Tignes & Les Deux Alpes

For the past two weeks I've been out in France with BSA for some pre winter glacier training. One week in Tignes and one in Les Deux Alpes was just what I needed - the two week break from school being an obvious added bonus!

I was really looking forward to getting back on my skis and finding out how all the hard work over the summer would help my skiing. It was also great to be back with Ruslan and the rest of the team again.

Week 1 - Tignes 

I was very excited for the first week in Tignes. With a small group of 3 athletes I saw it as a excellent opportunity to work with Ruslan and gain a lot of improvement in my skiing. Small groups mean we all get more time and focus with Ruslan than we would normally in a bigger group of racers and I wanted to make the most of the time we had. 

Tignes

Another added bonus was that all three of us were part of the British u18 team which meant there was a high standard throughout the group and Laurie, Jake and I really pushed each other every day both on and off the hill. It was also good to get a close up view of a number of the World Cupper's smashing down courses in their final training sessions ahead of the season opener in Soelden.

The fact that Tignes is a well known European Glacier and it has a reputation to have good quality skiing pre-winter meant that it was very busy when we were there. This ensured that to use our time wisely every run we had needed to be high quality and contain as few mistakes as possible. Over the week I feel that I made some good steps forward and improved my skiing a lot, especially in GS. I honestly never thought that I would feel as comfortable on the new regulation skis as I do this early into the season.

The short term sacrifice of last season where I spent a lot of time on a GS ski that bridged the gap between old and new length and turning radii appears to be rewarding me now. The fact I felt so strong on the ski and mountain also suggests that all the hard work in the gym and over the summer with Ruslan has really paid off.

And whilst Ruslans famous and often repeated quote "Now you have to do this in the races" always hangs over my head, I'm feeling confident going into the minefield of my first season of FIS races. Off the hill we were also working pretty hard. Every day going to the sports centre and either doing some sprinting work, ply-metrics or a lifting session.

Week 2 - Les Deux Alpes

Training Piste Central

I was really looking forward to Deux Alpes because it provided a flatter terrain and was I was interested to see how the new GS skis turned on it. It isn't very often that European Glaciers have lots of flat areas to train on pre-winter and therefore it was a great chance to feel what was happening this early on in the season. With only one addition to last week's small group we would again be getting great focus and attention from Ruslan throughout the week.

It was also good to get the timing gear out and see where I was compared to the other lads. As the standard of juniors at BSA is very high it is equally very easy to be quickest or slowest on any given day. This is great however because we sub consciously react to the start gate and we all push each other forward, the banter flies around everyday and the stakes are always raised. It's great to be with such a great group of lads this season, however coming off the mountain on the wrong end of the timing sheet is an absolute no-no.

The one major issue about Les Deux Alpes is the absolutely horrendous queues each morning to get up the lift. Whilst everything is great when you're up there, having to wait over an hour to get skiing isn't the best thing that has ever happened to me. All week we moved our arrival time forward until were reasonably towards the front, until one day - when we finally were at the very front - and ended up waiting 3 hours in the pouring rain before they decided to close the mountain. Nightmare.

That said, I felt that the time we did get on the mountain over the week was well spent however and I again made some good progress. Overall I felt the two weeks were very successful and I'm looking really forward to getting out to Les Houches in the winter and getting some FIS races under my belt.

Until then? Well there's plenty of time and opportunity to get back into the gym, especially as Velocity Health and Fitness, Walsall are kindly supporting me. It is an absolutely superb facility and I feel really lucky to be involved with them and hugely appreciate their support and belief in me. I hope that over time I can repay their faith and generosity.

It's been a good few weeks... now back to school on Monday.

Another Busy Summer

So after my most recent training camp last month I’ve been taking a few well earned weeks off. Well sort of.

My summer has been really hectic for a change. As many of you know I’m starting my A Levels this year and I had to decide (and agree with my school) what subjects I’m taking over the next two years. School have always been super supportive of what I do so it was great to repay them with a solid set of GCSE results over the summer. A Levels are a whole different ball game however and now I'm sorted with my subjects it's time to make inroads into them before the mountains and snow start calling again.

Last Saturday was the All England Championships. The pinnacle of outdoor racing, it has always been the best race of the outdoor summer circuit in my opinion. The atmosphere at Gloucester has made for some great racing down the years so you knew it would be a great day.

