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!

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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