News, Updates and usually Good Stories

Ankle reconstruction and my new screw!

2011-03-09T22:58:00.000-08:00

Date: 4th March 2011

Last Friday I had surgery on my ankle. I knew that I had ruptured a number of ligaments in my ankle, but the real damage was found when they got inside. I had ruptured my sydesmosis...this meant that my tibia and filbular were no longer connected to each other at the ankle. I had a tear in another ligament as well and they decided an ankle reconstruction was appropriate. He put a large 45mm screw through my fibular and tibia for stabilisation. In addition to this they put a tightrope acnhor through and reattached my ligaments.

The screw will be removed in a few months time, and the tightrope will remain to ensure it doesn't happen again and to ensure it fully heals. I am really struggling to keep myself entertained, but I hope to be off my crutches in 5 weeks and can't wait to get walking and functioning again. I see the suregon again on April 5th. In the mean time I am hoping to get started on the Smart Connection Diploma of Management and put all this spare time to good use.

You will get an idea of the crash from the photo below, but If you want to see the video of my crash in Alpe D'Huez that led to all of this, you can see it online at youtube under Sarah Sauvey ski cross crash Alpe D'Huez 2011. Be in touch soon!

Leader Newspaper Sports Award

2011-03-09T22:43:00.001-08:00

Date: 23rd February 2011

Last night we had the Eastern Division Leader Newspaper awards for 2010 held at Etihad Stadium. I was awarded the Progress Leaser Senior Sports Star of the year for 2010. I received a medal and was interviewed on stage by Steve Quatermaine (AKA. Sports Tonight man as seen below). I also received a voucher for Rebel Sport. I was very appreciative that my hard work has been recognised by the local community. I was on the front page of the Leader Newspaper this week with the winners of the Junior division and the Encouragement award. I am going in for surgery on Friday 25th Feb and will let you know the full damage and operation report after.

Surgery 25th February

2011-02-21T19:46:00.000-08:00

Date: 22nd February 2011

I have returned home to nice warm weather and sunshine, but unfortunately it turns out I have managed to rupture at least 2 ligaments in my ankle. Imaging (ultrasound, x-ray and MRI) have shown that the anterior inferior tibio fibular ligament is ruptured and they suspect the posterior ligament has as well. Thus my tibia and fibular are currently not attached together.

They also suspect I have torn another ligament in there as well and potentially pulled a small piece of bone off. Therefore, on the 25th February I will be admitted to hospital for an ankle reconstruction. I am hoping they don't have to screw the bones back together, but the full damage won't be known until they get in there. Hopefully it will be quite simple and all heal up nice and quickly. I will keep you posted on my progress.

21st at World Champs and beyond!

2011-02-12T19:54:00.001-08:00

Date: 12th February 2011

The World Championships were held in Deer Valley/Park City, Utah, USA. I have to admit, the World Champs didn't really feel like World Champs. It was my 3rd World Championships, and I have to say, I think it had the least atmosphere. I was in quite a lot of pain and was only capable of doing 1 training run on both days. I have a HUGE thank you so say to a few people:
1. Mer Bennett - my buddy and fan from Tahoe who travelled all the way from Reno by herself to come and support me and cheer me on! It was so awesome!
2. Andy Dennis and Ed Holmes, who came all the way from Melbourne, AUS to come and support and help me out!
The support was really appreciated. It was awesome to see Amalie and Oli come up and support me as well! He is always a good attendee :)

Unfortunately I made a mistake in my quali, and had a slow time. But they took all ladies for finals as the field was much smaller than normal, and I got a chance to race SX! I had a tough heat with Fanny Smith and Jenny Owens, and on final day, once again the leg really only held up for one training run. Then in the heat, I had a pretty good start, held a good line and managed to make a pass on Jenny, stoked with the result I then followed behind Fanny rather than taking a strategic line and was passed once again by Jenny further down the course. It was nice to make a pass and feel the first spark I have felt from the sport in the last 12 months! So I finished up at the World Championships in 21st place. Not a bad result for ultimately trying to ski on one leg.

I decided to continue on my itinerary and see how I felt in Blue Mountain at the next WC. I knew I was heading home after it, so I thought I would see how I felt. In the training in Blue, I felt like I was skiing at about 60%. After trying to compensate by using my left "good" leg, I now had a lot of pain in that leg too. My head was saying go, but my body was saying no! So I decided not to start the event, as I wasn't going to qualify skiing like this, and I was sitting back, so I was scared I may end up injuring myself worse. It is never an easy decision not to start a comp, when you have travelled so far to get there. But this is ski cross! So now I am waiting at LAX airport for my flight home for some much needed rest! I will write again soon. All the best!

Alpe D'Huez and 17 new stitches in my face!

2011-02-12T18:16:00.001-08:00

Date: 30th January 2011

It has been a long time since I wrote. I feel like I have not stopped in weeks. I had an accident in Alpe D'Huez at the World Cup on the 11th January. I caught my ski edge coming into the final jump in qualification and found myself doing my first rodeo flip, which I certainly didn't land. Rather, crumpled in a heap on the flat. I had a pretty good black eye, a really swollen cheek, and 17 new stitches in my face, but to be honest, this looked pretty savage, but didn't hurt that much. Unfortunately I smashed my right knee up and strecthed the ligaments in my ankle...these both hurt a lot!