Gloucester was also where I competed in my first ever race,  8 years ago now, so I always find it quite a special and unique place to race at. I’d not touched plastic for almost 12 months prior to the champs so I wasn’t expecting to pull up any trees and sure enough I didn’t. However I’d just like to praise Snowsport England for continually delivering a great race and it was good to see so many senior racers coming back. It’s great to see racers like Georgie Hunt and Jimmy Greenwood returning to the plastic scene and just shows that the event still has plenty of magic and appeal in it.

The main highlight of the day for me however was to pick up the “Most Improved Junior of the Year” award for 2013. I was simply astonished when I received the award and it’s just great to be rewarded with something like this after all the effort that I’ve put in over the last few years. The names on the trophy certainly show how prestigious the award is and read like a who's who of English ski racing over the past 15 years. Dave Ryding, Benn Hall and Brad Morgan are all racers I admire and respect immensely so to have my name on the same trophy as them is a huge boost. I only hope that I can continue their run of talent.

Another big thing over the summer for me was to get all my equipment sorted for the up and coming season. Neil at Racer Ready did me a huge favour over the summer, sorting out an issue I had with my GS skis but over the weekend I’ve managed to get the final pieces together and get my new boots fitted.

I’d like to thank Matt at Head for his & Head's continued support and keeping their faith in what I do, I honestly couldn’t do the sport we all love without you. Another sponsor who I need to thank is Ski Bartlett. The UK’s best ski shop never fail to help out and always do a great job for any racer and I’d like to thank Sally & Terry for their fantastic support, help and advice.

The equipment is in place, all I need to do now is pull some decent results out this season - No pressure!

Away from all the madness I’ve been spending some long hours in the gym and out on the road trying to get as strong as possible for next season. The new season is less than 3 months away and by the time I stand in the start for my first race I want to be in the best shape possible to get the best results I can. That means being fit and strong enough to maximise as many training days as I possibly can. I’ve been following the fitness programme Ruslan set for me very strictly and hopefully we'll can see the benefits next time I go out training in October.

Zermatt Reflections

So I’m back in not-so-sunny England after a fantastic first camp with BSA. It was great to get back on skis and also return to Zermatt after such a long time. The conditions and facilities for training were top quality as usual.

Essentially, I’ve learnt a lot from my first camp with Ruslan and the other coaches at BSA and I feel that I have gained a huge amount of knowledge in all areas of my sport as well as coming on leaps and bounds in my skiing.

The training and work environment that BSA provide were two of the things I was most anxious about since making the decision of who to join for 2013/14 and beyond. All these doubts were rapidly swept away however, most of them pretty much after the first day. It became very clear, very quickly that BSA care a lot about both the welfare of their athletes and creating an atmosphere where we can work hard and achieve our goals. Having trained in a very similar environment at Telford it is good knowing that I can go training, work hard and develop as an athlete. I look forward to future camps with them.

 

I set out at the start at the camp with the goals to feel comfortable over the new GS ski and to improve my slalom overall as I feel it has been letting me down for a while. I think moving club and becoming a FIS racer has given me the opportunity of making a new start and setting some new goals which can drive me to take all the opportunities provided and, if necessary, set my own ones as a mature athlete.

 

Two and a half weeks later I feel that I have achieved what I wanted at the start of the camp. My GS skiing feels in pretty good shape, I feel very comfortable over the new ski and will be looking towards building more speed in October and through the winter. Slalom also feels a lot stronger than what it was beforehand, something that is a huge relief and big achievement for me because as a racer there is nothing worse than having one discipline which is behind the standards you set yourself.

 

A key aspect of being an athlete is the work you put in off the mountain and in the gym. In the off season I spend some long hours in the gym, on the balance ball or on the road and it paid off a huge amount in my skiing. Looking forward, on the final night of the camp I sat down with Ruslan for an hour and planned a very detailed, strict and pretty intense fitness programme to follow until October.  Hopefully the next few months should see some decent changes that will improve my training regime and therefore my skiing as a whole.

 

Looking forward, I can't wait for October in Les Deux Alpes. It's somewhere I’ve never skied before so it promises to be interesting and exciting. We will also be able to gauge how Ruslan's changes to my fitness & training regime pay off. Hopefully there're be something good to report from there.

Thanks to Malcolm, Ruslan, all the coaches, staff and (most importantly) the athletes at BSA for making me feel so welcome. It was a blast.

