Spring Training Video

Spring 2010

Spring Update 2010

Blink and it’s over.  Our Southern Winter 2010 has come to an end.  It has been a season of ups and downs for me.  The racing at Coronet Peak proved quite challenging this winter, but I managed to nab one national title, and rounded out the season with a few good results at Mount Hutt.  Since then the NZ Men’s Team has been in Methven, battling the elements for a (wind)speed camp at Hutt.  This massive Westerly storm cycle has wreaked havoc on much of NZ!

Coronet Peak ANC & National Champs

The last update left us just before a long series of racing at Coronet Peak finishing with the National Championships.  The races attracted many World Cup skiers once again.  Tough fields and challenging conditions made for some ups and downs result-wise for me.  I felt confidence on the flats in GS but struggles with the Hurdle steeps.  The Slaloms were a bit erratic to be honest.   However I still managed to win the National Slalom Championship on the new “Out Wide” homologated run at Rocky Gully – check out the photo:

I did get quite lucky – the Slalom had a high crash-rate, however ski racing is quite often like that.  I’m stoked to win the Slalom title for the first time since 2005.

The Nationals GS was a rough ride for all of us – you can see the soft snow in this shot:

However congratulations to Ben Griffin who has had a fantastic season – he won the national GS title and has lowered his world ranking to the best by any NZ Male in 2 decades.

Mount Hutt

Following the Nationals we headed to Mount Hutt for the ANC finals (amongst the aftershocks!).  The weather played a bit of a role in the week.  Unfortunately the GS was cancelled and the Nationals Super-G was paper raced into an ANC Super-Combined.

The week started (3 days late!) positively for me.  I skied 2 solid Slalom runs and scored a 28 point result, near enough my best ever.  The next day was a Super-G Super Combined (one run of Super-G which counts as a race in itself and is combined with one run of Slalom to make a Super-Combined race).  The Olympic Super-G Champion Aksel Lund Svindal was racing, so we were definitely in for a challenging race.  I skied as well as I had hoped for most of the course, then had an unfortunate tactical error.  At the bottom of the Super-G at Hutt there is a small blind roll.  I took too straight of a line and missed the next gate.

The following day was another Super-G Super Combined.  This race was much better – I was happy with a solid finish in the Super-G and finished 7^th in the Super-Combined, scoring a FIS result.

Speed Camp

The NZ Men’s Team stayed around at Mount Hutt for 10 days to try and train some Super-G on the nice open terrain that Hutt offers.  Unfortunately the ‘biggest storm on the planet’ interfered.  Mount Hutt is quite susceptible to strong winds, particularly from the Northwest.  The camp was reduced to 2 days on snow and the rest off snow training in the gym (or sharpening up our tennis skills).  We were in good company though – the US ski team was there trying to train too.  Can’t control the weather!  And on the plus side there is TRUCKLOADS of snow around the Southern Lakes area, which I am off to ski right now actually.

Wrap-up…future plans

There’s no doubt that I’ve had a tough season.  The training was fantastic, but I peaked in late July, which was not ideal for racing.  The stresses of realising you are not performing how you want to tend to make a mid-season turn around quite tough, particularly in a non-stop racing winter like this one.  I am still proud of some of my results, and feel there is still a bright future.

The NZ Men’s Team programme is planning to go ahead with a racing and training winter in Europe, based in Austria.  We have an application for funding in to SPARC and are hoping to be able to have a 2-coach, 6-7 athlete programme, but in reality the future is a bit up in the air.

This Northern Winter would be focused around the World Championships in Garmisch, Germany.  My goal is a top-25 result.

In the meantime I am back in Queenstown looking for a job for the next few months until I leave.  Feel free to give me some suggestions!  I am up for anything.

Thanks to everyone for their support and I hope to catch up with most of you in person soon.  Have a few last minute turns…the skiing is awesome.  And hope for warmer weather, this cold stuff is getting a tad old!

Tim

ps

NZ Men’s Team talking strategy

L-R: Jamie Prebble, Ben Griffin, Me, Nick Prebble, Coach Nils Coberger.

The entire National Team after Nationals GS & SL.  Quite a few awards there!

Apparently freeski star Jon Olsson thought he would join in the fun too.