I took a week off and was hoping it would all clear up and I could get back on skis. Huge thank you to Sarah Verlaan for having me to stay for so long in Zurich! My leg wasn't get any better and something certainly didn't feel right, although i did have stability in the knee. So I decided to go to a sports doctor in Zurich and get a professional opinion, so I don't go and make something small into something big. The doctor suspected torn meniscus and stretched ligaments and sent me off for an MRI. After 12 days off, finally I got the results back and I was fortunate enough to escape with only "extensive bone bruising" and the stretched ankle ligament. So off I trotted to Grasgehren Germany on my own to get back into SX!

I arrived in Germany totally alone. No Team mates, no coach, no support. I strapped up my ankle to the best of my ability and I stood in the starting gate honestly, scared stiff! My arms were shaking, legs, and all I could think was...please don't hit the back side of that large double! Infact I don't recall being that frightened in the last 2 years. I basically would land a jump then try to ski on one leg, I went there with only one aim, and that was to forget the crash and go to World Championships with a fresh head, even if he body wasn't fresh. So I successfully completed the competition, a huge thanks to the Swiss team for letting me use their tuning bench, I was slowand in pain, but the good news was I was off to World Champs no longer thinking about my crash in France.

Next stop, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA!

Training in the sun in Sierra Nevada, Spain

2010-12-28T07:31:00.000-08:00

Date: 28th December 2010

It has been great here in Spain. I celebrated christmas in true Spanish style with Chio and her family! I am now in Sierra Nevada. A huge thanks to Chio for assisting in arranging me to train with the Spanish SX team and arranged lift passes and of course accommodating me.

We have managed to get in some good training early in the morning before the public come out to play, practising speed. We managed to do some start gate timing and practised a small wutang out of the starting gate. Thanks to the team for having me!

I will head to Granada on the 30th and celebrate New Years Eve down there before heading back to Munich on the 2nd January and onward to St Johann in Tirol, Austria for the next world cup. Be in touch soon!

First news for the new season!

2010-12-28T06:59:00.000-08:00

21st December 2010

I am writing this whilst sitting on a train from Munich to Innsbruck. After successfully driving the Vectra aka "Vicky Vectra" from the UK across to Austria, we were unfortunately greeted with pretty bad weather conditions, which kept Molltaller Glacier closed most days. The first world cups were rapidly approaching and I had not yet skied a single feature or pulled out of a starting gate.

I turned up to Innichen, not feeling the most prepared I have ever felt, but certainly with a smile on my face. It was FREEZING! Again, it was about –20degrees celcius. It was great to get back into a SX course, and the training was quite good. In the first race, I didn’t ski well, I made a big mistake on the most vital part of the course, the jump down onto the big flat turn. I was disappointed, not really by the result as I didn’t expect anything, but more than I made the same mistake so many runs in a row. The 2nd race I managed to get the jump right but still mucked up the turn on the flat, so a better time and certainly improvements but not really what I had hoped. I finished in 28th position on both days and now I am off the Spain to catch up with my good friend Chio and her family and have a rest, enjoy xmas, eat some jambon, throw some confetti, see Granada and train in Sierra Nevada with the Spanish SX team. I am looking forward to the races in January. I can’t wait for this year to end, 2011 will be a good year! Merry Xmas!

University Degree Complete and Europe Bound

2010-12-02T14:23:00.000-08:00

28th November 2010

It has been a very busy couple of weeks! But it does feel good to know that after 8 years of University, very part time, I have finally completed my bachelor degree in Multimedia (Business Marketing).

I have also been offered a scholarship from Smart Connection to start a Diploma of Management in 2011, in return for being a guest speaker to their Diploma of fitness students. This is a great opportunity to continue my studies and obtain further qualifications in Management.

With my degree under my belt, I had my strength testing which all came out with great results, it has been an intense couple of months and it has been paying off which is always good to see. A huge thanks to Mick and Dave for all their help and support in the recent months.

So off I set, Europe bound, with a stopover in Beijing to catch up with an old friend who I used to ski race with before hitting the UK on the 1st December.

I will drive across to Austria on the 4th/5th of December (pending whether the Vectra will make it...but I have high hopes) and hope to start training on snow on the 6th December. First 2 World Cup competitions are on the 18th and 19th December in San Candido, Italy. With only a few days preperation on snow, I will take these first 2 comps as a bit of a warm up and training opportunity, before hopefully performing optimally in January.

I will be in touch soon!

Many Thanks Melbourne Myo!

2010-10-20T05:08:00.000-07:00

Date: October 13th 2010

Gemma Biggs is a friend whom I used to race for with many years at the Australian University Games. Now a qualified myotherapist and business owner, Gemma has kindly offered to assist me with massage and myotherapy treatment for this busy and intense training period.

Gemma has provided me with such great support. She is very knowledgeable and professional and has a very friendly and kind manner. She has helped me greatly through this difficult and intense training period and in my preparation for the forthcoming coming World Championships and busy World Cup season. I can not thank her sufficiently for her support.

I highly recommend Melbourne Myo to anyone needing professional musculoskeletal assessment, treatment or advice and thank them kindly for their support! Here is the link to their website:

http://www.melbournemyo.com.au/

Queensland with an Apollo Campervan

2010-10-20T04:59:00.000-07:00

Date: 9th October 2010

On the 1st October, Andy and I took the early bird flight from Melbourne to Brisbane and made our way to Apollo to pick up our Apollo campervan and get on the road. It was a last minute decision to take this break away, but with 100% support from Apollo, they provided us with a campervan for 6 days and it was decided, we were going on a holiday! We were stoked to receive a brand new Apollo Campervan 2 Euro Berth with only 20km on the odometer!

