Etape Caledonia

In Aviemore again after a few weeks away, firstly training up on the Kitzsteinhorn glacier which was ok, not great for training because it was snowing alot however we got alot of free skiing in and technical drills. I headed down to Italy for 5 days of holidays before driving my car home. I made a stop in England to see a dentist OUCH!!! and I've gotta go back for more!!! Next was a stop in Stirling for our first fitness test of the year which was interesting because we have made a few changes in the approach to the fitness regime, right now I'm trying to get the miles in on my bike because as a team we are taking part in the Etape Caledonia this weekend. We are doing all we can to raise some money for the Macmillan Cancer Support charity so please follow this link below and donate however much you can.

http://www.justgiving.com/snowsportgb

Cheers

Noel

I reckon I can still make it!!!

Super-G Crash

End of the Season

In Aviemore now enjoying a short spell at home for the 1st time since Xmas. Really enjoying being home!!!


For a report on the British champs you can check out this link to my local paper 'The Strathy' for a good report on all that went on at the there, not the best week for me really with a huge crash, my coach & service man getting laid off and hardest of all for me watching Alain say his final farewell to racing. I know that its the right time for him to move on but it really brought back everything he has been through......... and I have been right next to him most of the way. Its left a big hole in my ski life and I realise now more than ever how much he as helped me.


http://www.strathspey-herald.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/4084/Hopes_are_dashed_by_heavy_fall.html



It was a difficult season where with the exception of the World champs 17th, I didn't really get the results I was targeting. Reflecting on my performances, I just couldn't put it all together for the race runs, I had a couple of blistering runs 1 at the Slovenian champs where I crashed at the 2nd last gate but still had the 2nd time on that run against about 6 guys who are ranked in the top 50, also towards the end of March I had another really fast run in a fis race at Maribor where I won the 2nd run. In the only Europa cup I started I was well on the way to the top 20 only to crash 10 gates from home after skiing onto 27th from start no 58!! My opinion is that I just need to ski on the limit at all times and with that I will become more used to it, the reason I found it hard this year was coming back from injury it takes time to fully believe you can make those kind of turns. Going forward I am very happy to be fully fit and excited about the full summer of training ahead and have a clear plan of what I need to work on.


I on my way to Kaprun already this weekend for our first summer training camp, following that I will be back in Aviemore to get stuck into my fitness programme, on the 17th May I will be taking part in the Etape Caledonia bike event with a group from the ski team.


Enjoy the Spring weather!!

GER/SLO National Champs & Crystal Ski Challenge

Been on the road a bit lately. Raced in the Slovenian champs slalom where I kind of had a race of 2 halves as the football saying goes, on the 1st run I just couldn't get into my rhythm and as a result skied slow, I was annoyed with myself and challenged myself to up my game on the 2nd run which I did........ and skied probably the best run of my season even crashing at the 2nd last gate I still managed to have the 2nd fastest runtime beating alot of top World Cup skiers only Natko Zrncic-Din from Croatia was faster on the run and he has won runs on the World Cup this year. That made my day a bit more respectable and helped raise my confidence to know that I can pull out a stormer like that if I get it right.

I headed straight off to the Crystal Ski Challenge to meet up with Sir Steve and the rest of the crew, had a great fun day in Mayerhofen with them as always getting a chance to see how the regulars had improved and having a blast around the mountain with an enthusiastic great crowd of people. We also had a GS race which is always the big event of the week, well done to all the prize winners.... not only the fastest get prizes!!!

Jumped in my car again and headed to the German champs at Oberjoch. I skied solid and finished 7th but was too far behind the the equal winners Urs Imboden and Filip Trejbal to make points. I damaged my races skis so I hope they will hold up for the next races.

Back in Maribor now, I will stay here for this week and race in the Slovenian champs DH,SG and SC I haven't planned many speed races this year so I am really looking forward to this week to have a good blast on the longer skis.

Bye for now

Noel

March 17th

The races in Italy didn't really go so well the weather was terrible!!!! In GS I didn't ski well then the slalom's were cancelled so I went back down to Slovenia where the forecast was ok and did some training with Mitja Dragsic one of the top Slovenians which was pretty good measuring up against him each run, in training I skied well and my times were really close with Mitja, I managed to beat him on a couple of runs but in general he was between 0.10-0.20 in front which is encouraging for me. 

I travelled to Crans Montana in Switzerland for the European cup final event it was in fact my only EC start of the year!! The snow was extremely soft..... there was 60cm of snowfall 2 days before my race then it got really warm. I had number 57 so the challenge was to make the top 30 for the second run and get the early start number....... I managed to ski into 28th however I crashed on the second run in contrast to Kranjska though I was going well and charging!!!

I'm back in Slovenia now to race in the national champs slalom, today I had a FIS slalom which I didn't finish, I am skiing well so I just need to let rip.

I'll keep you up dated.

Noel  

Pokal Vitranc Kranjska Gora

Raced in the World Cup slalom in Kranjska Gora today. The conditions were some of the best I've seen for racing with the piste holding up perfectly for the high numbers. Unfortunately I didn't take full advantage of it and fell coming onto the last steep section, on the upper part I was skiing ok but not attacking enough. It's hard for me to say why really and also very frustrating, skiing can be alot about getting on a roll so to speak and so far this year my results are lacking so perhaps its the pressure of knowing I have to do something. My feeling is that I can put a good run down but I do not have the consistency as was demonstrated in my previous races. 

I was quite disappointed after the race because such good chances for high numbers don't often come like this one, if I had attacked more and gone out at least I could say I gave it a good shot. 

I really need to just let go of all the thoughts in my head and just ski as hard and fast as I can without any consequences running through my mind. I find it a difficult balance to attack the course but not become too stiff.

I'm heading to Italy tomorrow where I will meet up with the others guys from the team for some FIS races (SL & GS).