New start...

It's been over two years since I finished studying full time, I had a great seasons of almost full time racing. In September I finally took up my place at the University of Manchester. I'm now studying for a BA in French and Business Management. I'm extremely fortunate to have been awarded a scholarship by SPORTmanchester which will allow me to continue with my ski racing career alongside my studies. It will help me to manage my time studying and training and they provide me with strength and conditioning coaching ans physio - things I have never had full access to before!

I will be competing for the university this year on the British BUCS series as well as training with the British Ski Academy. The next camp for me will be in Canada. I'm extremely excited, as it will be my first time skiing and competing outside of Europe. There are some amazing training opportunities while i'll out there and plenty of FIS starts! 

I'm extremely grateful to have continued support from Bounce Balls, POC Sports (2Pure Active), Reusch UK and X Bionic but I'm still looking for help and support for this season, balancing student life with a competitive sports career is never easy! So if anyone out there is interested in what i'm doing and wants to help or knows anyone who would please get in contact! 

I'll try to keep you updated with everything ski related! While trying to remember how to study!

Keep updated by Twitter: niajenkins

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LinkedIn: Nia Jenkins ( https://uk.linkedin.com/in/niajenkins )

Tiredness, tears and Tignes

When I last blogged I explained I'd be moving back to Les Houches to finish the season training with the British Ski Academy. I'm happy I made the move,and I think I'm now in a much better place mentally.

I've done a few races since being back in France, a night slalom in Morzine, a GS in Les Gets and the French National Junior championships Super G and Alpine Combined in Les Menuires. The races were pretty good, in slalom I still feel like I'm struggling and that's reflecting in my results. In Les Gets I managed to score my best GS result, it was a huge surprise I really didn't think I deserved it from how I skied but it was a score nonetheless. The french nationals were tough but a really good experience, especially when some of the French World Cup women's team turned up to practice for the World Cup Finals in Meribel. Super G is definitely not my strongest discipline, I never manage to train gates and in comparison to slalom and GS I spend much less time on the skis. However I really enjoy skiing it so I like it when I get the chance. Results wise I've been super consistent this season no huge improvement but knocking off a couple of points here and there.

In the run up to the British Championships in Tignes training arrangements in Les Houches have been pretty difficult, it's meant we have had to train in Courmayeur, Pila and La Thuile in Italy.

Travelling further everyday has been tiring and meant I've much less time to rest and relax compared to usual. It was good to train on different pistes and in different conditions, being in Les Houches all season can get a little boring and you can get too used to training on the same hill.

I've just returned from the British Champs. The results haven't been what I hoped for... I really enjoyed skiing the Super G, the course was really good. I DNF in the NC and made the same mistake in the NJC but managed to complete but the time was slow. Conditions were tough for the NC GS with really hard snow and very poor visibility. I crashed out along with many girls, I've never been to a race where 5 blood wagons were used for 50 girls.....

Onto the slalom - a race I'd rather forget. It was one of those races where when you are skiing nothing feels particularly good, but nothing feels that bad, but when you look at the time it's just disappointing. In the NJC GS it was probably the first time in the week I was actually satisfied with what I was doing, my first run put me in a good start position for the second run. On the second run though my ski released on the fourth gate, and me and my coach have no idea why. I was so frustrated, I didn't do anything wrong but I was unlucky. I ended up falling inside onto my thumb which I had surgery on in the summer. I don't think any serious damage was done, but it made slalom the next day a bit more difficult. I tried to end the week on a high, I wasn't too disappointed with how I skied in the last slalom, my second run was pretty good so I know I can do it!

Welsh Ski Team at the British Championships

Usually the British Championships marks the end of the season but this year I'm lucky enough to stay out for a couple more weeks and fit in a few more races. Hopefully I'll end the season on a high!

If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you

After a well needed break back at home, I had a pretty good intense training block of slalom and giant slalom in Hinterstoder, Austria. It was then time to go to Bormio for the English Alpine Championships. Bormio is definitely one of my favourite places to race, the weather is almost always perfect and the hills are great for racing!

Hinterstoder

The races didn't go too badly, I think it took me a while to get into it. I didn't feel hugely race ready, its not something I've experienced so far into the season before but I think I managed well. In the first slalom I put down an average first run full of mistakes, but followed it up with a pretty fast second run. I need to find the right mindset to nail it on the first run next time! Then came my first GS start of the season, and it didn't go to plan. I wasn't confident enough and a huge mistake on the flat meant I didn't finish the first run.

