Skiing | my sports thoughts

ANNA TURNEY: WINNING SILVER AND TRAINING IN SERRE CHEVALIER

Posted on January 24th, 2012 by mysportsthoughts

Having won four bronze Europa Cup medals so far this season, I won silver yesterday in the IPCAS Super G race, behind Germany and bronze in the next race in Abtenau, Austria. I am really pleased and progressing towards gold in Sochi 2014.

The weather is warm and wet and today’s Giant Slalom race was cancelled but we are hoping that it will run tomorrow, followed by two Europa Cup Slalom races.

This season I am based mostly in Serre Chevalier, France for training and head back there next week. The Hotel Plein Sud sponsors me and it is a perfect base for training. The atmosphere in the Plein Sud is second to none, the food is delicious, location ideal, there is a swimming pool, stunning views, friendly bar and I feel really well looked after – it’s like home from home.

I will join the team for Europa Cup Downhill and Super G races in Tignes from 7th to 9th Feb… I’m really excited to be racing Downhill in Europe and with some training on the Luc Alphond in Serre Chevalier, I should be well prepared, watch this space.

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TIM FARR: RACES AND THE NEW YEAR

Posted on January 14th, 2012 by mysportsthoughts

Happy New Year everyone. I finished 2011 off with the first Europa Cup races of the season, in Pitztal and Kuhtai, and my first real races since coming back from injury. Training had been going great with perfect conditions and no fresh snow for some eight weeks. Typically the day before the races started the weather changed dramatically with a few feet of powder falling and high winds poor visibility which made the conditions on race day a real challenge.

Having been out for so long my point had dropped which meant that I was starting last person or almost last almost every one which in the soft conditions meant for a bumpy ride. It was frustrating not being able to ski like I had been in training but in those conditions it was all about survival rather than racing!

At the time I was a little disappointed with my results and was a little further off the lead than I had hoped I would be. In Pitztal I ended up just outside the top 10 for most events with an 11th and 12th in the GS’s 14th in Slalom and 15th and 11th in the super G events. Although I may have been off where I wanted to be.

In hindsight it is probably a good reflection of where I am now and how much more work I have to do to equipment and my own skiing. The conditions then got even worse in Kutai and after two very tough days of Slalom crashing on the first day among about 80% of the male sits and finishing 7th the 2nd we decided to pull again with most team from the GS as the weather and pitch were not good.

The most important thing from the races was that I secured my Europa Cup qualification for all my events and now sit just off World Cup qualification which is the next goal. So there were lots of positives to take out of some tough races.

2012 has kicked off to some amazing snow. Europe having only a few weeks ago been in crises with not enough snow it hasn’t really stopped snowing since our races and there is now almost too much in some resorts. This has meant our training has been out of place but we now move from our base in Serre Chevalier to Sestriere for more races before moving up to Abtenau. They should be very competitive races but if I ski like I know I can and have been and the conditions are favourable I should qualify for the World Cups.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter.. @timfarrski

Posted in Alpine Skiing, Skiing, Slalom, Sochi 2014, Tim Farr | Comments Off

ANNA TURNEY: I AM WORLD CUP QUALIFIED

Posted on January 10th, 2012 by mysportsthoughts

The ski season has started well. In my first race in Pitztal, Austria, I finished 0.9 seconds off gold in Super G, winning a bronze medal and qualifying to race in World Cups (the top level).

So far I have won four bronze Europa Cup medals in Slalom and GS.

We spent the last week training in Serre Chevalier, and are now headed to Sestriere, Italy for Europa Cup races.

What I really mean is:

“Wow, sooo excited… can’t wait for my first World Cup Race in La Molina, Spain on 31st January, bring it on!”

Posted in Alpine Skiing, Anna Turney, Skiing, Slalom, Sochi 2014 | Comments Off

ANNA TURNEY: BACK ON SNOW

Posted on November 15th, 2011 by mysportsthoughts

The first 2 weeks in Austria has flown by and I’m loving being back on snow, training with GB teammates and the Combined Services Disabled Ski Team again.

Team dynamics have changed as we are working with new coaches from Canada, Rip and Sue and I’m confident they will lead us to medals in Sochi 2014. Three older athletes have retired, but it’s fun to be training alongside Tim Farr and Kelly Gallagher again as well as the military guys and new visually impaired athlete Jade Etherington.

Thanks to CSDST and their military connections (in Blue) for a moving Remembrance Day ‘service’ at the top of the mountain.

Snow conditions on Stubai glacier suit training but there isn’t any snow in the valley. It is very strange to be enjoying the sunshine, and apart from a day cancelled due to wind, training is going well.

