5:30am start and took the gondola and up the hill with our kit for a 7am course inspection when over 260 competitors side-slip and try to memorize the icy course simultaneously - hectic to say the least! I then warm up and visualise the course, and remember sitting in the start, the team physio rubbing me down, trying to focus my mind. The racer before me started and I tried hard to see my line down the first steep section and ignore the TV camera in my face!
"10 seconds!...Racer ready!...Go!"
I'm off!
I made it through the finish every run, and into the finish enclosure where the team psyche and Paralympics GB staff were waiting. I was gutted to have fallen and had to hike in the first slalom run, but managed to get my head together for a better second run and came 8th. Fortunately GS the next day was much more successful, I came 4th. Sean Rose got an awesome 9th.
These World Championships were a vital learning experience for me in the build up to the Paralympics. I experienced and saw so much, including my first random drugs test! Disappointingly, I didn't qualify for the speed events but watched with the coaches and learned a lot about race line.
Next stop Whistler, to learn the terrain for the Paralympics!
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