Bormio FIS GS

The Super G in Bormio is always great fun. I don't ski a lot of speed, but it is probably my favourite Super G. Despite not being on my skis since October and not had a proper Super G run in gates since February last year. I was feeling pretty good and confident. I was happy with my performance, I would have liked to have been a bit closer to the leader but I skied to my points in the first, and scored points in the second - can't argue with a personal best!

I got a second attempt at the GS a day later in the NJR races, I think skiing the Super G made a big difference. I was happy with my performance, although I didn't make points I'm now definitely ready to get some more GS races under my belt. 6 races in 5 days is a pretty intense programme, I finished the week with another slalom race, on a pretty strange hill but came away with a personal best score in slalom which I was pleased with and I know there is room for more :)

Chamonix Valley

After Bormio I returned to Les Houches. I decided to leave my team in Austria. I wasn't happy and wasn't sure things were working out. I think its hard to perform your best when you are in an environment you aren't happy and comfortable in. I think I made the right decision and hopefully things will get a lot better towards the end of the season. I'm now back training with Ali at the British Ski Academy and things are working out well. I've got 3 races lined up for the end of this week (providing snow conditions are good) 1 slalom in Morzine and 2 GS races in Les Gets. Fingers crossed I can my head down and put in some good performances!

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

St Gervais and Interschools

It's been a long while since I last blogged. After Bormio I went home for 5 days for a rest and to see a hand therapist about my thumb and get a new cast made. I'm looking forward to eventually having surgery and to finally be pain free!

When I flew back to Les Houches, I was working as a coach for 10 days with two of the new younger minis. Most of it involved free skiing and developing their basic technique. 

The children got to go to ski jumping in Les Houches on a Friday afternoon and I went to help and supervise. Everyone managed to go off the biggest jump including Oli who is only six years old! The prize for the biggest jump went to Jack who jumped 24 metres!! 

 

(Jack on his winning jump!)

Once I'd got back into training my next focus were the Citizen races in St Gervais - a slalom and two giant slaloms. My slalom race didn't go very well, I struggled to find the right rhythm on both of my runs so my timing was all wrong. I find it hard to judge the distances between gates and adapt to rhythm changes so this is what I'm going to focus on in training. In the two GS races I skied quite well. I'm still looking to put down two clean runs but it's progress. On the first day I scored my second best points result of the season thanks to a second run charge that moved me up 4 places overall. I felt like I skied better on the second day, it's a shame the points didn't reflect that but I can take lots of positives from my performance.

Straight after the races were the BSA and Equity Interschools races. With 400 kids racing, all of the BSA juniors were on hand to help out. I was coaching the under 12 boys. The hot conditions made the races challenging with the temperature hitting 20 degrees on the day of the stubby slalom! It felt weird skiing around in a t-shirt and sunglasses!

We enjoyed a day off on the Wednesday and decided to go and find a waterfall and went for a hike. It was good for fitness and we had fun playing around with Milo's GoPro.

Tomorrow is my last day training in Les Houches for the whole season! I will definitely miss this place, the season has gone way too fast. It seems only yesterday we were trying to find early season FIS races before Christmas!

I'm off to Val Thorens for some citizen races this weekend, then returning to Les Houches to help out with coaching before going to Meribel, to compete in the British Championships slalom and GS. I'm then staying in Meribel to support the minis in their British Champs before heading to Courchevel for the Scottish Championships. It's going to be a busy 2 weeks but I'm excited and can't wait to race.

(Training slalom with the girls the other day)

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English Alpine Championships

It's been a while since I last blogged, it's been a pretty intense few weeks, I've been racing most weekends.

The slalom races in Combloux didn't go too well, I crashed out on my second run, both days! I'm still very frustrated with my inconsistency in slalom, but hopefully it will improve with some more training.

(Combloux CIT slalom)

The next set of races were two GS races in Les Gets, France. I haven't done many GS races this season so I felt more pressure to make them count! The course was long and flat with lots of varying terrain which made it challenging. The conditions were tough, with lots of soft snow and poor visibility. I put together two solid runs and ended up scoring my lowest points in GS to date - 98! The race on Sunday was unfortunately cancelled due to dangerous weather conditions, after one of the early girls crashed and injured herself. 

(Had some pretty awesome views while training slalom in Les Houches!)

We then went back to Les Houches, for a few days training before heading to Villars, Switzerland for the Aiglon College CIT races. There were three races, two GS and one slalom. I was relieved to have finally finished three races on the belt, my inconsistency in finishing races had put me under more pressure and I seem to be making even more mistakes. In the first GS, I scored my second best points of 105 (still not quite under 100!!)  and in the Slalom I scored my lowest points of 108 and came 7th overall. 

(Juniors at BSA - transporting over 70 sets of skis to Switzerland and back) 

(Getting ready to race with my Bounce Ball!)