 

Finally, below is a short video I have put together from the camp. I hope you enjoy it. 

 

Zermatt Video

Finding my way on the new GS skis



And my first day back on the slaloms

A New Start

Its nearly the end of summer and I'm back in Zermatt for my first camp of the season and my first camp as a FIS racer. Its been a while since I've been here, in recent years I've done most of my glacier training in Hintertux, but the snow here is always so good.

It was also a big new start for me, joining a new programme after 8 years training and racing for Telford. However with no full time FIS programme available I had to look elsewhere and BSA looked the obvious place to give me the opportunities to succeed in all areas of ski racing and also do well in my A levels. 

Obviously, after eight years at one club, a brand new start wasn't anything I was familiar with so it was quite weird to begin with but the BSA coaches, athletes and staff have all made me feel more than welcome. 

Another new start was skiing on the new Giant Slalom regulation skis. 195 cm long with a 35 m radius ski is something even the worlds best were struggling to cope with last year so I was intrigued to see how I would cope with them. 

I was surprised myself when I found that they weren't as bad as we all first thought. After a few hours of drills and exercises with Ruslan I felt steady and stable over the new skis. On the glacier the time you have to ski is pretty limited so Ruslan and I focused on getting fewer runs of consistently high quality rather than wasting lots of energy throwing down lots of poor runs. As far as the new ski goes, day 1 was a very encouraging start.

So after a really good first day I was really looking forward to a similar second morning, however the weather gods decided to we'd get a bit of thunder and lightning overnight. Frustratingly one of the lightening bolts struck the gondola power cables, blew all the fuses and took the lift out. So instead of sitting around the following morning we decided to have a fitness day, starting the day with some fun games of volleyball and basketball. The afternoon was far from fun however as we went through an hour and a half of circuits, agility and power drills in temperatures of 27 degrees. It was testing to say the very least! 

Days three and four were perfect training conditions. So, making the most of the opportunity we got a a couple of solid 5 hour mornings on the GS skis. Ruslan took me through lots of drills and exercises as we began to build up the speed now I was used to the longer skis. After a few hours of drills we concentrated on having lots of separation, getting a smoother & quicker transition and bending the ski to get as much rebound out as possible. Even over this short time period I can feel the speed increasing. 

With a week and a half left my focus is looking to iron out a few technical niggles in my skiing and then trying to build up as much speed as I can on the new skis. Whilst off skis I'm working really hard to get super fit for the coming season. Exciting times await, hopefully the hard work will pay off. 

As new starts go, this is a promising beginning.

A Quick Stretch

 

Zermatt

 

A Bit of Servicing

Lift Banter with Milo

Meribel 2013

Looking to build on good results I'd achieved at the English Championships I found myself back on the road again, heading to the 3 Valleys for the British and Scottish Championships. After a good break from skiing (and a bit too much school!) I couldn't wait to meet up with the Telford lads again and hammer down some courses, so it was probably the best camp of the year for me.

I have a decent track record over the years in these races and was certainly intending to continue this run throughout the six days with some solid racing. In the pre-Championships training week I was feeling pretty good. The foundation work for the season had long been completed so it was a case of mainly focusing on refining the good things and just trying to erase any bad habits. A week in Alpbach was just enough to get things right.

Sunday.

So with confidence high and a solid week on skis under my feet attentions turned to the first race of the Scottish champs. A slalom race down the Courchevel stade is hard enough in normal conditions, however when faced with a mixture of pouring rain, snow and variable visibility the race was taken to a whole new level. Adapting to the conditions would be the tone for most of the week it seemed. Inevitably visibility was at it's worst the moment I stood in the start gate, however even with fog limiting visibility down to three gates I laid down a really sold first run. It wasn't good enough to lead after run 1 but given the conditions I was pleased to be lying 3rd. As conditions progressively got worse, I went for a second run all or nothing which left me fighting for my life at the bottom half. I survived, crossed the finishing line and managed to find myself in 2nd place overall. A good first day all in all.

Monday.

The GS race in Courchevel has always been my favourite race of the season. How could you not love thrashing down a World Cup piste? Conditions were much better for this with blue skies transforming the mountain scenery. After a decent first run I again found myself in 3rd place with the leaders again well in my sights. The plan was a comprehensive course inspection, practise the turns on a free ski and then attack out of the start. It all went pretty well, the second run was one of the best runs I'd produced this season and got me up to 2nd again. I couldn't really have asked for a better start to the week.

