Round the World in 50 days

Since finishing the end of the winter season its been a busy time for me. The majority of it has been spent travelling! As most of you I am sure are aware, as part of my Jack Wills Young Brits Award 2014 I was given a round the world flight ticket courtesy of STA Travel!

On the top of Burj Khalifa

First destination was Dubai where I experienced heat on a completely new level. It was a crazy place to visit, with the heat and the over the top extravagance. Not usually my cup of tea, I quite enjoy visiting cities but I got no feeling that I was experiencing a culture hugely different to the western one I already know! Burj Khalifa at night was definitely a highlight! I also visited ski Dubai while I was there - bizarre the heat can be 50 degrees outside yet there are penguins and a ski slope inside a shopping mall. I didn't have a go - it was quite nice to take a break from the skiing!

Flower Dome Singapore

Singapore: Gardens By The Bay

My next stop was Singapore, such a cool city with amazing energy. Such a contrast to Dubai where nature, sustainability and the environmental considerations are almost non existent.. I was there during the opening ceremony of the South East Asia games, so there was a lot of excitement and the fireworks were awesome. Gardens by the Bay were definitely one of the favourite places I visited!

Surfing in Bali

After Singapore I visited Bali. I think this was my favourite destination of all. The culture was so different to what I am used to, and there is so much to see and do! I wish I could have stayed for so much longer. I managed to go surfing in Kuta, climbed a volcano on my 20th birthday to see sunrise over Kintamani,

Monkeys in Bali

trekked across rice terraces and swam with turtles on the Gili Islands. Despite travelling alone, I met so many back packers in Indonesia doing exactly the same thing as me and I made so many friends from countries all over the world!

Fraser Island

I went to Australia after Bali, the weather was a bit of a contrast and on the whole I was pretty underwhelmed when I landed in Sydney for 3 days. Once I started to travel north, up the east coast I saw why people love Australia so much. Even though it wasn't summer the atmosphere and chilled vibes in Byron Bay were so cool especially with all of the surfing! I spent 3 days touring Fraser Island, camping and off roading in 4x4s. One of the most beautiful places I have ever seen! Everything is picture perfect, I saw humpback whales, sharks, dingoes, giant lizards and dolphins all in the space of 2 days! I only had 11  days in Australia which is no where near enough! Its a place I'd love to go back to!



The last country I visited was the US. I landed in Los Angeles, probably the worst place I visited on my travels. I'm not a huge fan of celebrity chasing, hollywood glitz and thousands of tourists! So when I joined my Trek America tour and made my way towards the Grand Canyon - campi

ng on the banks of the Colorado River on the way I felt much happier! The Grand Canyon was incredible, photos never do it justice! The sheer size of it just blows your mind! Next stop was Vegas, now considering I'm not a huge fan of fake, over the top tourist magnets I really enjoyed Vegas. It doesn't take itself seriously and despite not being 21 there are so many things to do and its so much fun! After another big city visiting Yosemite National Park was a well needed break, hiking 8 miles alongside waterfalls was amazing and it was such a good feeling to get back into mountains! After I finished the tour in San Francisco I spent a few extra days exploring the city - one of my favourite cities in the US, a cool atmosphere and so unique! I managed to squeeze in seeing a baseball game too - SF Giants vs NY Mets. New York was my last stop before flying home! One of the places I had been looking forward to seeing most on my trip! It didn't disappoint and despite being exhausted and broke I had an amazing time and it was a great place to end my trip!

Due to the fact I was taking almost two months of skiing and training some people questioned whether I was actually taking my skiing seriously. Less than a week after returning from my travels I am now preparing for summer glacier training with BSA in Les Deux Alpes and Zermatt and my motivation is as high as it's ever been! I can't wait to get back on skis! It will be a bit of a change this season. The coaching set up at BSA has been completely changed and although I was sad to see my old coach Ali Morton go after I have been coached by him for so many years I'm looking forward to working with someone new,

I have also made the decision to take up my place at University of Manchester in September. Although i've changed my course to Business and Management with French. After two years out from studying I realised I had a change of heart.  My goal is to continue to compete during the winter as much as I can while balancing my studies.

Its been a busy couple of months with so much going on I'll try to update a little more often! I have to send out a massive thanks to Jack Wills and STA Travel for the amazing opportunity they gave me and I wish the best of luck to all Young Brits Applicants for 2015!

Reflections

When people asked me the goals for this season, I always struggled to answer. Usually everyone uses FIS points to base progress and how successful a season was. When I did my first attempt at a 'full time' season points were all I wanted. I became obsessive and when things didn't go well I got really down. I realised the focus had completely moved from how I was skiing to the numbers.

This season I made a real conscious effort to focus on how I was skiing, not the points. So when people asked me "Nia what are you aiming for this season?" I simply replied "to enjoy my skiing, love what I do and feel satisfied with any improvements I make" some people laughed, some people questioned whether I was actually taking racing seriously. If you look down my FIS biography page, the results I scored were nothing particularly special, I was consistent but I managed to make improvements, no matter how small, across all 3 disciplines. In my last 2 GS races in Pila, I skied some the best GS I have ever skied, the points didn't reflect this but I couldn't have asked myself for anything else.