Off we set, and headed north stopping at the Gingerbread Factory in Yandina (I was lured in by the gingerbread manon the highway) and it turned out the gingerbread factory was in fact not that interesting. However, we did enjoy a Devonshire tea and a lovely homemade scone with jam and cream right next door at a little guest house. I picked up a pamphlet on Lady Musgrave Island which is the most southern part of the Great Barrier Reef which is accessed by boat off the shore of 1770. This was a new addition to our agenda in two days time!

We were back on the road and decided to head to Rainbow Beach! Unfortunately we were faced with rain, we managed to get one of the last spaces at the campervan park, plugged in, filled up with water and had a great nights sleep. In the morning we set up our table and chairs and enjoyed a big cooked breakfast, bacon, hash browns, baked beans and scrambled eggs. it was at this stage we were attacked by sand flies which I am still scratching 8 days later! Anti-itch plus has become my new best friend!

We headed down to rainbow beach and enjoyed a few hours of sun and we walked out to Carlo Sand Blow which was unbelievable! You walk through a woodland forest and pop out in the middle of this 15-hectare sand dune which faces down onto the beach below. However, in set the rain and we had a look at the weather forecast, the rain was set to stay, so we decided to head north and escape and we were off to 1770! After a long drive we arrived late and slept parked opposite where we were set to take the ferry early the next morning.

We departed 1770 at 8am on a 90 minute boat ride with 2-3 metre swells. It was a difficult boat ride, I didn’t think I got sea sick…well I do…as did most on board including the crew! But when we arrived at Lady Musgrave Island, wow, we were faced with the most amazing blue, calm, beautiful water. The Great Barrier Reef is seriously GREAT! We spent the day walking the island, held a sea cucumber, swimming with sea turtles, snorkelling, a fantastic buffet lunch and perfect weather. It was picture perfect and the crew were lovely! I particularly enjoyed the complimentary cheese and kransky on the boat ride home...which I might add was absolutely fine and really relaxing!

That night we drove to Bundaberg and slept there. We slept right on the beach front and in the morning travelled down to spend the day in Noosa. We cooked up a bbq right on the beach of Noosa Heads. We had amazing weather and lapped up the sun for the day.

We then headed south for a day at Dreamworld and White Water World on the Gold Coast. We had an enjoyable day, but unfortunately didn’t have ideal weather, faced with some rain. We cooked up our lunch in the car park and headed back into the park for the afternoon. We travelled up to have dinner in Brisbane and slept under neath the Storey Bridge, it was quite spectacular.

We decided to spend out last day in Currumbin, so we travelled down in the morning and lapped up the 30 degree weather and enjoyed the warm waves before heading back to Brisbane to drop off our Apollo camper with over 2000km added to the odometer. Thanks to Apollo for providing us with the holiday we probably would not have had without their support. I am feeling refreshed and ready for a 7 week slog coming into the ski season :)

Smart Connection - Diploma of Management Scholarship

2010-10-20T04:51:00.001-07:00

Date: 28th September 2010

I have been very fortunate to have received a scholarship to do a diploma of management starting in 2011 through Smart Connection.

Smart Connection has asked me to give a lecture to their diploma of fitness students discussing my journey as an Olympic athlete, overcoming a serious health condition, open vascular surgery, the recovery process, and returning to the elite level and elite strength and conditioning programs.

In return for this service, I will be granted a scholarship to complete a diploma of management which will really increase my skills and make me more employable after my skiing career comes to an end. It is also nice to know I can further my education whilst competing over the next year or two, I like the balance it gives me in my day to day life.

I am very grateful for this opportunity and look forward to finishing my degree in Multimedia (Business Marketing) in November, before heading back to Europe and North America to follow the world cup season once again!

Apollo Winter Adventure Shoot

2010-10-20T04:29:00.000-07:00

Date: September 14th 2010

It was time for the Apollo Campervan shoot that we had been planning for months, so I got on an early flight to Queenstown NZ, where I was greeted by Sarah Murphy, NZ's biathlon Olympian. Sarah and I would be spending the next few days in an Apollo campervan travelling, living and laughing!

After relieving my toenail from built up pressure in my ski boots, with a red hot paperclip, off we set to the Mt Aspiring Campervan Site in Wanaka. I was greeted by the Project pro Extreme team, Nikki and Alex and Jasper the photographer, all the way from the Netherlands and Jason who was in charge of recording.

Sarah and I shared an Apollo 4-Berth Euro Camper. We each had a comfortable double bed, and loads of room for all our gear. We even had a toilet, refrigerator, shower, sink, cooker and TV! it was really comfortable! I slept like a baby, and come 5am, Nikki and Alex jumped on board and we drove up to Treble Cone whilst still in bed! We stepped out of the camper in the Treble Cone carpark to the most amazing view with a gorgeous sunrise, well worth the 5am wake up!

We got a number of magnificent photos and some great footage. We enjoyed a nice breakfast and headed up the mountain with head cams, Sarah on snowboard and myself on skis. We hiked up to the top of the summit and took runs in the saddle area, managing to get some great shots. The view from the top of the summit was breathtaking, (the walk up was rather breathtaking too haha). We were blessed with bright sunshine, amazing scenery and plenty of snow.

