Results 2008 - 2009 Season

The 2008 – 2009 season was my very first full season, a season where I was both learning to ski and a season where I was doing some racing. I spent 3 months in Kimberley under the tuition of Steve Bova at his racing academy.

I met some fantastic people there and had a great season where I saw my skiing moving up a gear all the time, thanks to all the support and guidance I got.

IPC NORAM Super G (Kimberley, BC)

Race 1

This was my very first race, and although on a farmilar slope a cloud inversion made my first run a daunting one. I could see 2 or 3 gates in front of me from the start line, when I set off nerves set in straight away and I crashed going in to gate 4. I could of continued but I was so annoyed with myself that my first ever race turned in to a DNF.

Race 2

After the disappointing first race I wanted to at least finish my second one. The cloud inversion still remained but the wind was blowing clear gaps all the time. My time came to race again, I set off and make it past gate 4, and I started to relax even though the speed was increasing. The rest of the race is a blur, but I finished, not the best finish I could have made but it was a solid run.

Canadian Nationals (Sun Peaks)

Giant Slalom

The FIS GS was cancelled due to weather conditions; I was gutted since I had crashed out of the Canadian National GS the day before. I was desperate to get some GS points on the board, but it wasn’t to be. I crashed the day before after putting in a solid first run, I knew I could go faster so I adjusted my suspension to give more feed back for the second, but it was too much and I carried more speed in to a turn than I needed and missed a gate.

Canadian National Slalom

The Canadian National Slalom was out first race, I still was skiing around the gates and not attacking them and hitting them, but even with that I managed a 6th place in my first ever Slalom. I was still someway off the pace, but I was the only man on the hill riding a Bramble and I think my 6th place on that was well deserved.

FIS Slalom

After my 6th in the first Slalom race, I had high hopes for the FIS race; unfortunately a slow first run saw me eventually end with a 7th. Overall I was happy to have finished both the Slalom races as I always saw these as being my weakest.

End of Season

I had come to Canada to learn to ski better and race a little; I hadn’t thought that it would go any further than that. Even half way though the season my mind was still firmly set on returning to the UK and getting back to work. The 2008-2009 season has had a big effect on me, I’ve started to question if I’m truly happy with where I’m going and what I’m doing. Maybe there are more ski seasons to come!