Mid-Winter 2010

Winter 2010 Update

The code of silence is broken.  It has been a long time since the last update – a long busy period.  There have been some ups and downs for me, which I am happy to have moved through, and be back on track for this season.  The National Men’s Team has expanded to include 7 members; some young promising athletes along with the old boys.  Coronet Peak has proved to be the best training possible yet again.  And we are ready to roll with the ANC races next week

National Men’s Team Changes

The realities of being from a small skiing nation mean that an elite team of 2-3 members is no longer sustainable.  Sadly, without funding for a coach salary it becomes impossible.  However as an upshot to this, Ben Griffin and I have had the opportunity to be senior members of the new Men’s Team.  The team now includes:

Andrew Wylie, 21, Queenstown

Harrison Steedman, 17, Queenstown

Jamie Prebble, 20, Christchurch

Nick Prebble, 17, Christchurch

Finlay Neeson, 17, Taranaki

I am thoroughly enjoying being a senior member of the team, and see a bright future for the younger boys.  I also feel that we have been able to push each other and have great team spirit.  Coached once again under Nils Coberger, the team is looking forward to some good results in the next few weeks.  The large team situation will have to be reviewed for Europe – it is hard to balance the needs of such a wide variety of athletes.

Training and Preparation Races

We have been in training camps at Coronet Peak since its opening in June.  The long, cold, dry July was perfect for on snow training, and even allowed the team to bond through a few ice hockey matches on frozen ponds throughout the district!  Check out the photo below.

I am pleased to report that my new Atomic skis and boots are working fantastically well, particularly in Slalom.  GS is coming along too; once again, check out the photo!

Amongst the training at Coronet we have had 2 races as part of our preparation.  A few weeks ago we chose to race just the Cardrona Slalom of the Wanaka FIS series.  We also had the Canadian FIS GS race on the Hurdle at Coronet.

The Cardrona Slalom was a bittersweet day for me – I won the first run by a full second (that’s a country mile in ski racing) and was on track to do the same in the second, but came out 4 gates from the finish.  Nevertheless it was a great learning experience for me.  Since then I have been working on mental approaches – how to perform in both runs as if they were independent training runs, and how to ensure that I have the mental toughness to complete each run.

The Canadian GS at Coronet was a relatively solid race for me.  I skied fantastically on the steeps but made an error on the entrance to Eighth Basin flats – a critical zone of the course.  However I scored my 2^nd best ever GS result and was competitive amongst the Canadian National Team – not a bad day.

On that note it is worth mentioning that the world’s best skiers are here once again.  US, Canadian, German, Slovenian, Swedish, Norwegian and Swiss national teams will all be visiting the Southern Resorts.  It is awesome to train alongside the best – Gold Medallists Lindsay Vonn, Bode Miller and Ted Ligety are all here.  Check out this story:

http://www.odt.co.nz/sport/skiing/120467/top-ski-racers-take-slopes

Work and Other Projects

I have been working in Browns Ski Hire a few days a week this season to help support my training.  In addition I have had the opportunity to work for Fiona Stevens as part of the Black on White ski camps.  I have enjoyed both jobs, despite taking some time off skiing.  It is a tough balance but I know also that I overskied last year in New Zealand, so a little less time on snow has not been a bad thing.

Race Time!

The races are almost upon us!  Cancellation of Australia/NZ Cup (ANC) races at Mt Hotham has meant that there will be 2 additional races this Monday/Tuesday at Coronet.  Following that, the race season really cranks up, with the Japanese FIS races at Coronet 21-24 August, Nationals and ANCs at Coronet 30 August – 2 September, and ANC finals 4 September to 11 September at Mount Hutt.  Check out this story:

http://www.odt.co.nz/your-town/wanaka/120359/more-races-coronet-slopes

I look forward to competing against some of the overseas stars once again on home soil! I’ll be in touch again after the races.

Yours truly at the Canadian FIS GS Race.  Photo Michael Thomas.

Unique Opportunity!

Keen to ski NZ’s newest Winter Olympians? The BlackonWhite camps are offering camps which are a unique opportunity to ski with Ben Griffin and me. Check out the website or the brochure.

Black on White and Snowvision Foundation are great supporters of Ski Racing, and trust me, the camps will be a blast!

Happy Skiing!

Tim

May 2010 – Seasons Changing

Hi everyone!  Sorry for the lack of an update for some time – I have been in touch with many of you in person or over the phone but hello to those I haven’t seen!  The seasons are changing back here in New Zealand.  Read on for a quick Northern Hemisphere wrap-up including my first European podium finishes, and some changes to come.  I will be putting videos and photos on much more regularly along with ‘twitter’ updates (tweets) every few days to keep the information flowing Read the rest of this entry »

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