Change of web address

I am changing my web address. The new one is http://www.zoegillings.com/
It's the same site just a different address.
Hope to see you there soon!
Zoe

Ice cream tragedy in Lake Placid

The Ben and Jerry’s ice cream shop is closed! I have been looking forward to going there all winter. It looks like it was just closed for the day so I hope it’s open again tomorrow :)

Great News:- Champery, Portes Du Soleil is going to be our Base next year...

Well here is some great news I have just found out! I went to Champery, Portes Du Soleil about 6 weeks ago and it was absolutely fantastic... great snow, easy access to a great park with some sick kickers and all the training facilities our national team needs... I heard a rumour or two that it was going to be our base next year (British Snowboard Team) and I have just found this on the web...

British National snowboarding team to finalise

key partnership with Champéry – Les portes du soleil

In order to secure better training facilities in advance of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, the British National Snowboarding Team has been in close discussions with the Swiss ski resort of Champéry – Les Portes du Soleil. Terms to the partnership which would establish the resort as the official training site for the Team are to be announced in the coming weeks.

Champéry, Switzerland – With the 2010 winter Olympic games clearly within sight, the British National Snowboarding Team have been holding close discussions with the Swiss ski resort of Champéry – Les Portes du Soleil. Accessibility, diversity of terrain, willingness to accommodate a national team and snow conditions were among the key decision-making factors for the partnership. After three months of preparations, the partnership terms are to be finalised and announced in the coming weeks.

Well appreciated and equally frequented by British skiers for generations, Champéry has remained small and unspoilt while still providing access to the world’s largest internationally connected ski domain - Les Portes du Soleil. Says Mark Simmers, CEO SnowsportGB, “Champéry is a true skier’s village and offers an ideal environment for aspiring athletes with the immense ski domain of the Portes du Soleil which offers a world-class infrastructure. SnowsportGB and the entire team are thrilled to be associated with Champéry and we look forward to finalising our partnership.”

Within 90 minutes of Geneva Airport, Champéry – Les Portes du Soleil straddles the Franco-Swiss border with 194 ski-lifts and 650 km of pistes as well as 9 snowparks, 3 half-pipes and 4 boardercoss courses. Eric Belanger, Director of the Champéry Tourism, is equally pleased. “It’s a tremendous opportunity to be associated with the British National Snowboarding Team. In addition to sharing their realistic goal for a podium finish at the 2010 winter Olympic games, we also share their interest in developing snowsports in the important UK market. While it makes marketing sense, it’s equally exciting to be involved, even indirectly, with the Olympics and youth development in snow sports.”

While terms of agreement are yet to be disclosed, it is intended that members of the Snowboarding Team reside in Champéry during the winter season when they are not travelling to competitions. Currently ranked 4^th in the women’s world boardercross standings, Zoe Gillings could become the UK’s first ever female Olympic champion in a snowsport competition. While there is still much to do prior to the 2010 games, both partners are committed towards a podium finish.

I cant wait to move their next season...

I made it onto the Podium!

That was my goal for this competition because I was so close at my last comp in Korea. And I came 2^nd!

I had some difficulty with the snow changing in qualifying so just scraped through in 13^th position. This meant I had to fight in every heat to get in from the worst start gate.

In my first heat, I was in 4^th going into the first turn, I passed into 3rd going around the 2^nd turn and then into 2nd further down the course, I kept that position the rest of the way down. One girl got close to passing me just before the finish but she didn’t manage it.

The second heat was another interesting one, I was in 4^th into the first turn again, the girl in front of me messed up on one of the jumps so I passed her in the following turn which put me in 3^rd. I did the same move just before the finish that the girl had tried to do to me in my last heat but I succeeded where she hadn’t and I got into 2^nd which qualified me for the final!

I got into 3^rd going into the first turn. I had to keep the girl I had passed behind me while trying to catch the 2 in front of me. I passed Lyndsey Jacobellis (Olympic silver medallist) half way down and I held second place the remainder of the course, I got close to the leader (Maelle Ricker) at the end but not quite close enough to pass.

So I got silver! It’s the first time I have been on the podium for a good while and it feels great!

I am off to Lake Placid tomorrow for the next world cup. I have just finished packing.

Only one place further up to go!

4th in Korea

I have just finished a world cup in Korea and I got my best result of the season! In fact it’s my best result for 3 ½ years.

I qualified in 9th, so easily through to the heats.

I was worried about my first heat because I was against Lyndsey Jacobellis (the girl who fell just before the finish line in the last Olympics) she is very fast so I thought that was going to make things difficult. I pulled out of the gate fast and passed from 2nd to first in the second turn, I then led all the way down without any challenge!

