Date: 17th March 2008
After a few days rest in Brides Les Baine, Em and I set off for Valmalenco, Italy for the Ski Cross World Cup Finals, in the famous Peugeot 106, full to the brim, with the skis on the roof and the socks on the ends (to protect the bases from flying road grit) We arrived to very warm weather, +15 degrees! The snow was so wet that on training day 1, it was a similar feeling to skiing through puddles, where your skis actually stop, we were a little concerned we wouldn't make it up the jumps, let alone anywhere near the landings! The speed was very slow and we had to pop most jumps to clear them. Em and I rushed home thinking of anyway we can miraculously make our skis really fast in 2 days! Big thanks to Marty for all his tips in this department!! Much appreciated!
The next day the snow hardened overnight and the course ran completely different. Without anyone there to tell us that it was no longer necessary to pop the jumps, Em and I discovered the hard way, windmilling off the top jumps just about clearing the landings! The course ran quite well and once it hit lunchtime the course was starting to slow down again. Yet again we waxed and waxed our skis in an attempt to make them as fast as we could.
On the finals day they ran the heats from World Cup rankings with no qualification. The weather had come in, it was snowing and foggy with flat light....brilliant! The course had yet again slowed right down and we were hardly moving. In training no one had enough speed to clear any jumps and the snow was VERY slow, to the point we didn't know whether to start skating over the middle rollers, because you felt kind of stupid just sitting there, feeling like you could easily have a conversation with the person next to you, something you really don't normally experience in SX! The course was put on hold, due to an injury and the piste bashers came in to remove some jumps, sadly making the course even less exciting and even more of a game of wax. The heats were run and I had the outside gate in a tough heat with Hedda, Emilie and Alexandra. I had a decent start but as soon as we went over the first double and hit the flats I was out back and stayed there coming through in 4th, not going through to the final 8. It was a good experience being able to get in the heats of 4 against the top girls in the world as well as the training experience. The event was won my Ophelie David (FRA) with Hedda Bernsten (NOR) and Meryl Boulangeat taking 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
Thank you to Vic and Dan for their help on course as well as Neil and Racer Ready for his support, photography and assistance with accommodation costs at the event, your support is very much appreciated! I will be heading to Japan in a few days for a FIS Ski Cross on my way home and a brief powder skiing holiday with Den, pending how the leg holds up! Will write again soon!
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