Tuesday, May 18, 2010

So after some productive talks I can now proudly announce my new sponsor BlackFly Sunglasses.
Lets hope this relationship goes from strength to strength and we can get the BlackFlies name out there!

Make sure you add them on Twitter and go check out their website... NOW!
www.blackflys.biz
www.twitter.com/blackflys

Peace

Monday, February 22, 2010

Skicross Olympics race report!!


Last night Skicross made its debut into the winter olypics with a crash, bang and a wallop... Literally.

I sat glued to the TV watching every heat like i was there with the boys racing! The first heat saw Mr Daron Rahlves go down which was a suprise to everyone. Daron, coming back from a dislocated hip only three weeks prior to the games looked strong but was forced wide which in turn made him crash and loose all hope of securing a spot on the podium. Daron sat at the bottom talking to the media whilst watching the heats and was quoted as saying "I was determined to race in the Olympics, But I'm disappointed with the outcome."

Daron Rahlves and Ted Piccard mid air collision

The Second heat saw Anders Rekdal and Simon Stickl crash on the second to last jump which meant my Jamaican pal Errol Kerr and Canadian Davey Barr went though to the quarter finals.

The other heats were filled with action packed racing, with thrills and spills and surprising results. Australian boy Scotty Kneller brought something special out of the bag and skied his heart out, beating some of the top dogs taking him though to the semi finals. An absolutely amazing result for him. Shout outs go out to Scotty for racing like a champ.
Another underdog Filip Flisar from Slovenia dominated round after round taking him through to the semifinals. Filip is a force to be reckoned with when racing. He isnt one of the biggest guys out there but he sure enough has the power to force people out and hold his line. He showed this last night when he finished in 8th place. A massive shout out to Filip and all the Slovenian boys for this awesome result. Congrats buddy!

From left to right - Filip Flisar, Audun Groenvold, Scott Kneller and Chris Delbosco

The finals didnt leave any action out either. Out of the start power house Schmid took the lead followed by Andreas Matt, Groenvold and in 4th Delbosco. Matt chased Schmid like a fox chasing a hare but Schmid was too quick for Matt to make a move. Behind them Groenvold was tried to hold of Delbosco but the canadian used Groenvolds slip stream and made a brilliant over take. Coming into the second to last jump Delbosco juiced his skis and found some speed looking to take Andreas Matt. He came off the second to last jump sitting to far in the back seat and crashed leaving room for Groenvold to take the bronze.
A massive Congratulations goes out to Schmid, Matt and Groenvold for becoming the first Olympic medalists.

Last night was a turning point in Skicross. We can only hope that this pushes our sport to knew heights and bigger things.

Welcome to the mad world of Skicross...

If you want to watch the full race go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qjsqy/Olympics_2010_Vancouver_2010_Mens_Giant_Slalom_and_Mens_Ski_Cross/

P.S Here are some Pictures from the last few weeks as promised!!!



Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Home sweet home

At the moment im sitting on my comfy sofa at home in the UK. We are only back for 10 days before we drive back out to train some more before the next race in Sierra Nevada.

This week ill be in the gym, online booking flights and going to meetings! FUN FUN FUN! I will keep you guys updated as to what ive been doing and whats going on in the next few weeks.
Take care and remember to keep shredding x

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Lienz, Austria

On saturday we drove from Niederau to Lienz for a week of training before my next race in Davos, Switzerland.
We started training on monday with some free skiing working on some race technique and how to get as little air off jumps as possible. We trained hard and the results seemed to pay off.
Yesterday we got up bright and early and went up the hill to use the skicross course for some good training. My coach set the course and we trained hard for a good 5 hours. Needless to say the training the previous day had payed off and i was skiing really well. I just hope i can take this into the race in Davos. Today we are going to the gym and prepping the skis for traveling tomorrow.
Ill keep you updated in the next few days
x

Friday, February 5, 2010

Niederau, Austria..

So for the last week my coach and I have been in a little resort called Niederau, Austria near Kitzbuhel. We are staying here for another day then traveling to Lienz for a week for some intense Giant slalom and Super G training before the next europacup race in Davos, Switzerland.

After being in Niederau for a week we have both been pleasently supprised at how awesome this little resort is! We are staying in a place called the Auhof which is situated up the mountain a little way. It takes around 15 minutes to walk into town and around 25 minutes on the way back up!!!
The owners of the Auhof are British and they moved out here about 5 years ago to start this amazing hotel. My coach Ian knows them from racing on the dry slope circuit back home so they have given us a pretty nice room! Their son Martin is fascinated with brewing beer, so a year ago he got all his finances together and started brewing his own beer. Now most of you are probably imagining a little home brewing kit in his garage but you couldn't be more wrong!
The room is full of large machinery, Sterilising units, Bags of Malt, Hundreds of Bottles and more. Martin at only 18 is the proud owner of his brewery and the beer he sells to the local bars. It is so popular that he is finding it hard to keep upto the high demand of his very tasty beverage called Drachental Beer. If your ever in the area be sure to go along to one of the local bars and try this heavenly tasting beer.