My second heat was a tough one too, all 4 of the riders (myself included) have all won world cups at one time or another.

I was in 3rd going around the first turn but a risky line around the second turn paid off and I had got into 2nd. I might have been able to pass into 1st further down the course but didn’t want to push it as I only had to get in the top 2 to go through to the final, I stuck to my line and went through with no problems.

The final was also full of world cup winners, I unfortunately I had last lane choice so got stuck with the start gate with the longest line around the first turn so I was in 4th and I then fell two turns later trying to pass.

So I finished the comp in 4th, annoyingly close to a podium but a great result all the same.

This season is really turning out well! I was worried when my coach resigned 3 weeks ago but I have got into the finals in 2 of my comps since then! I am off to the next world cup in Japan tomorrow so I can’t wait to get there and try and get on the podium!

Leysin world cup 2008

One day after returning form the X games I was in Leysin (Switzerland) for the next round of the world cup.

I had trouble in the heats with an Austrian girl
careering into me. So I finished in 14th, which is not very good compared to my previous results in this season’s world cups but I still have a world ranking of 7th.

I am now in France training for just over a week before flying out to Korea for the next world cup. I have never been to Korea before so I am very excited about that and also about getting a chance to beat the Austrian girl who took me out in Leysin!

X Games, with no coach.

I have just got back from competing at the X games (Basically the Olympics of action sports)

It’s an invitation only event and had 15 hours of live TV coverage in the USA.

I had some major problems on the run up to the event because my coach had to resign due to family reasons 4 days before I went. As a last minute thing I organized for my brother Jon Gillings to come to coach me for the first day of training and James Foster, another British snowboardcross rider to come out for the rest, both acted as my coaches and it turned out that that worked really well!

I qualified in 3rd so all my fears that it was all going to go wrong because I didn’t have my usual coach there went out the window at that moment.

In the X games there are 6 riders racing instead of the usual 4 which makes it interesting to start with. In my first heat I won the start so I was in the lead for most of the way down, 2 girls got in front of me when I hit some soft snow but it was ok because I only had to finish in the top 3 to get into the final. I was still in 3rd going over the final jump but then I flew way too far off the jump and crashed on the landing! I knew if I tried to stand up it would use up too much time so I just lifted up my board and let myself slide across the finish line. I didn’t know if I had got over the line in front of the girl behind me or not until I looked up at the score board and saw:

1:Tanja Frieden

2: Sandra Frei

3: Zoe Gillings

I had got through to the final!!

We had to wait for almost half an hour for the final to start because a guy had fallen on the course and they had to rebuild the fencing around one of the corners. I got nervous standing in the start gate I have to admit but as soon as I got out of the gate all my nerves disappeared. Unfortunately my race didn’t last very long because as we went into the first corner a girl just to my left lost control over one of the rollers and crashed straight into me. I ended up 6th in the final so 6th overall in the comp.

Considering all the problems I had coming up to this event and the fact that I came 7th last year I was pretty happy!

King Of the Mountain Competition - USA

I was in Colorado just before Christmas at a competition called King of the Mountain, or as some of the girls called it Queen of the mountain.
It was a cool comp because they had bands playing in the evening, the performers included Michael Franti & Spearhead, Swollen Members, and more.
I had some team mates at this comp with me too, I am used to being the only Brit competing so it was a good change to have some team mates to cheer on. Unfortunately one of them got knocked out in the practice when she took a jump wrong and fractured her pelvis and ankle.

The other one got 17th place just missing out on qualifying for the heats.
I qualified in 4th which I was pretty happy with since there were a fair few good girls there.

My first heat started really well. I got out of the gate so fast that by the time we got to the first jump I was completely in the air when the other’s tips of their boards where just getting over the lip. Then disaster struck. Something happened as I took off so that by the time I landed my board wasn't underneath me anymore and I crashed, right at the start of a flat section so even though I tried to catch up I had no chance.

That really annoyed me because I had such a good start and then I fell in such a bad place!

I finished the comp in 9th though so pretty good all the same.
My next competition is in about 3 weeks so I am looking forward to that now.
Zoe

Summer Riding - USA

I am out in the US riding at mount Hood with the rest of the British team. I have been doing loads of freestyle stuff which I don't usually do but I am having fun with it! I learnt an ally-oop 360 in the pipe the other day as well as a 180 on 180 off on the tires.

I am not having as good a time with the local wildlife though, I have a massive swollen ankle at the moment because I got bitten by something, I don't know what it was but it's caused a pretty big reaction.

I am going to try 540s in the pipe tomorrow then we are out here for another 10 days so who knows what else I will get up to.

Zoe