Swiss & British Championships Part 1

Well that’s it, we have come to the end of the 15/16 season and what a season it has been. Not only personally, but for the team as a whole. We have our first ever overall World Champion (Menna Fitzpatrick and Jen Kehoe) and we have our World Super G champion (Millie Knight and Brett Wild.)  Truly, a great year for adaptive sport.

The last two weeks of the season have been awesome, the sun was shining and the snow was great. My journey started off in Stubai, Austria. The team had been out in Mellau, Austria for the Austrian national champs but due to work commitments I joined a little later.  It was my first time in Stubai. I had the delight of being transferred from Innsbruck to Stubai in a brand new Porsche, I think I will start using Four Seasons transfers a bit more often ;)

The first day of training got off to an eventful start. On the first run I managed to completely snap one of the outriggers I use to ski with, completely in half. One of the lift operators helped me ski back down with one, luckily avoiding eating any powder.  Andy Barlow a  3 track skier from the Army team, had a spare that he kindly lent me.  I was back on the slope within the hour.

We spent 4 days training in Stubai, 2 days training slalom and 2 days training Giant Slalom. The training piste was one of the steepest pitches I have ever trained on but was a very fun hill. We stayed in a B&B which meant the team all cooked together. It is a great bonding opportunity for the team and although it takes its time and requires planning, I really enjoy it.

My goals for the fortnight was to achieve more drive through the turn and to provide more direction in order to control my speed more effectively.

To do this my focus points were:

-       Higher hip position

-       Earlier turn initiation

This was the first time I have properly skied since my chiropractic treatment and I hadn’t realised how much of an impact it has had on my body. I fatigued very quickly and found that all the extra feelings and messages I am getting from releasing the nerves, has had more of an impact than I thought. I wasn’t able to ski for as long as I had used to, but the quality was to a higher standard.

Training went well and the gates were a great challenge, especially when fresh snow had fallen and dictated even more that we were on the racing line.

On the Thursday, we moved from Austria to Obersaxen in Switzerland. This was for start of the Swiss National Championship. This was the first time I have stayed in Switzerland and I was really excited to ski here.  The Friday was the Europa Cup Finals for Giant Slalom. This is the next step in Adaptive racing from the league I am currently in. We had John Dickinson-lilley with his Guide Jack Davey and Kieran Nimmo racing.  John and Jack ended up coming 5^th and Kieran came 17^th a great finish with a competitive field.

Saturday and Sunday brought the National Championships Giant Slalom and Slalom. The weather was hot and the piste seemed really nice. It was a nice gradient with a variety of different terrain and rollers. Perfect for the level I am at and meant I could let the skis run.  After the first run, I had put down my best time ever, it wasn’t perfect but I was moving more and my time definitely reflected that. The second run came round, I was exhausted, I didn’t consciously know it, but my body was showing signs of fatigue. I got to the first drop off and my body just didn’t turn with my leg going into spasm and I ended up binning it into a pile of snow.  I got to the bottom and sat down and then I realised the extent of my fatigue.  The slalom on the second day was similar, the first run wasn’t perfect but there was definite signs of improvement with a quicker time, but as the second run came round I was fatigued and an over cautious start set me up badly for the next few gates and I ended up binning it. Frustrated, but I was starting to understand the situation with my body a bit more and the need for rest.

We moved from Switzerland to Tignes France with an overnight stop in Milano, Italy.  Euan’s (the coach) tetris skill was to an all-time high (see picture of number of bags needed to squeeze in one van.)  
This was for the Start of the British Championships. This is the first time GB have held an adaptive ski race and it was great to be part of this.

TO BE CONTINUED :) 

Much love

Alex

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