I had a few days in Wanaka and Queenstown and managed to catch up with Mitchey whom I spent a lot of the last 18 months training and travelling with world wide! Sarah also took me shooting, she was target practising and taught me how to use her gun which was pretty exciting! I also managed to squeeze in a trip to Cardrona to watch the World Junior Championships SX event, although I had to leave early in order to catch my bus to Christchurch airport.

All in all a great trip, short but sweet and very pleasurable!

Check out my new video too under Media Gallery - Videos...very cool!

Back to uni, training and mascotting, ciao for now!

Guest Speaker - Melbourne Girls Grammar Celebration of Sport Dinner

2010-09-13T20:05:00.000-07:00

Date: 11th September

On Thursday 9th September, I was asked to be a guest speaker at the Melbourne Girls Grammar Celebration of Sport dinner. I was fortunate to be joined by Michelle Payne, an elite Australian Jockey, and Caitlin Thwaites netballer with the Vixens. Also in attendance was Rob Warnock, ruckman from the Carlton Blues AFL team.

It was a great night and it was really nice being welcomed back by the school. Being an old girl, a lot of the girls were really excited to hear from an Old Grammarian who had made it to the Olympics and were keen to come and have a chat. They were excited to hear about what GSV sports I played during VCE and how my overall VCE experience was, I think they were quite shocked to hear me say it was the best year of my life and I have never laughed that hard!

We sat as a panel of three infront of the audience and Caroline Wilson (sports/media journalists and old girl) interviewing us, asking questions and encouraging audience questions and partcicipation. Each of the girls had an amazing and inspriational story.

The focus of the evening was on the following values which we were asked to encorporate:

Integrity- living by your values, being honest and sincere. To do the right thing and tell the truth. To act with intergtiry requires words to match up with actions. Integrity gives us self respect.

Courage- bravery in the face of fear . You don't give up, you try new things and you admit mistakes. You do the right thing even when it is hard or scary.

Compassion - understanding and caring when soemone is hurt or troubled even if you don't know them- its about wanting to help and forgivieng mistakes.;and

Self discipline- means self control, you act instead of react, you get things done in an ordered and efficient way. It is about you taking charge of yourself.

It was a great occasion enjoyed by all and I felt quite honoured to be there as a guest speaker. Please find a couple of photos from the night below.

Be in touch soon!

Mt Hotham ANC Ski Cross Events

2010-08-26T15:59:00.000-07:00

Date: 23rd August 2010

I spent the week up at Hotham, my first time on snow this season. We were faced with variable difficult weather conditions. High winds, snowing, bad visibility and variable snow conditions. The Hotham events team did a great job, putting a lot of effort into getting the course prepared for an inspection/training on the Friday.

Saturday morning we were faced with similar conditions and we managed to get the qualification run off the ground. I was happy with my run, particularly after I entered one of the berms in the middle of the run expecting it to be ice, committing to the turn appropriately to find it was wind blown soft snomw which threw me back hitting my back on the ground pulling myself forward to continue the run, qualifying in 2nd place. The weather was too bad, and the snow too soft in areas to make it safe, so the finals were postponed until Sunday morning.

On Sunday morning the conditions were still difficult but the snow was harder and the course had been worked on . After qualifying in 2nd, I ended up with good gate selections, and progressed into the big final. I was pleased to find myself in such a good position after what has been a difficult year. It was myself, Katya (AUS), Yulia (RUS) and Violetta (RUS). I had a decent start but have to say I was justvery slow along the top flat, and found myself right on the back of Violetta in 4th place. As we progressed down the course, Violetta moved out to take more direction into the hip jump and I went more straight, causing us both to scream and land on top of each other over the hip, thank fully we both stayed up, and it was close coming into the final turns, and I finished in 4th position. I was pretty happy with the result as much as I would have liked to have held my 2nd place, but it was a good quality final and good racing all round!

In the second event, I qualified in 3rd place behind Katya(AUS) and Yulia(RUS) which I was again pretty pleased with. I progressed through each of the final heats, found myself achieve a nice overtake across the bridge in the semi final rouns, and yet again found myself comfortably in the big final. It was the same 4 of us battling for the podium once again. I had a pretty good start and once again just found myself slow across those top rollers, there wasn't any overtaking and I managed to enter the last couple of turns and crash out. After all the hiking up to the start gate which was about 200m above the chairlift fighting a head on wind, and 2 events worth of heats plus training runs all in one day, all our legs were pretty spent! All in all it was a great weekend of racing and I was stoked to find myself comfortably in the big final for both events. Be in touch soon!

Update from off season

2010-05-19T18:26:00.001-07:00

Date: 18th May 2010

I thought it was about time to write and give an update of where I am and what I am up to. As you will see I spent some time giving my website a facelift! I had quite a lot of new photos and content after my Olympic debut. I returned to Melbourne end of March, straight back into week 4 of University. I played catch up at uni and had a few much needed weeks break from training, trying to let my injuries heal up. I tried to get some wakeboarding in, but sadly that injury to my shin when I hit the fence persisted in giving me grief. Had a great time away at Bonnie Doon none the less.