This week we have had a brilliant powder day and have free skied the rest of the time. My ankle is feeling strong again after my injury and i am hoping that I will be skiing well in Davos. Hopefully i will make a good result in what i can only believe will be a very hard field.
I shall keep you posted as to what i am doing over the next few days and how my training is going. Unfortunately at the moment our internet is very slow so uploading pics is taking ages but i will add some as soon as i get some better signal.

Take care and remember to keep shredding x

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Europa cup...

So i left you last time just before the race in Le Sauze. Well that was interesting to say the least!

The first race didnt go as well i has planned but still wasnt the worst. I came 52 out of a very hard field which was suprising as i made a few mistakes.
The second race i managed to take 3 seconds off my time but as most people had run the course a fair few times, it seemed everyone was faster and racing quicker. In training i fell pretty badly, knocking myself out and taking my confidence with it. I got up and got ready to race. Unfortunately my confidence was shot and this showed in my run, making silly mistakes and being wary through every turn. I got to the bottom and knew i could have skied faster. This time i came 56th which was fairly disapointing.
From Le Sauze we traveled to Les Houches to drop off England Skicross Team mate Max Hardy at the British Ski Academy and continued our journey to Niderau, Austria.

In a few days we will be traveling back to Lienz, Austria to train before the next race in Davos. We will be training some hard GS and Super G and will also be working on air position. Hopefully this will give me the confidence and Technique i will need to race well in Davos. After Davos i will be getting back in the van and departing the alps for a few days whilst thousands of tourist descend on the ski resorts around europe.
On the 24th ill be heading back out to meet the Jack Wills boys for two days of fun before the two week intensive training I have before the race in Sierra Nevada.

Here are some pictures from the last two weeks...

Les Contamines World Cup

Les Contamines World Cup

Satski Helmet

Snow sculptures

More snow...

Chilling in the Jack Wills Seasonnaire Hoody

View from the Chamonix pass to Sion

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Europa cup tour starts NOW!

The last few days have been absolutely manick!
Yesterday morning i left the UK with what was supposed to be a 12 hour drive to Le Sauze, France in front of me...
I left good old Blighty and headed for france. I arrived in Calais at around 9am and then had to drive the 8 hour drive to Les Houches to pick up my England Team, Team mate Max Hardy.
The drive to Les Houches was tedious, and to top it off i only had myself for company!
I made good time and arrived in Les Houches at 4.45pm. After a well earned/needed coffee we packed the van with Max's kit and away we went. This part of the journey was supposed to take us around 4 hours. Now id like to point out that Max isnt the most organised of people so when i asked him if he had his Passport to hand he looked at me with terror!
(As you will know if you have done this particular trip, the road takes you through the Frejus Tunnel. This tunnel cuts through the Corner of Italy hence the reason you need a passport.)
After we discovered he didnt have his passport to hand we had to choose an alternative route. This route was over a pass that runs through Valloire. It took about an hour to get over to Valloire and once there we carried on along the pass to find that there was a massive bank of snow blocking our way through!!! DAM IT!
We turned around and had to try the border and just hope they didnt check. But then we came up with an even better plan!!
As we drove up towards the Italian border Max jumped in the back of the van and covered himself in coats. Our plan was to try and sneak though without him being detected, and if he was just say that he was sleeping!!!! GENIUS.
We got to the border (max hidden under various peoples garments) and luckily the two officials there had pulled two cars over already. The lady shone the light down the van and waved us through! MAX/ED 1 ITALIAN BORDER PATROL 0!
We drove through the stupidly sized tunnel hoping that the next border patrol would be the same or we could blag our way through. So again max hid under the coats and we drove towards the next Italian border patrol. On the way out of Italy they have an Italian border patrol and a french one so this would be twice as hard!
Luckily for us the Italians dont believe in work so had already gone home. What a result. MAX/ED 2 ITALIAN BORDER PATROL 0. Now for the French one. We drove towards the hut which was illuminated by several lights that where on and continued driving past but trying not to stop. The guard must have gone to the Toilet or was otherwise engaged but this was perfect for our smuggeling attempt. We carried on driving and broke through to France without any problems.
We arrived in Le Sauze at midnight last night and as i had been driving for 19hours i decided it was definately time for bed!

We went up the hill for training today and we were all extremely suprised at how well the course ran and flowed. We spent a good 2 hours training the course which has made me confident that tomorrow will go well!!!
I will let you know tomorrow how it all goes...

So for now all i have to say is take care and keep shredding
Peace x