Ready to Rock!

Ready to Rock!

In my last update I was part way through the season and about to race the NZ Nationals and Australia & NZ Cup finals at Coronet Peak/Mount Hutt.  After these races I had some great training both on and off snow, and the chance to catch up with many of you.  Read on for springtime ski action and an overview of the Northern Winter to come!

Spring Racing

The Nationals at Coronet were run, in a stark contrast to the Winter Games, under a sunny sky with perfect snow.  I had two decent runs in the GS to finish as the 2^nd New Zealander behind Ben Griffin.  Unfortunately I fell in the Slalom on the tough Race Arena course, but had some fun doing the commentary for the second run.  The Super-G was run at Mount Hutt.  I skied well, so finish 5^th, with a helpful 37 point result, but was beaten by 3 hundredths of a second (again by Ben) for the national title.  Should have waxed twice!

The ANC Finals at Mount Hutt were a series filled with mixed results for me.  I finished 6^th in the first Super-G/Super Combined, but fell in the Slalom leg.  The broken hand really took its toll on me in Slalom – I only trained 4 days of it during this Southern winter.  I failed to finish the Super-G leg of the second Combi, making a directional error off the jump.  I was very disappointed with that day – I skied extremely well prior to the error and was fired up for a good race.

The GS and Slalom were a turn around.  I finally put 2 runs together in the Slalom to score a 30 point result, my second best ever, and lower my world ranking by a few places.  In the GS I had a major error in the first run, but put together a blinding second run, to move from 20^th spot up to 6^th, scoring a 31 point result and maintaining my FIS points.

Spring Training/Fun in the Snow

Unfortunately the infamous Canterbury Nor’Wester reared its ugly head after this series, blowing rocks and shingle onto the snow surface of Mount Hutt.  This forced us to cancel our speed camp planned for the following week, and head home.  Luckily for me, I was able to join the Cardrona team for some fantastic end of season training.  Thanks to the HPC team for welcoming me…it made a big difference!  Our final camp before heading away was last week at Turoa.  We had a couple of sunny days of GS on hard snow, where I put together some of my best skiing ever.  It was the perfect way to get confidence up before heading to Europe.

After returning back here to Queenstown I hit the gym hard, and took some time to enjoy the spring snowfalls around the area.  I had the chance to ski tour up to the top of the Grand Couloir of Remarkables – a giant chute which rises from Lake Alta almost to the top of the Double Cone, and is the highest skiable point in the Southern Lakes.  Then, after a severe Southerly early last week, I was lucky enough to be able to skin up Coronet at enjoy some springtime powder turns down my old favourite, The Hurdle.

Recently I met up with many of you, my supporters, to catch up and to talk about sponsorship for this season.  I am ecstatic at your responses – I can say that all the major supporters from last year have come back on board.  In addition, I would like to officially announce Jack’s Point Development (www.jackspoint.com) as my helmet and title sponsor.  Also new to my stable are Brinkley Resort, Methven and Formthotics.  Thanks to these new supporters and of course the old faithfuls, Browns Ski Shop and Joe’s Garage.

Europe/Olympic Prospects

I leave from Queenstown this Wednesday, November 4^th, flying to Munich and I hope to be on snow 2 days later on the Kitzsteinhorn glacier.  I will be travelling with Ben Griffin and Angus Howden, with our coach Nils Coberger, as part of the NZ Ski Team.  I will compete in a dozen or so races, mostly Super G events between now and Christmas. My first races are Europa Cups at Reiteralm on the 9^th and 10^th of November.  Hopefully we will all compete in the World Cup at Val d’Isere in early December.  If this happens, it will be making history, as the first time 3 New Zealanders have competed in a World Cup together!

After Christmas/New Years we have a string of FIS races and Europa Cups in Italy and Austria before the Olympics in early February.  At present I meet the Olympic discretionary selection criteria in Super-G J, but will not know for sure if I am going until the January selections.  With the skiing that I proved I’m capable of in the North Island, and if the stars align, then I’ll qualify in GS too.

Until next time!

Tim