Once we had returned from Villars, it was a quick turn around to leave for Bormio the next day. With the English Alpine Championships being one of the busiest weeks for BSA during the season, I was working with the minis for most of the week and racing myself on the last two days, once the under 10s and 12s had finished. At the beginning of the week we spent most of our time free skiing and learning names as there were lots of new faces. As their first race was a combi we focused on skiing on different sorts of terrain, jumps and powder! 

The combi took place alongside the NJR GS and was a mixture of stubbie gates, GS gates, rollers and banked turns with a jump at the end. It was a great course and looked so much fun! There were a few issues with the timing and a couple of delays so it was a long day up the hill for the coaches and athletes but we were thankful for two runs and some great results for BSA!! Their next race was a GS on the World Cup Stelvio piste. The weather was very warm and the rain came in during the first run, luckily the course held up for the minis to get two runs in. The race was tough, especially for the under 10s due the length of the course along with the snow conditions. BSA had the winners for the under 12 in both boys and girls and athletes on the podium in the under 10 age group.

(Bormio FIS Super G below the jump)

I originally planned to do the two FIS technical races - slalom and the GS but the programme was changed because of the weather, so I entered the two Super Gs and the GS last minute. The Super G went well, I finished 3rd Under 21 and scored my best points. The second Super G was cancelled due to the course cutting up badly and the snow was very soft. The GS didn't go to plan, my ski came off on the seventh gate so I crashed out.

After the BSA children and most of the juniors went back to Les Houches on Friday, five of us stayed in Italy to race in Santa Caterina. We did a double Super G, initially planning to do a GS too. On the first SG race I crashed and injured my knee, I competed in the second run but I skied a round, safe line  which resulted with a slow time. I felt like I needed to race the second run just to keep my confidence up! After the races, all of the team were really tired after doing 12 days without a day off so we decided to head back to Les Houches to rest.

(Santa Caterina)

I've now flown home for 5 days to get some rest, hopefully my knee will be better by the weekend and I need to go back to hospital to see a doctor about my thumb. Then on Saturday I head back out for the rest of the season! 

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Back on the skis!

After my crash on Monday I was forced to take 2 days off skiing to recover. Being at BSA and not being able to ski is torture! Definitely think the days off we're needed though!

Yesterday I got back on my slalom skis, we focused mainly on our free skiing but managed to get a few runs in the gates. Free skiing turns are starting to feel pretty good, just need to transfer it into the gates! Some of us went up in the afternoon to get some more gate training in but just after we set the course the lift broke! The cable had come off so we had to walk back to the top so the course was pulled and I took one of the minis free skiing instead. 

(Broken lift)

Today we trained on the stade chamois and did a BSA fun race through some stubbies with the minis and children. 

(Me and Jazzy Butcher racing today)

I'm currently preparing for two slalom races in Combloux this weekend, I've never raced there before but I'm so excited. I definitely have enough snacks for the hill thanks to Bounce Foods! Peanut protein blast will keep me going all day!! It's easy to just eat sugary foods like sweets and chocolate on race days to keep your energy levels high. These are all completely natural, gluten free, have no added sugar and are high in protein! Perfect!

Also a HUGE well done to my little sister Megs who was racing with the U16 British Alpine Ski Team in Andorra! Managed to pick up 3 medals - two 2nd and a 4th!

(Meg on the podium in 2nd place in the Super G)

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Welsh Alpine Championships

ÛIt hasn't been the best week or so for me. Last Tuesday and Wednesday I went over to Champery in Switzerland for the Welsh FIS races. 

In the slalom the conditions were pretty difficult, there was poor visibility and soft snow. I completed my first run in a reasonable time but was angry with myself due the number of silly mistakes I kept making. I made the top 30 flip for the second and going down 4th gave me a good opportunity to make up some time, but I made a huge mistake halfway down the course and didn't finish.

(FIS Slalom start area)

Wednesday was my first GS race of the season. I think I was more anxious than necessary as I'd put a lot of pressure on myself to better my points along with adapting to the new ski. The conditions were brilliant with grippy snow and sunshine and I really enjoyed the first course! I skied solidly on my first run and made the 30 flip. I was so up for the second run and skied well but I didn't ski with my head, completely misinterpretating my line over the terrain changes I missed a gate and skied out.

To get more race practice I fore ran the children's BASS GS. Conditions weren't as good as the FIS race and the course was tough as it was set slightly tighter for children's skis but I think it was a good experience.