Our strength and conditioning coach, Nick Ward, spent the last week with us and gym training is paying off. Swiss ball rugby turned out to be quite a perilous recovery exercise – click here for video link. As a team, we are fit and ready to compete (and have a good laugh!). Nobody was injured in the making of this video.

This season I aim to continue to win Europa Cup podiums and become World Cup qualified. Three weeks until the first Europa Cup Race!

Posted in Anna Turney, Skiing, Slalom, Sochi 2014 | Comments Off

TIM FARR: START OF SEASON 2012

Posted on November 4th, 2011 by mysportsthoughts

Well it is official the start of the season has kicked off. After waiting so long to get back in to the good old Austrian Alps and ski with the team. The time has finally arrived. Our official team camp starts this weekend out in Austria but I couldn’t wait any longer and have been out doing drills and ironing equipment issues out for the last couple of weeks with the Combined Services Disabled Ski Team.

I am really excited about the season now and although I know I have a lot of work to do to get back to where I was, I just can’t wait to get in to gates and see where exactly I am and what I can do. There are also still a lot of things I want to do to sort out equipment but some of it is going to have to wait a little longer and I’m itching to get things going and upping the training with the new coaches of the British Team.

The whole of the last month has been pretty full on as I came out to Austria to get a week’s skiing in again with the CSDST just doing drill and getting back on snow. It was then back home for just a week to attend the ski show. It is always a great place to make an appearance and say hello to the ski world. I have made some great connections over the past couple of years attending and it’s good to catch up with them all and to make a few more that who knows what support may come from them. It is just good to get a chance to be seen and promote myself and the team.

Then it was straight back out to Austria. We have had a couple of days over in Hintertux training with the youth team and the development squad. Although I have been out for a while already now -it doesn’t really feel like I have done that much skiing yet. There has still been lots of training in the gym/barn, teching skis drilling holes and moulding seats as well as changing my car tyres and as always a lot of admin. But once that is all done and dusted I can concentrate on the skiing.

I have a feeling it’s going to be an exciting season with lots of changes to the team so make sure you come back to see how I am doing in races and training.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter.. @timfarrski

Posted in Alpine Skiing, Ski Cross, Skiing, Slalom, Sochi 2014, Tim Farr | Comments Off

ANNA TURNEY: SKIING FUNDING CRISIS

Posted on October 10th, 2011 by mysportsthoughts

It’s two weeks until I’m back on snow, training for the Europa Cup Races in December.

Can’t wait although almost all funding for skiing has been cut and the funding I was hoping for hasn’t materialised. I have enough money to last until Christmas but if I’m to continue ski racing I need to raise another £10,000 in the next two months.

At the highly informative DKH Negotiating Skills workshop last week, I learned lots of skills which should come in useful for negotiating sponsorship deals but it isn’t easy.

At the beginning of the week the team met up at Bath University for our pre-season camp. It was good to catch up with the British Disabled Ski Team and Development Squad. Great training as always with Nick Ward and Team Bath coaches, as well as fitness, strength and body composition testing.

Now I just need to find the money to get out there, put in the training on snow and win more medals! Please let me know if you have any suggestions or can help.

Posted in Alpine Skiing, Anna Turney, Skiing, Sochi 2014, Winter Olympics | Comments Off

ANNA TURNEY: KEEPING BUSY HELPING CHARITIES

Posted on August 21st, 2011 by mysportsthoughts

16 year olds from Witney National Citizens Service near Oxford organised a hugely successful fundraiser for Witney Hospital yesterday.

Everyone wore fancy dress to encourage locals to try their luck in the tombola, enjoy the face painting and crafts table, pin the tail on the donkey and be tempted by tea and cakes made by participants in the local scout hut.

We also enjoyed collecting in the town centre and a whopping £489 was raised, great effort!

The group of young people chose their community project themselves and have spent the last few weeks focussing their energy on making it work. As well as raising money, they will spend next week volunteering in the hospital.

Posted in Alpine Skiing, Anna Turney, Skiing, Winter Olympics | Comments Off

ELLIE KOYANDER: WHAT SKIERS DO IN THE SUMMER

Posted on July 24th, 2011 by mysportsthoughts

Pretty much as soon as the ski race season is over (end of March time), work starts on next season’s competition product. The cool thing about being a freestyle skier is that the game is always advancing, adapting and moving on to the next level of technical difficulty.

Just as you close the gap and improve, the gap widens again. But that’s what I love about freestyle it’s not just about being the fastest skier on the hill, you have to continually evolve and develop tricks and the bar gets raised every year. I think that moguls is unique as a discipline – I don’t know of any other freestyle, alpine or snowboarding disciplines where you have to race, pulling amazing tricks whilst going flat out to be the fastest on the mountain!

