Saturday, February 28, 2009

Sunday River world cup

Today was meant to be just the finals day of the world cup in Sunday River, USA but as the qualifications had to be cancelled yesterday because of fog, I should say it was finally cancelled after hours of waiting around to see if the fog cleared! They ran the whole competition today. It sure was a long day.

I qualified in 6th place this morning after my 2 runs putting me in a good spot for the finals this afternoon.

I had a good first heat against Susan moll from Austria, Deborah Anthonioz from France and Marni Yamada from the USA. After we got out of the gate and over the first feature I was in 3rd place but I passed into second after a few turns and held that position to the end getting me through to the semi finals.

My next heat was tough, I was against Deborah again as well as Lindsey Jacobellis and Maelle Ricker. I was in 4th going into the first turn but I did a nifty pass to get in front of Deborah around the second turn leaving Maelle and Lindsey in front after which I tried to get past one of them at the same time and keeping Deborah behind me. I got very close coming over the last 2 jumps catching up Lindsey but unfortunately the finish line came just a bit too fast for my liking as I had more speed and was gaining but didn’t have the distance to pass into 2nd.

After that I was in the small final (to decide places 5 -8) I had my best start section of the day getting into 2nd into the first , soon after the girl in front made a small mistake allowing me chance to pass into the lead where I stayed all the way down to the end, winning the small final.

I finished in 5th and even though it’s not the highest result I have got this season it does feel good to win the last heat of my day.

Next I am travelling back to Europe after being away for almost 2 months then we have a world cup in Spain around the 11th of March.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Stoneham world cup. In the final again.


Today was the world cup competition in Stoneham, Canada and I got into the final for the 3rd time this season!


My first heat was tough to say the least. I was against Lindsey Jacobellis (world number 1) Sandra Frei (world number 2) and a young Austrian girl.


I had 3rd lane choice so after the first two took the two middle gates I opted for the far left gate. We pulled out and were all together going into the first turn which was to the left. I took the inside line of course as that was the side I was on which got me into second place. Sandra had been to my right so had taken the higher line into the turn allowing her extra speed to overtake me over the next few rollers putting me in 3rd position. Then in the next left turn I cut down low to get in front of her then up high to steal the fast line. It worked great and I got in front then held that position the whole way down finishing in second and progressing through to the next round.


In my next heat I was against Lindsey, Deborah Anthonioz and Alexandra Jekova. I was in 3rd coming out of the first corner but in the same way Sandra had in the heat before I had taken the higher line allowing me to pass Deborah over the next set of rollers to place myself in second. Unlike Sandra though I managed to keep the other 2 behind me to finish in second again and progress though to the final!


The final itself didn’t go too well for me with me crashing within the first 20 seconds or so resulting in me finishing 4th.


I am still happy though since I still have a heel injury from last month which hasn’t had time to heal yet and is still giving me problems enough that I wasn’t sure if I was even going to be able to compete here at all let alone get into the final.


Because of my result today I have moved back up to 6th in the world cup rankings with 3 more world cups to go this season.


Next up I have a couple of days off before we drive down to Sunday river in the USA where the next world cup is. I have never been there before so I am not sure what to expect but hopefully it should be a good race.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Off the mountain, but in good company


I am in Vancouver at the moment and am getting a bit fed up because my heel is still hurting from the injury I got in the X games a couple of weeks ago. Because I don’t want to make it any worse I can’t ride on it which means I am getting a bit bored that all I can do is gym work.


I do have nice place to stay though! I am staying with a family right by the water in Vancouver bay. The parents are called Jon and Roisin and they have 4 great kids, Rachel, Adam, Connor and James who are always running around which is delightful and it is great for me to be in a family environment instead of in a hotel like I normally am.


The family threw a cheese and wine party a few nights ago where I met a load of great contacts here in Vancouver including one of the people of VANOC who are the organizing committee for the Vancouver Olympics and the owner of Grouse mountain where I am now hoping to betraining in the run up to the Olympics. Thanks to all the Borrill family for letting me stay. (I even got my own room, which is massive and has a flat screen TV!)


Thanks again to the whole family, you are awesome.


I did get to go up to Whistler mountain the other day though, not to train on the mountain but to watch the Bob Skeleton world cup which was on up there. Bob Skeleton is where athletes slide down a bobsleigh track face first on a sledge. On this course they were going at speeds over 130 KPH!


I went to watch the British girls who were competing. One of them was Shelly Rudman who got silver in the last winter Olympics. The other girl was Amy Williams who trains at the English institute of sport in Bath in the summer the same as I do so we know each other quite well.
It was really fun to watch, I was a bit restricted from where on the track I could get to because I couldn’t walk far with my heel so I watched from the finish area which turned out to be the best place to be.


The best part about going to watch was that Amy won silver! It’s really great for her because it’s the same track there as it will be for the Olympics next year so getting a medal here is a very good sign for her chances.


I have another 4 days of rest for my heel before official training starts on the course for the next world cup snowboard cross competition which is being held on Cypress mountain where the snowboarding events are for the Olympics next year.