Success in the Southern Hemisphere
Over the past couple of months, many British athletes have be training hard and racing in the Southern Hemisphere, gaining some fantastic results.
British Ski and Snowboard programmes looked far and wide
for winter conditions this summer and found Cardrona in New Zealand
and La parva in Chile as the places of choice. British senior,
junior and invited to train athletes all travelled to the Southern
Hemisphere. Team programs have not run in New Zealand for
over decade and in co-operation with the Cardona resort the
athletes have been presented with a training environment normally
reserved for World Cup teams. Although snow was sparse in the
beginning , 9 athletes trained in fantastic conditions including
slalom specialist Dave Ryding who was able to complete a program of
testing and training to his liking. Dave's
successful training definitely paid off, he finished
6th in the NC Slalom at Coronet Peak on 3rd
September with 17.73 FIS points. Dave and rest of the Junior
and FIS racers will spend a further 1 week and 3 weeks
respectively down south to conclude the camp, following a series of
races where there were also progressive results for Alex Tilley and
Ali Stang. Alex has achieved some outstanding results
during her time in New Zealand, including a 3rd place
(32.65 FIS points) in the ANC slalom at Mt Hutt on 9th
September. As the training period comes to an end the racers
will be going back to basics and volume programmes before a well
earned break.
On the other side of the world the men's Speed team under a new
staffing set up, flew to Chile to join many WC teams for the
renowned quality of the resort of La Parva. Training initially with
the German team, the athletes slotted seamlessly back into
training after an extended summer of physical work and clearing up
the niggling injuries from the past seasons. 3 weeks of
training including some unexpected time on powder skis was
concluded with a speed race week with a good opening from Dougie
Crawford. With conditions cooling in Europe , the EC
teams will be back at the start of October in Austria and the
juniors in November.
In addition to the athletes on BSS run programmes, many other British athletes have been achieving great results following training with their clubs or on independent programmes. Charlie Raposo has an outstanding start to his first FIS season, gaining 58.28 FIS points for a 15th place finish in the FIS GS in Treble Cone, NZ. Back in Chile team Evolution and Ambition athletes including Max Baggio, Max Moss, Darcie Mead and Elena Pocock have also been racing well gaining consistent results and even some personal bests.
Congratulations to everyone and good luck for the Northern Hemisphere season!
