What does the 0 in 05.00hrs stand for?

There’s nothing like a decent Sunday morning lie in. However, for those who crawled out of bed at a time that should be illegal on a Sunday morning, this was nothing like a decent lie in. Indeed by 5.15am the car was loaded, breakfast had been attempted and a catsuit had been filled by a half asleep racer whom probably didn’t realise that 5 o’clock happened twice in one day. Yes, indeed my son, the 0 in 05.00 hrs stands for "O my God it's early."

At 6.30 we were circumnavigating the Starship Chill Factore, a futuristic building illuminated with blue and white lights that wouldn’t have looked out of place in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Indeed I felt a bit like Fallon Colby as I made my way towards the entrance doors.

However, even from the outside I had serious reservations about the apparent 100 metre slope with. Perhaps it was more Tardis than mothership.

Inside, it was clear that the 100m claim was a bit of a red herring. Sure, the bottom 50 metres or so probably were that wide but given the main and nursery pistes are separated by a humungous toboggan/luge feature the possibility of covering the entire width (should you ever be daft enough to try) is roughly about nil.

The main piste itself spans around 40 metres in width and is a similar length to Britain’s three Xscape slopes, as is the gradient. This is where the similarity ends however. With each development the snowmaking at Xscape improves and this trend has continued at Chill Factore. Even though the snow was nowhere near the management’s desired depth and it is yet to be fully packed down the skiers only had good words to say about the quality of surface. A white carpet of distinction.

For spectators the early start bought a few teething issues. With coffee facilities not opening until 8am and main piste viewing courtesy of a mall window (no seats) due to the main bar being closed there was a distinct need of the calming benefits of caffeine early on. These however are only teething issues. Give the site a month or so and I’d anticipate that they’ll have these issues sorted out.

The can be no question that Chill Factore is a magnificent facility that can only help to improve the quality of British ski racing. The more facilities that we get like this in the UK the better. And, whilst there’s a fair chance that Chill Factore won’t turn our National team into competition that frightens the life out of the Austrians just yet, if it takes us one step closer to consigning those video clips of Konrad Bartelski in Val Gardena to history then that alone will be progress.



The Starship Chill Factore


Fresh Tracks anyone?


100 Metres? Well it is here


Telford Training Time


Lift passes at the ready

You Don't Want To Leave Your Car There Mate

Saturday 10th November
Midland Ski Club Race
Ackers, Birmingham

There I was, a-digging this hole
A hole in the ground, so big and sort of round it was
There was I, digging it deep
It was flat at the bottom and the sides were steep
When along, comes this bloke in a bowler which he lifted and scratched his head
Well we looked down the hole, poor demented soul and he said
“Well it looks like we’ll have to cancel the race tomorrow”

OK, so good old Bernie Cribbins didn’t quite craft the last line but at two o’clock on Friday afternoon the Ackers complex was ringed by police security tape and more off limits than a newspaper interview with Elton John’s toupee maker. As we all know, ski racing is a mighty serious sport but when compared to mystery 30 feet holes exposing main gas lines those newly serviced razor sharp carvers do tend to have to take a back seat.

Then, just as the last phone call informing entrants that the race had been cancelled had been completed, the police pulled out, the cordon removed, Ackers re-opened and the race was back on. All the organisers had to do was re-contact the 70 or so people they’d just spoken to.

For those who’ve never been Ackers is based in the Small Heath area of Brum. And if you thought that Birmingham itself was a rather grey, unwelcoming place, then you’d be right but Small Heath takes grey and unwelcoming to an altogether different level. Black & White TV was made for this neck of the woods, indeed being blunt about it Small Heath, in nightclub parlance, is a Grade A “five to twoer”. So as you drive down the lengthy speed bump riddled track it is a pleasant surprise to find a fully functional outdoor pursuit and activity centre at the end of it. A genuine light at the end of the tunnel, a beacon that all Midlands local authorities should look at, envy and aspire to.

On the slope Telford again produced a fine turn out with all but Charlotte Gould competing in the mini or children’s categories. In the SuperMini categories William Lucas stamped his authority in the competition from the word go with a fine effort of 13.17, a time none of his competitors could get anywhere near to although Harry Dovey gave it his best shot recovering from a run 1 dnf to claim 4th in category.

In the Mini Girls Claire Ainswoth made it a 2007 WMSA hat-trick by claiming victory here to go with wins at Telford & Stoke. Emma Taylor also claimed a magnificent 3rd place in category overcoming racers considerably older and more experienced into the bargain and Rachael Ratledge claimed a promising 6th place despite a 2nd run dsq.

In the Mini boy category Telford provided complete domination with Jordan Fellows finishing his plastic mini career with a win, followed home by Kirran Singh Khalsa in 2nd, Nathan Breese in 3rd & Daniel Taylor in 4th. Joshua Ainsworth’s highly creditable 12th place should also be taken in the context that he was racing children considerably older and more experienced and this was a fine result for a 1999 child in a hugely competitive category.

With no girls in the Chi 1 category the stage was set for Oliver Dovey to make a mark in the boys category, which he did in fine style recovering from a small 1st run deficit with a fantastic 2nd run to claim another impressive victory.

With Chi 2 girls being a bit of a hot bed of Telford racers hopes were high and Claire Brown ensured that they were not unplaced demolishing both the course and her opposition with a super first run time of 10.24, Charlotte Shrimpton placed in 3rd place with the ever improving George Gould right on her coat tails in 4th. In the Boys Marco Furio continued his fine progression placing 3rd in fiercely fought category.

In the Jn1 girls Charlotte Gould celebrated her progression under 100 BARTS points taking 2nd with another stirling performance and the honour of being the fastest Telford racer of the day.

Performance of the day however has to go to Emma Taylor. As a December 1999 born child her task of making the podium amongst a group of racers significantly older and more experienced appeared to be verging on the impossible but two super 13 odd second runs proved that this is a girl determined not to live in the shadow of her big brother. Well done Emma.