Rossendale
27th - 30th August
“You’ll be doing fitness work and ski prep in the mornings and skiing hard in the afternoons. There will be no crisps, no rubbish, no fizzy pop, be in bed by 8pm and NO Stella Artios for the adults” I don’t know about the racers but I was frozen to the spot, riddled with fear like a rabbit staring into headlights. Sweat began to appear on my brow. Blimey, even as a spectator this week was going to be tough.
True to the coaches word it was a tough week. Each morning bought a varied programme of fitness work. From sprinting to agility and balance all areas were covered. Wednesday’s fitness test highlighted those who had been following their fitness programmes and those who preferred a morning dabble on their Playstation to press ups and Thursday’s Cooper Test truly tested the stamina of our athletes already weary legs.
With the matting at Rossendale in its current state it was important for the racers edges to be sharp. Richard’s demo on ski servicing was welcomed by novices and experts alike and by the end of the week all of the racers had managed to prep their own skis at least twice. However, I doubt that I was the only one who could feel the pain growing in my wallet as Mr Breese dragged gadget and gizmo after gadget and gizmo out of his tardis-esque tool box.
And so to the skiing. A relatively young bunch even by our recent standards took to the slope, joined for one day by the comparative elder stateswoman that is Abby Clifford. All worked extremely hard and all seemed to enjoy the week. Blessedly crashed were few and far between and with the exception of an Ashley Breese special – does he do anything by half? – a Daniel Taylor Wednesday hat trick of excursions onto the matting and Charlotte Shrimpton’s close encounter with the netting most our the racers managed to hold onto a vertical stance. In fact the only break of the whole week was that of our day visitor Robert Poth’s Leki pole.
This isn’t to say that the bottom of the slope spectators went without the usual array of crashes. Quite why parents feel the need to book their children slope time and expect them to cruise down like our racers without an ounce of instruction is utterly beyond me. Oh how I felt for the little chap whose dad kept pointing at Nathan, suggesting that his lad should “watch how he stops” and then stood there as the newcomer launched himself down the slope and straight into the safety net time and again, hitting the net so fast and hard that he was in danger of turning himself into chips! Predictably this eventually led to an explosion of tears of frustration, an early exit from the slope quite possible never to return.
Perhaps we are spoiled by the quality of coaching we get at Telford, or the organisation of school holiday ski schools. Perhaps I am just being harsh, but every day there were too many kids on the slope and out of control, despite the fact they have two very good and safer nursery slopes.
Performance of the week is a hard one. Each and every athlete gave the week their all. Joe Humfress can be well pleased with his improvement as can Daniel Taylor. Quite how such little legs coped with the demands of Mr Breese I’ll never know and his early week promotion into the race group was fine reward for a magnificent effort.
Of Alan’s group, well all should be delighted and proud of their efforts. Emma Taylor & Rachael Ratledge improved beyond recognition as did Emily, Adam & Kirran. However man of the week has to go to Marco Furio. As a relative newcomer to skiing generally and racing in particular the Man from Milan (via Shrewsbury) has taken to this ski racing lark like his coach took to Stella Artios. His line was great, as was his posture, angulation and determination to improve. It may take him a while to settle into the demands of Chi 2 racing next year but unlike his slalom times he is on the way up. Well done Marco.
Also, a word of thanks to the coaches. As usual, the Right Honourable Sir Alan Ashfield was in prime form, cajoling every single ounce of talent out of his group whilst keeping a close eye on those in the race group. As I’ve already noted the improvement in this group was staggering. Richard Breese, was well Richard Breese, thoughtfully developing a programme of drills and courses that kept the racers on their toes for all four days and improved every one of their techniques. The fact he has sacrificed so much of his own time to developing this group and executed so many training days this summer should not go un-noticed. We are very lucky.
Thoughts now switch to the All England Championships. Can we sneak a podium or two this weekend? Well, if they convert hard work and talent into a brace of runs over the weekend then they have a chance. Fingers, toes, arms, legs and eyes will be all be crossed. Well done everyone, do your best.