Tuesday.

The British Champs have always been a mixture of ups and downs for me. One year it's great the next it's full of problems. But with confidence soaring and a decent Scottish under my feet I was hoping to build on the previous two days and make this a good championships. In my early years of children's racing Super G was never been my strongest race. I've always enjoyed it, not least for the speed and adrenaline rush but struggled to convert this into results. This has changed round however in the latter years of my children's racing and I was hoping for good things from the speed event. With weather predicted to deteriorate we went into he opening event of the British Championships unsure if it was a Championship race or training run. Either way it was time to press the accelerator and go flat out. Whilst not really expecting a podium, I was hoping for good things and stood in the start gate looking for a big run. And what a run it was! The start was great, I kept the errors to a minimum, nailed both the A gates and Panorama bends and finally put together a storming run. The timing board had me more than a second clear and when the last of the top 15 went down I was still 1.01 seconds clear. However, a few minutes later a yellow flagged re-runner managed to sneak inside my time by 0.10 seconds and snatch the win. Yes, to lose a race that late was painful but I was still over the moon with a good result.

Wednesday.

The following morning's weather proved just good enough to ensure a race could be run and therefore yesterday's race would be recorded as the training run. This, however, has to be the longest day of racing I have ever experienced. Intermittent fog that rose and dropped like a hotel lift made in nearly impossible to run the race and the officials were 3 minutes away from cancelling when the sun finally began to penetrate the cloud. After an hour and twenty minutes of waiting at the start I produced another good Super G run. There were a couple more errors than on the previous day but it still proved good enough to place me 3rd, albeit frustratingly 0.01s behind 2nd place. I wanted more, I felt that I could win, but given the quality of racers in the event I had to be happy with 2 more podiums in the speed event. Indeed, given I collected the English U16 Super-G title and made a top 10 in my Andorra BCST start, I have to be really happy with my SG efforts this winter.

Thursday.

Onto the slalom. The Meribel slalom has always been my bogey event. In the four previous attempts I have never finished the race. And surprise, I didn't this year either! One basic error ejected me out of the event before I'd really got going and left me frustrated on the side of the hill. Consistency in slalom is something that needs to be out right next season in FIS. In training it's solid, rapid and consistent but I'm not converting enough on race days. This did allow me however to go and fore-run the under 14's GS race. With the next day's GS scheduled to run down the stade I felt it was a good opportunity to sneak a bit of early practise in. Over the last few years poor snow conditions had meant that none of the current child racers had ever skied GS gates down it so I grabbed the opportunity with both hands to get a feel of what was to come.

Friday.

The final race of the season was here, my final start as a child racer. A GS blast race down the Meribel stade was absolutely the right way to go out. After a mistake riddled first run I somehow managed to find myself 4th but well in touch with the top three. With nothing to lose on the second run I just went death or glory and threw the kitchen sink at it.

The top half of run 2 was superb but just as I thought I was giving myself a chance I got badly twisted and had to fight like you wouldn't believe to stay in the course. I survived but with speed scrubbed the chance of advancing onto the podium looked gone until one of the other racers ahead of me crashed and handed me possibly the cheekiest podium of my career. They all count however!

With 5 podiums in 6 days, joint 3rd overall at the British and top performer in Courchevel I was really happy with my week overall. Winning at the British Champs is still yet to happen despite me consistently putting myself in positions to challenge. It will come in time, indeed given the challenges ahead I'd much prefer that to arrive next year.

Onto a long and hard summer. Children's racing was only the beginning.

Bormio 2013

After a great week at the FIS World Championhips in Schladming it was time to go onto Bormio for the English Alpine Championships, for what is always a great week. I had high hopes for Bormio, some of which were achieved. Alongside my own races I also looked forward to fore-running the FIS races, and I saw this as a good opportunity for me to gain experience for my FIS debut next year and give me a good insight into the work I have to do in the summer to achieve my aspirations.

But before all that however I'd like to say a big thank you to Paul and Team Evolution for offering me an overnight stay at their base. Also big thanks to Sega for collecting me from Schlad, taking me over to Bormio and making life a whole lot easier for me. They have a fantastic set-up in St Johann and some great coaches who're going to improve a lot of racers over future years.