I have been out in the USA training since May, first skiing at Arapahoe Basin in Colorado and water ramp training and trampolining at Steamboat. For July, I am back skiing at Mount Hood. This has been part of my summer skiing training programme since 2006. We have a fantastic jump site and it’s great to ski the bumps and sharpen my airs in the Oregon sunshine with my two coaches tweaking and adjusting the smallest of moves. Training way above the clouds on the Mt Hood glacier is just stunning at times and you can even see the curvature of the planet most days.

After all the strength and conditioning work earlier in the year working with Dave Hembrough and the team at Sheffield Hallam Uni Sports Science Department, it’s really paying off now – as I’m feeling strong and fit! Excellent preparation for Australia, where I head down for the next part of my training for some winter snow for the whole of August. It’s a great chance to take stock of the work achieved to date, apply what has been learnt on the grainy summer glacier snow at Hood and adapt it to the much faster winter snow.

Posted in Ellie Koyander, Ski Cross, Skiing, Slalom, Winter Olympics | Comments Off

TIM FARR: NEW ZEALAND FLIGHT

Posted on July 4th, 2011 by mysportsthoughts

As I may have mentioned once or twice n my past few blogs, this year has been tough for me. Complications with injury put me out for a lot longer than it should have and it has been a long process of rehab and operations, as well as mentally, knowing my competition was getting the time on snow, training and getting race experience putting in good results at events like the world Champs and just the fact that I wasn’t skiing.

I also want to take this time to thank my sponsors who have stuck with me over the past year. Training is expensive (even when not on snow) and if I want to stay at the top I have to do anything I can to ensure I have done the best to be on the podium. It’s with the help of my sponsors that give me that chance. I know that with government funding cuts the next couple of years are going to be even tougher. Having the continuous support from my sponsors really does keep the dream alive.

Thank you Mars Drinks, TASS, Frederick’s Foundation, Lions Rampant and Get Kids Going.

All that time rehabbing and training in the gym has all been leading to this point – getting back on snow. Having had time off I have been able to concentrate on my fitness and feel in great shape the bone is all healed although not in perfect position but it’s as good as it’s going to get! And most importantly I am well rested and hungry for it. I left London on Thursday and after a couple of days stay in Hong Kong with some friends have made it to New Zealand. It’s time to put everything to good use and make my sponsors proud.

Landing in NZ today there doesn’t appear to be much snow at the moment which is a slight concern as I have just travelled around the world but apparently the snow storm is coming and as I’m out here for two months I have a bit of time to wait. I have had a year off I’m sure I can try and wait a little longer.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter.. @timfarrski

Posted in Alpine Skiing, Skiing, Tim Farr, Winter Olympics | Comments Off

TIM FARR: I’M BACK

Posted on May 5th, 2011 by mysportsthoughts

I hope everybody has been enjoying the sun and had a good Easter/Royal wedding period. I have been out making the most of the weather. As usual, I seem to have a million things going on. This last week has been a lot of fun and very exciting. But I don’t think I can tell you about it quite yet so you will just have to wait to find out more.

The most exciting thing though recently is that I’m back! I have now got back on the snow. Only up at Hemel Hempstead at the moment but the important thing is the hip is holding up ok and the new equipment is amazing, just wants to go fast. I have blown away all the cobwebs that have built up over the past year and now I’m really ready to get out to NZ and do what I’m supposed to be doing. Not sure I can wait that long, although I know it’s going to come quickly and I’ll be wishing for more time to sort out some final bits before I’m off at the end of June.

Finally I feel the injury is behind me and I am now ready to ski. The next step, getting back on snow, you would have thought should be the easy part but I think it’s going to be a mental battle. At least with the physical rehab I could really see improvement all the time strength, flexibility, xrays showed the bone had healed etc..

Getting back to technical skiing is going to be harder than I think starting back from where I left off after the paralympics. I have to go right back to basics even though I may want to rush on. Focus on myself and not on others. As I’ve mentioned before it was a hard time watching all the results and knowing everyone else was training and improving while I was on land. But this is an opportunity to start again and really stamp out the bad habits and technique. And I need to keep out those fears of injury that can finish off an athlete.

My first couple of trips to the Snowdome however have filled me with confidence as I had been worried that my hip would still restrict my skiing despite the operations. Within a couple of runs, I had, for the first time in a while forgotten about the past year and it was as I had never stopped skiing, I was where I belong. So far so good and I’m looking forward to getting back to training and on the race circuit.

Posted in Alpine Skiing, Skiing, Tim Farr | Comments Off