I managed to pick up a job as a mascot. I work usually 3 or 4 times a week as Gilbert the Gecko (see photo below) which has proved to be really good fun. I am also assisting to run the snowsports dryland program at St Catherine's School in Melbourne. I am still working as a PA as well when needed. I have started back physical training and am coming into my last week for this semester at University. I will be completing my last subject next semester and should have my degree in Multimedia (Business Marketing) come November 2010. My 3 jobs are flexible and with just one subject at University next semester it should allow me quite a lot of time for training leading up to the next northern season. I am unsure of my plans this southern season, I will try to get on snow if I can, and have been asked to do a photoshoot in New Zealand early September for Apollo Campervans which is awesome. My injuries are getting better and physical gains are coming back slowly.

I got my Olympic bib and all the 17 nation pins I spent so much time collecting framed and it looks great! I also got my Vancouver 2010 Flag signed by 35 Inaugural Ladies SX Olympic athletes framed and it also looks unreal! Photos attached. I will be in touch soon!

Ending the season with a bang...literally

2010-03-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

Date: 15th March 2010

I rocked up to the event in Meiringen hobbling with bandages in my boots, full of anti inflammatories. They moved the course at Meiringen which I was happy about. The course looked good very busy but I knew in the pain I was in, this was going to be difficult for me. I took 4 pain killers and started training. The course was so busy that first run I got a little lost, and missed one section, I could feel the pan in my lower legs. 2nd run was an improvement and 3rd was going even better until I headed into the fastest section fo the course where there was a jump into a long compression with an up jump. As I was heading into the up jump full speed, approaching the take off, suddenly the gate keeper raised a yellow flag, I couldn't do anything! I started to panic, straightened my leg as a natural reaction, knowing dam well there was another competitor lying on the other side off the jump and I had no idea where, this caused me to launch off the jump, mid air I saw Sanna Luedi (SUI) lying in the fence, I knew I wasn't going to hit her, but I was heading straight for the fence lower down, I landed with a fence fast approaching and only had one thought in my head "Broken legs for sure" then a split second later BANG full speed flat ski straight into a fence. Isi the Spanish coach and one of the Canadian coaches came running to help. I was in pain but was ok considering. Now my tib/fib joint was really hurting me, my shins…well I had just gone straight over the top of them into a fence, so they were killing me and somehow I managed to tear/pull my groin quite badly, unsable to lift my leg. How any normal person would say...ok stop now. But no, I got to the top, in a decent amount of pain, to find out that training had been extended by 5 minutes because of my crash..and of course the only person who didn't get another run because of it..WAS ME!! Didn't make a lot of sense. I took 4 more pain killers, (taking the total to 8) and decided I wanted to do my qualification run so as not to finish the season with a full speed crash into the fence to dwell on over summer. Struggling to move at the top, with tears streaming down my face and the people closest to me on the circuit saying..."Sar maybe you should just stop now", I started my qualification run, produced a terrible time, and knew that my next stop was home. Ken was shocked I managed to finish granted my physical condition, I left Meiringen limping, knowing I was already finished mentally and emotionally but now I was finished physically as well. Just to top itoff, I broke my race skis too. Brilliant! A huge thank you to Ken, your help was very much appreciated. I spent the next 24 hours hobbling around, stiff with whip lash trying to book myself back to Australia as soon as possible.

A few minor things I need to achieve in the next 48 hours or so:

1. Getting to France to pick up my car after the back suspension broke off on the highway and we left it near a garage on the side of the road a month and a half earlier.
2. Driving the Vectra 12 hours back to the UK knowing dam well it probably won't make it further than Dijon
3. Changing my flight from Heathrow to Melbourne asap
4. Cancelling my flight to Spain (where the last world cup was)
5. Making it in time to catch my ferry to the UK after missing 2 buses and 2 trains to go and get my car, and what should have taken 4.5 hours taking 12.
6. Leaving the Vectra in Fareham with family and getting to Heathrow with all my luggage then venturing into London to pick up yet another bag of kit I had left there.
7. A short 32 hour journey home London to Melbourne via Honk Kong and Auckland.
Catch up on 3 weeks of university I have missed

A busy time, but I am looking forward to getting home, and spending the next month resting and catching up on University. "On the road again...like a band of gypsies we go down the highway..."

Grindelwald World Cup, Switzerland

2010-03-25T15:40:00.000-07:00

11th March 2010

Chio arrived shortly after me into Geneva airport and we got a lift to the Formula 1 hotel with the French team guys for the night..slightly embarrassed that my skis were in a long plastic bag. The next morning we were greeted by Isi and Martin (Spanish coach and tech) who had just done a 20hour drive from Granada and we threw our stuff in the back of the van and jumped right in on top of it...literally! We arrived in Grindelwald Switzerland and shortly after we arrived I was greeted by Ken Chance-Larsen. Ken is the physio who had been sent out from the UK by TASS (but he is Norwegian!). I had told poor Ken that I didn’t have any injuries, but by this stage, my tib/fib joint was killing me from being smashed in Branas and my shins on my right leg were giving me serious grief. I took painkillers and persisted with the training, Ken later bandaging my shin inside my boot as it was swelling right along the inside of the bone. Suspected stress fractures, I was unable to pressure my skis properly, and I knew that the end of my season was drawing near. Sadly the vital turn in the course at Grindelwald is a high speed compression type turn on your right foot with bumps. Not surprisingly this is the area of the course I lost all my speed on in qualification and due to only 31 girls finishing, I made the finals in 30th position...eeeek! This was getting worse and worse. The first day of finals the fog came in and you literally couldn't see anything, they decided after running 7 of the 8 girls heats they would postpone it till the next day and re start the whole race. Fortunately the weather was fantastic on the next day and we pulled a great race off. I knew nothing was going to help my shins now, I just gave the start my all, had a decent one, and then of course got overtaken in the vital turn which I tried to pressure my ski but just got pushed down and overtaken. I followed on down and nearly had a large crash off the last jump, entering the jump still on my edge, I came off, headed backwards in the air, and I was sure I was gone, but somehow landed on both edges (putting further stress on my already sore tib/fib joint near my knee) and somehow managed to hold it crossing the finish line, shaking my hand as if to say 'phew that was bloody close!' The swelling down my shin had now moved even further down extending about 20cm down my shin now. Feeling like a bit of an invillid it was off to Meiringen to give it a shot! See below photo sequence of my close call!