I can't deny I wished my points had come down lower, even if it's for recognition or to stop people questioning me why I am continuing to race and not going to university. However when I take a step back and think about how many set backs I've had this season, how at times I felt like I was attempting to do it alone, and how I actually managed to get where I am now. I'm quite satisfied with how it's gone!

I don't think I'd recommend travelling a total of 3460km by public transport, alone with all of your ski gear. I probably won't be doing it again if I can help it. At times it was scary and there were too many near misses, but I am thankful to the people who helped me! Special thanks to the American ski team girls who lent me race suits to allow me to race at the Welsh Championships because my luggage was lost, the Swiss Army who at some crazy hour in the morning carried all of my luggage for me off the train and across the airport in Zurich, the countless people who attempted to help me carry luggage at stations in Austria and attempted to understand the request for directions in terrible German, and the taxi drivers in Slovenia and Croatia who hilariously requested photos and autographs but kept me entertained with funny stories. Some people would say I'm mad and to some extent I will agree with them, but I did it because I love my sport and I felt like I was doing what was best for me. It probably didn't do the best for my performance but I don't regret it at all!

Again even more thanks to my sponsors for this season who helped me on this crazy adventure - especially Jack Wills who show so much belief in me, 2Pure Active who provided me with awesome POC gear, Reusch gloves who came to the rescue when I injured my thumb again in January, X-Bionic UK for providing me with base layers I'm not sure how I managed to survive without before and Bounce Balls who kept my energy levels going all season whether on the race hill or on a 5am train across Europe!

Of course the biggest decision is where to go from here... At the end of May I embark on my crazy journey around the world provided by STA travel as part of my prize from Jack Wills. Importantly I am going to continue my summer with it mind to continue ski racing. It is a huge decision to make. I have deferred my entry for university twice now ( I am forever thankful for Manchester University for this!) but I cannot expect them to do it again a third time. Many people will think I am stupid for this. At the moment my true passion is skiing, and I don't want to throw myself into a degree when my heart is somewhere else. However realistically, if I can't get my funds together for a season I will have no choice but to finish, so i've got some hard work ahead!

Few days off for rest now then the summer physical training starts again, let's go!

Nia's Everywhere....

Well today was the day the Jack Wills Young Brits Award Winners 2014 went up in stores all over the UK! I popped into the Norwich store to say hi today, it's surreal!

To follow the story and to see my fellow winners check out www.jackwills.com and for my interview and video follow www.blog.jackwills.com this is where I will also be posting my updates throughout the winter. For anybody interested in applying for 2015 there's information on the site!

In thumb news I'm now seeing my hand therapist regularly and have started physiotherapy. My thumb is healing well and I will be back on skis at the end of October! For the time being I'm doing fitness training 5-6 times a week to make up for the time I lost after recovering from surgery! 

Nia x

BIG NEWS

Quite a lot has happened in the last month! My focus has mainly been getting back to full health so I can return to training properly. 

Two weeks ago I went to Les Houches to see my old team mate Jazzy, I was meant to be easing myself back into training gently... But we decided to go hiking both days, each taking 5 hours each and climbing 1000m vertically each time! It was hard work and I was stronger than I thought so now I'm super motivated! It was weird going back to Les Houches in the summer and climbing up the pistes I'm usually racing down, and the views from Chamonix - Lac Blanc definitely made the effort worth it! 

As soon as I returned back to England I was working for BSA again at Norfolk Snowsports Club for the race camp before the All England Championships. I was with working the youngest group, most of them all too young to race in the championship but I look forward to seeing them race in the next few years! A huge well done to two of the boys who I've had great fun coaching when I've been at Norfolk Alex Ogden and Joseph Thompson who are now U10 and U12 English Champions! 

Now a BIG announcement to make!! Over the past few months people have been asking me what happened with the Jack Wills Extraordinary Young Brits award 2014. I am thrilled to announce I was a winner in the Endurance category!!! I've known for about 2 months and it's been so hard to keep it a secret!!!! This means I've won £5000 to help fund my winter season, and round the world travel next summer. I'm also extremely lucky to receive mentoring throughout the winter to help manage my season. It's a fantastic opportunity and I'm having so much fun! Over the last few months I've done photoshoots and interviews, and I will feature in Jack Wills stores from the 18th September! I would like to thank EVERYONE who has helped support by voting and sharing, I could not have done it without you! I'm now super excited to see how this winter goes and hopefully help raise the profile of British Ski Racing!

Here's a sneak peak at some of the behind the scenes pictures from my photoshoot! (Pictures were taken by the awesome Matt Holyoak!)

 

 

I've now started back fitness training and progress with my thumb recovery is going well. I've had my cast removed and I now have a removable splint. Fingers crossed I will be able to get back on skis at the end of October!

Will keep you updated!

Nia x