After the 6 hour drive from Austria we finally arrived in Italy - the 10th European country I'd been in over the month of February.

Frustratingly, Super G is the discipline I've struggled to achieve regular consistency in, despite it being by far the most enjoyable. The combination of speed and technique required is a test for anybody, but the lack of time and facilities in Alpbach mean that opportunities to train Super G are minimal. Generally it's a first lift blast from top to bottom before tech training, however it is always extremely fun!

My podium at last year's British Champs and a solid top ten in my GB Children's team outing in Andorra offered me confidence that the consistency was arriving however. After a great opening to the run I made one mistake on the steep which cost me loads of speed and time. Effectively the error cost me an overall win, however a solid second place and first English boy meant I'd achieved my first aim of the week - adding my name onto the English SG trophy, and settling myself for the rest of the championships.

As ever I was hoping to do well in the GS, not least given the development work I'd done in advance of Schladming. Irritatingly a poor first run I left myself a lot to do, which was the tone for the early half of my season really. However a great second run charge - my best run of the year so far - gave me another podium place and plenty of belief to go onto the slalom. 

Slalom has been a big frustration this year. I've had some fantastic training days over the winter but have never really got going when racing the discipline I've always felt strongest at. It's either rapid or dnf at the moment, however if I cut out the dnf's then I know that the podiums will flow. Certainly the work I did with Richard Breese in advance of Bormio had me full of confidence but another mistake riddled first run left me with all the work to do. I rode my luck with an all or nothing 2nd run in G.S. the day before and tried to go for the same again, but going too direct on the steep led me to a mistake I would come to regret.

After 15 pretty tidy gates I found myself slumped on the ground next to the coaches with the week's overall children's title - which at that point was mine to lose and one I was intent on retaining - thrown away on the last run of he week.

The three weeks back home since has given me time to refresh and prepare mentally for a final assault on Winter 2013 and children's racing - the British Champs. I'm fit, ready for the challenges ahead and hoping to do well. In any case, 3 full weeks in school at this time if year is more than long enough! 

  

    

Schladming International Youth Camp 2013

Amazing. A once in a lifetime experience that was absolutely amazing.

Attending Schladming 2013 as a BSS ambassador was an opportunity for me to experience a whole new level of skiing first hand, whilst also meeting new people in similar situations as me, witnessing first hand Austrian and Styrian culture in particular. It also gave me the opportunity of taking a well deserved break off ski training without leaving the mountains.

I went to Schladming a little uneasy, mainly because I wasn’t comfortable with the thought of lots of new people around me. It was a multi-national camp, whereas personally I’m used to sticking with the same group of lads I train regularly with - and my Glaswegian coach, obviously.

This took me a little out of my comfort zone. Amazingly however, over the first night and following morning I got to know more and more people, and made more and more friends from all corners of the world. From Chile to Russia, from America to Iran I now have friends with similar interests and experiences. It was a great opportunity for me and it helped me personally to become more outgoing, more versatile and substantially improve my people skills. I also have an offer of somewhere to stay when next visiting Argentina!

Without doubt however, the best part of the week was watching the races. Seeing the best in the world doing what they love was a truly memorable experience. It also gave me a deep insight in to the level of skiing which I aspire to achieve and reiterated to me that the only way I was going to achieve that was to try my hardest and give my all, every minute both on and off the slopes.

Standing in the VIP area next to the American Team was also something I won’t forget any time soon. Nor is the breath-taking atmosphere in and around the stadium, especially when an Austrian skier went down. It was mental! They live and breathe ski racing.

Off the hill we visited the press centre and experienced what it was like to stand in front of the microphones during a press conference. We also worked on how to make your own videos look good, how to cut film, which clips and images to choose and how to make the best videos. This was good for me so that I can take these skills away and I intend to put them to use in my next video.

We also did lots of different types of skiing, trying out telemark & monoboard skis as well as doing a fair bit of skiing on my own slaloms. 

Overall, Schladming has to be one of the most amazing experiences I've had and witnessed. I was immensely proud and honoured to have been chosen as an ambassador for BSS for the event. I took a lot away from the camp and would definitely recommend it to people who have the chance to go on a future International Youth Camp.

Below are a few pics but if you want to see more please check out my Picasa album at http://tinyurl.com/c2jssew