Onward to the next World Cup with my race skis in a plastic bag

2010-03-25T15:21:00.000-07:00

Date: 8th March 2010

After spending much of my time at the Olympics filled with disappointment, suddenly it was the closing ceremony and Team GB was off on a BA flight back to London. The next event was in Sweden in Branas, and whilst I felt like I wasn't really there mentally or emotionally, I made my self press on as usual. I flew to Stockholm Arlanda and got a lift with Tuomas from Finland to Branas (About 5 hours) rocking out to his favourite death metal tracks along the way...I was stoked when he pulled out his Roxette cd for a change... I can assure you!! The course in Branas last year was amazing, fast paced, lots of features, big jumps down the last flat, and big double/triple along the last run into the last jump. I had always planned to atleast finish the season with Branas as the course was great. This year it was flat, no features, tiny rollers you could absorb and a total gliding race. In training I managed to get off balance in the air off the last jump, landing on my inside edge and I think hitting my femur straight onto the top of my tib/fib joint. Nothing painkillers couldn't get rid of. So other than starfishing off the first jump, I just wasn't fast which just added to my mental/emotional burden. Chio had an equally disappointing time there in Branas and we both decided maybe the Europa Cups in Spain were looking more appealing than the following world cups in Swizterland. Unfortunately due to bad weather the races in Spain looked like they weren't going to go ahead, so it was a 5 hour death metal filled ride back to Stockholm with Tuomas (greatly appreciated) and onwards to Geneva. I did find it a little strange at Arlanda Stockholm airport (The supporting airport of the Swedish Olympic Team) that when I tried to check in my 20kg ski bag with two pairs of race skis in it, that they refused and said we can not have two pairs off skis in one bag, it is against the airport rules. Now I gotta be honest, I am not convinced that Anja Paerson travelled to the Olympic Games with 20 ski bags for her 20 pairs of skis. But even better, they handed me a plastic bag to put the other pair in. (Not convinced Anja Paerson travelled with her race skis in plastic bags either!!!!) With tears dwelling in my eyes, I asked to speak to a manager and tried to explain to them that I simply could not travel with my world cup race stock competition skis in a plastic bag. After 45 minutes of arguing, a long queue accumulating behind me, and my boarding time approaching, I gave in and yes my world cup skis travelled to Geneva in a Scandinavian airlines plastic bag. What was better was upon arrival in Geneva, bumping into Jeff Sadis the tech for a few girls on the circuit, who had lost all his luggage and was fuming, however, managed to crack a big smile and have a good laugh as I cruised up to him with my skis in a SAS plastic bag over my shoulder. It was then that Jeff came out with one of the finest comments I have ever heard, and it was so accurate that it almost made me cry "It shits me how much of this sport is not to do with what you actually do on the race course" and that is it right there, the story of my skiing career.

"Hello I am Sarah and I am living my dream..."

2010-03-07T10:17:00.000-08:00

Date: 1st March 2010

Three words to describe my Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic experience... Amazing, inspiring and disappointing.

On the 23rd February I headed to Cypress Mountain for my Olympic debut. The conditions changed from bright sunshine that we had all week for training, to cloudy with wet snow falls. My training had been going well all week. Along with most of the competitors I sat in the tent at the top of the course watching the live coverage of the first few competitors, if I could go back in time, I would change this... but I can't. I sat watching the first 24 competitors go down the Cypress Mountain Olympic course before deciding to get myself prepared. I started to shake while watching the other competitors and left the tent feeling breathless and stressed. I don't know why this happened, no one had put any pressure on me, and no one had any expectations of me, after all my life long dream was to get to the Olympic Games, I was living my dream, yet I put a huge amount of pressure on myself to perform just ten minutes prior to my qualification run. I don't think I will ever understand what happened that day.

