Kimberley Training

After a long flight to Calgary and the scenic flight from Calgary to Cranbrook over the Rocky Mountains, I have now arrived safely in Kimberley, BC, Canada to train for the season until the end of March. This is where I trained last year with the embassy disabled ski camp (www.embassydisabledski.com) run by Steve Bova who has a great coaching history. There are a few other returning Athletes; Sean Rose who now lives out here and came 6^th in the Downhill at the Turin Paralympics, Andy Campbell another aspiring Brit, Troy Yeates (an Aussie super quad) The House is also full with a lot more new Athletes from around the world who have come here to train.

            Leading up to the Vancouver Paralympics the ski hill has been granted six million dollars to develop a state of the art, world-class, high performance training centre for disabled skiers. One of the improvements includes the Worlds first permanent Downhill & Super G speed training runs.

            It feels good to be back out here in Canada and I can’t wait to get back training on some snow which should be a pleasant experience after the dodgy snow in Europe.

Powder Video

Here is my latest video taken in all the powder we had in Feb 

Winter X Games

In January of this year Russ Docker headed out to
Aspen for the Winter X Games to compete in mono ski X. This was the first year that disabled athletes have been part of the line up. This is a great stage for our sport and for the athletes. Unfortunately Russ broke his rig in training so was unable to compete but the final is well worth watching these guys rip.

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/ivp/index_allaccess?id=2745476&cobrand=espnsearch&lpos=srch_c2_r3_mvideo

 

Villars 24hr Endurance Race

After our little incident in Russ van we were taken to Landeck while we waited to find out if it was possible for us to continue our journey to Villars or if we would have to head home early, leaving the DSUK team short two skiers. After a few hours waiting, a lot of phone calls and organisation we were set to go. A Taxi ride took us to
Zurich to pick up a mini van big enough to carry all our gear and we were on our way again.

            The race is run by the Formula charity started up by Jacques Villneuve. Around 900 sportsmen and women race in teams of 6 in relay for 24hrs. Jacque himself attends the event with live music been played throughout the night to keep the crowds entertained.

 

This year the event was marred by the lack of snow. Normally the race takes place between the hours of 12 noon on the Saturday all through the night until 12noon on the Sunday. This year the race was broken into three stages 12noon – 4pm, 8pm – midnight and 8am – 12noon.

This year the BBC’s Ski Sunday was there to follow us on the slopes. Russ Docker got things going for the DSUK team with a quick 5 laps, then we set in to a good routine and rota to make sure that everybody could get as many laps as they could in. The conditions didn’t make things easy but it was a great experience and training for Russ and me. The whole team skied extremely well and all had a fantastic time.

If you missed us on ski Sunday you can check it out at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/sol/newsid_6300000/newsid_6308200/6308225.stm?bw=nb&mp=wm

An Eventful week

Due to the continuing poor snow this season in Europe the 2^nd Europa cup race of the year in Monte Baldo, Italy was cancelled just a few days before it was scheduled. This meant that quick action was needed to find something else for that week. With flights cancelled the team split to do their own training while for the 2^nd time this year I took the long drive across the channel. This time to Stubai, Austria with Russ Docker two times Para Olympian where we met up with our coach Jane. This was a perfect time for me to get some one on one coaching and learn from one of the best sit skiers on the circuit.

We were to train for four days in Stubai with the army before heading to Villars Switzerland to  join Disability snow sport UK for the 24hr charity race organised by Jacques Villeneuves formula charity.

The conditions for the first four days were yet again mixed with us skiing in all conditions from rain, sleet, snow, sun and strong winds. This meant that the snow was also mixed with a little powder and a lot of wind swept ice (something that I am still not a fan of) However it was all great practice and time on the snow and in gates! After a few falls in the icy conditions on our final day we made the call it was to lethal to train in. After half a days skiing we were to set off to Villars.

            On the way we stopped off to pick up the teams new timing equipment paid for by the money raised over the summer by the team’s efforts in the Great North Run.

Having been driving for a couple of hours on another long journey we managed to end up in the back of mini bus that stopped in front of us. Nobody was hurt in either vehicle except for Russ van. As the other vehicle drove off we were left at the side of a busy Austrian road thinking we may never make it now to Villars for the 24hr race.