(Me and Jazzy Butcher inspecting the BASS GS)

(Me in the start gate)

I was meant to be competing in an GS race in Italy on Sunday but that was cancelled due to poor snow conditions so I spent the weekend coaching the under 10 and 12 weekend skiers in Les Houches. We did a mixture of free skiing and technical work, gates and off piste jumps in the trees. We definitely covered a few miles on the skis and it was good fun.

Yesterday I was back into training, due to the GS in Italy being cancelled we found a double Super G in Meribel to enter, so we got out the speed skis. As it had snowed overnight the conditions were too soft to set, so we just free skied. Unfortunately I managed to crash going over a roller 4th run into the day. I can't really remember what happened...... But I was put in a blood wagon and sent in an ambulance to Sallanches hospital. After spending 6 hours in a neck brace getting a nice view of the hospital ceiling I found out I had concussion and sprained the top 2 vertebrae in my neck. This means I can no longer race in Meribel but fingers crossed I'll be ok to race in two slaloms in Combloux at the weekend!

(On the Super G skis)

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Quick New Year Update!

Happy New Year!!

I arrived back in Les Houches on the 28th of December. New Year is one of the busiest weeks in Les Houches and at BSA so I was helping out coaching the minis and providing race support.

I managed to squeeze in some training on New Year's Day for the Scottish FIS night slaloms in Chamonix.

On the 5th and 6th of Jan, I helped out with the under 10s race support before heading off to Chamonix to race.  Very tiring but worth it. On the first day I DNF first run, I was really frustrated as I felt quite confident in training but was unable to put the confidence into my race runs. The second day was much better. I skied technically well but could have taken more risks. I still ended up scoring a personal best for my SL points. 

As soon as the children's races had finished I had the chance to go free skiing on my super G skis before 2 Super G races in Tignes. Originally I hadn't planned on skiing Super G at all this season. In previous seasons I hadn't had much training so my confidence was pretty low and I didn't want to buy new regulation skis. Last minute I changed my mind and luckily I managed to get hold of some skis. I'm glad I did, they're so much fun! 

The course in Tignes was short, fun and fast! The winner completed the course in under 50 seconds! The start had to be moved down due to the snow conditions. 

I loved the course and really enjoyed the race experience. Girls from the Canadian, French and Andorran teams were racing so the standard of competition was higher than I'm used to, it was great to watch. Added bonus, I scored my best 2 super G results - something I wasn't expecting! I'm looking forward to my next chance to do some speed races!

Now it's just time to get my head down and train hard during the week to prepare for the Welsh Alpine Championships and upcoming Citizen races! I'm still continuing to coach the under 10s and 12s on the weekends, it's hard work but I'm enjoying it!

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First races of the season!

Due to snow conditions and race quotas our race plans all changed last minute. We were originally all set to go to La Plagne, but there weren't enough race slots for the team. Then the races in Lizzola in Italy were cancelled so we ended up in Passo San Pellegrino for 2 Citizen slaloms. 

On the Wednesday morning we did a couple of hours of slalom gate training before the van was quickly packed for a 6 hour drive to Italy. 

Due to the Winter Universiade 2013 being held in Trentino just down the valley, the standard of the girls racing on the Thursday was really high. With national teams from Russia, Serbia and Czech Republic, lowest seed was on 13 FIS points. 

Unfortunately I didn't finished the first run on the Thursday, I was happy with how I attacked the top section but hip slid on the steeper pitch. 

Yesterday, I wasn't really happy with my performance. I skied solid, but too safe. I'm currently struggling with my race attitude and finding the balance between going all out and not completing or skiing safe but technically well. However, for the first race of the season with a small amount of training I think I can look at the positives. 

Back to hospital on Monday to see another therapist about my thumb which I injured again on the first run yesterday. Fingers crossed its nothing too serious and they can make me a better cast!

Now to enjoy christmas before I go back to Les Houches on the 29th!

Merry Christmas! 

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Back in Les Houches

There's not much snow in Les Houches at the moment. After arriving on Saturday we trained slalom gates on the Sunday on the bottom section of the World Cup hill. The snow was almost all artificial and we had to use the minibuses for the turn around as none of the lifts were open! Hard work but making the most of what we have. 

Monday, we went up the valley to Argentière to do some slalom free skiing, again most of the snow was artificial but it was refreshing to ski somewhere different to Les Houches. It was good just to cover the mileage on our skis and get some runs of drills in.

Today we went over to Italy to train in Courmayeur. The conditions were good enough to get out on the GS skis in the morning. I wasn't feeling particularly comfortable on them after the camp in Tignes. Now I've skied on them on hard packed snow I feel much happier.

Tomorrow we're running a couple of runs of slalom gates before we leave to go to San Pellegrino for 2 slalom races. So excited to get back into racing!! Fingers crossed conditions are good!

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