I left the starting gate, missing my start, missing my pole plant, twisting sideways and barely making it over the first "Aztec wu-tang" feature. Interestingly all the competitors had spent most of their training time just practising the first two features, we had all never skied anything like them, amazingly the Canadians flew over them with no problem every run... amazing what a year of training on them will do. I lost 1.5 seconds from the winner in the first 10metres. On a good day I will be 2.5seconds behind on a full length World Cup course of 1minute8sec in length. The course in Cypress was 1.2km and I had already lost 1.5 seconds in 10metres. If that wasn't the start to a shocker...I don't know what is. I continued on down the course after a terrible start trying to catch up time. The first few features I skied well, then about a third of the way down off the big Olympic ring jump I landed long, took an indirect line and just lost all my speed heading into the flat section of the course. I unfortunately had lost my speed and couldn't do anything about it. I didn't manage to clear the jumps along the flat (which had not happened on any ofther run!!!), I had an on coming head wind and I hit the back side of the triple and the double, and then landed dead flat on the corner jump, crawling into the two final jumps. I knew I had stuffed the run up, when I saw I was 33rd with one more competitor to go, I felt disappointment, I smiled for the camera tried to appreciate my Olympic experience. But when I saw the final time on the scoreboard, that is when I just fell into a heap. The time was really slow, slower than I could even imagine. I had never been that far out in my life... why did it have to be on the one day I have worked towards for 14 years when the whole world is watching???

I finished the event in 34th position. I was totally disappointed as I had been so competitive at the events coming into the Olympics. I think my result was a representation of what I had endured physically, mentally and emotionally in my journey to the Olympic Games but I guess I had hoped it might all finally fall into place, and instead it was quite the opposite. Everyone keeps trying to remind me I am one of only 35 women in the world who qualified for the Olympic Games for ski cross. I know I travelled a different journey to most, I know how hard I worked to get there, and then I got there and it was satisfying. But for a result that bad to come along and crush that dream which I managed to achieve, it is pretty devastating. I spent a lot of the following days in Vancouver punishing myself over it. It is easy to say snap out of it and appreciate what you have achieved...but I guess you always want more. I don't think I will ever be satisfied with my Olympic experience, I am better than that, but maybe one day I will be able to appreciate the hard journey in achieving my dream.

After days of devastation, I was pretty pleased to have achieved swapping my GB pins for an official pin from all 17 nations that competed in ladies ski cross. My collection is complete.

The closing ceremony was was a great event. I would describe it as organised chaos, but it was enjoyable. Last night we had a final athletes party in the athletes lounge in the Vancouver village. After punishing myself all week and not hitting the town at all, I decided to give it a go. I thought it wasn't going to happen after enjoying a cup of tea with Chio at mid night. We gave it one last shot and thankfully I felt a change and we danced into the early morning. I managed to swap a number of pieces of clothing that night - a Czech Republic pyjama top, Swiss furry jacket, Swedish T-shirt and a Danish Curling top (I tried my heart out to get the men's Norwegian curling pants with colourful diamonds all over them, but he refused! He said it was because he had to do media stuff upon his return... I wasn't convinced...all in all, my outfit was incomplete). Overall a good night and finally a smile on my face. I have really enoyed the company of my GB Freestyle team mates Sarah Ainsworth (aerials) and Ellie Koyander (moguls). It has been a great experience for the three of us and I look forward to reuniting at the next major freestyle event.

Team GB departs the village today. We will set off for a final team lunch on the water, before heading to Vancouver airport and flying back to Heathrow. It has been fantastic to meet so many athletes from other sports.

I have extended my trip to try and finish the remainder of the ski cross season, I just haven't had a chance to enjoy myself this season and I need to remember why I do this sport, why I love this sport and why I enjoy this sport. I can't say I feel good at the moment, but hopefully after another month of events I will. Then back to University to play catch up and hope to knock a few more subjects off the list. My next goal is to complete my University degree by the end of 2010. An Olympic Games and a degree in one year would be pretty pleasing. I am now in the process of trying to realise my next life goal. I will be in touch soon.

Update from the Olympic Ski Cross Course at Cypress

2010-02-21T21:56:00.000-08:00

Date: 21st February 2010

So I am back in Vancouver and have had two days training on the course at Cypress. For a mountain with no snow...they have done a great job! The ski cross course at Cypress is ..in a word...big!!! Out of the start you have sharp steps cut into the snow followed by two large wu-tangs, when I say large, they are 15feet! They also have steps cut out of them, making it even more difficult to clear, making the start super important! After these, the course really starts to get busy and fast! You take a big jump into the first banked turn, and then you follow a long track of big jumps, double rollers, banked corners, step ups, step downs, a triple, a corner jump and finishing with the 2nd last jump that kicks you high into the air, with a long flat section coming into the last jump built from scaffolding and wood, which is 4.5m high, throwing you half way down the landing ramp and into the finishing area. It is a long busy course, some describe it "like doing 60 squats with heavy weight".

The mens event was spectacular today! Michael Schmid from Switzerland being unbeatable, clearing out on the competition, Andreas Matt of Austria in 2nd and Audun Groenwald of Norway snapping up the bronze after Chris Delbosco, the Canadian favourite got thrown high into the air on the 2nd last jump and crashing down on his side. The whole event was just spectacular and truly intense to watch!

We have another day of training tomorrow before the ladies ski cross kicks off on the 23rd with qualification 10.30am Vancouver time and the finals starting 1pm. Training has been going really well for me so I hopeit all comes together on the 23rd. I am super excited!!!!!!!!! A few photos below with the ski cross ladies while waiting for the bus to Cypress, roasting in the sun!!! And the view of the athletes village from across the river!

Olympic Opening Ceremony...Awesome!

