The races in Treble Cone and Cardrona were postponed for 10 days, yet the training facilities in Treble Cone (where we are based) have been as good, if not better, than they were last year!  Our Head Coach was even on the video on the team’s web page, drilling into the snow and declaring how good the conditions are.

Worse still, the races were re-scheduled for Cardrona only, nullifying any advantage I may have gained from training at Treble Cone, which I now regard as my home hill.

The first run of the first Slalom race went well but, unfortunately, I only made it ¾ of the way down the second run.

The second day was harder than normal to break through the 100 points barrier since, for reasons that I still do not understand, the coaches voted at the Captains’ meeting to flip the top 15 after the first run, rather than the top 30; something of a precedent for this race series.  Based on the results from the previous day, this seems to have added @ 20 points to my race points and seems to have reduced by @ 10 points the race points of those in the top 15 flip.

Day three was GS.  I was really looking forward to this race because I could feel a huge improvement during my GS training over the last 3 weeks.  Pressure from the athletes (under the captaincy of my Dad) won the battle to revert back to a top 30 flip after run one and I scored my personal best in GS with my first sub-100.

On the fourth day, the dreadful visibility may have actually helped me in the first run since, after a good second run the day before I didn’t hold back at all.  I started with bib 30 and was 16^th after the first run; in real contention for a great placing and points score.  However, in keeping with my run of luck in these races, the second run was cancelled owing to the deteriorating visibility – I was not very happy!

Trying to look at it positively, I did at least take away a personal best from day three and I am now back training for a week before the next races.