2010-02-14T19:36:00.000-08:00

Date: 13th February

Wow, I have just returned to Calgary after the Olympic Opening Ceremony...and it was brilliant. Team GB were the best dressed, or atleast up there, and the red beret went down really well...and it grew on me! I must say walking through the underground with the performers and volunteers cheering and giving high 5 fives made the hairs on my back stand up. Thats when it started to hit home I AM AT THE OLYMPICS!!! Walking into the stadium was overwhelming, its just surreal. Very special. I thought KD Lang was one of the highlights of the ceremony, and I thought the minute silence for the Georgian Luge athlete who so tragically died in training earlier that day, was also done very well. The feeling of being in their amongst all the athletes from all nations was really quite special. I slept in the Olympic village but didn't have a lot of time to find my way around or make myself at home. I did like that we got a little token which hangs on our accreditation and you can walk up to any Coke Vending machine, swipe it and get what you want...free! SO COOL! I then flew back to Calgary for more training. I think I will be heading back to Vancouver on the 16th Feb. Unfortunately due to legal reasons we are unable to put photos from the opening ceremony on our blogs, so I will put some from before we got on the bus as a team. Go Team GB!

Pre-Olympic Training

2010-02-11T22:50:00.000-08:00

Date: 11th Feburary 2010

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We have had a couple of great days training. Remy, Adrian, Derrek and I went up to Nakiska to get some milage in, as the run here at COP is pretty short and flat. We had perfect conditions, it was nice to get on some steep terrain again. There was no one around, other than one snowboarder who ended up nearly being taken out by yours truly, but there were no lift queues and we skied for hours. As I mentioned previously, the recovery facilities here are excellent so after a contrast bath and a spin and stretch, I woke up feeling remarkably good!!! We trained on the course at COP this morning, working on a couple of things and had a gym session this afternoon. I feel like a totally different person to when I arrrived here in Calgary, so fresh and strong again!!! Next stop...tomorrow...Olympic Village for one night for the opening ceremony! I think everything is going to become a bit more real tomorrow! Be in touch!

Team GB Function

2010-02-11T22:14:00.000-08:00

Date: 8th February

Tonight we had a Team GB function which was held at the top of the Calgary 1988 Olympic Ski Jump. Unfortunately it was a bit foggy which is apparently rare in Calgary, but looking down over the 90m ski jump was awesome! It was a great event, there was particularly good platters of mixed sushi which I must say went down very very well! Not only was it was a great chance to meet the other members of Team GB across all sports and many members of staff from the BOA who had come across for the occassion, but also a chance to bring out our formal wear, and sport a suit that didn't really fit me, but looked snazzy none the less.

British Pre-Olympic camp in Calgary, Canada

2010-02-07T22:03:00.000-08:00

Date: 6th February 2010

I am writing from the British Pre-Olympic Games camp in Calgary. I arrived here absolutely exhausted and completely run down. After a few days of rehydrating, eating, resting and doing physical maintenance I am feeling human again!! These past 6 weeks have been the hardest of my life! The facilities here are excellent! It has been a great opportunity to meet so many of the other British Olympic athletes. It is so nice to have access to a Physio, Maggie has been amazing, working on me everyday, fixing up season long problems! We also have a fantastic performance centre with hydration testing daily, spin bikes, power plates, rollers, balls, BOSE sound system, everything you could need for a good recovery as well as daily hot/cold contrast baths which work a treat!

We have access to a starting gate and about 6 features up at Calgary Olympic Park where we are training most days. We also have access to the Calgary University Gym which has fantastic facilities and everything I could need and more, to maintain my strength and power.

Remy has arrived from France and it is all starting to become a bit more real. In just a few days I will be an Olympian!!! I feel so proud to have earnt the only ski cross quota spot for Great Britain at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics! I will be, and will always be the first ever Ski Cross Olympian from Great Britain!!! I was told something pretty cool tonight, there are over 7 billion people in the world, there are 35 Ladies who are going to be Ski Cross Olympians, which makes me 1 in 200 million! What a brilliant statistic!!!!

My schedule from here on is as follows:

12th Feb: Depart Calgary camp for Vancouver Opening ceremony
13th Feb: Depart Vancouver and return back to Calgary camp for more training
17th Feb: Officially depart Calgary camp for Vancouver Olympic Village
18th Feb: Ski Cross Inspection Cypress Mountain
19th Feb: Ski Cross Official training Cypress Mountain
20th Feb: Ski Cross Official training Cypress Mountain
21st Feb: Mens Ski Cross competition
22nd Feb: Ski Cross Official training Cypress Mountain
23rd Feb: Ski Cross Qualification and Finals Cypress Mountain!!!!!!!!!

I also added a new video from Alpe D'Huez, it was good skiing! You can find it in my 'Photos and Video' section in the navigation bar. Enjoy! Ok bed time here, off to COP in the morning for more training up on the course! Be in touch soon!

OLYMPIC SELECTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-01-27T10:05:00.000-08:00

Date: 27th January 2010

I write from Brooklyn, New York where we have spent the last few days at a hostel, running around seeing the city! I woke this morning to an official letter confirming that I HAVE BEEN SELECTED TO REPRESENT GREAT BRITAIN AT THE 2010 WINTER OLYMPICS IN SKI CROSS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow! After this long journey and the chaos that has unfolded along the way, I am so stoked that the perseverance has paid off!!! I now fly to Calgary on the 29th January to the British Olympic Holding camp for all sports. The opening ceremony is on the 12th Feb and Ladies Ski Cross is on the 23rd Feb! I will be in touch soon. Please find a few personal favourites from our trip to NYC below :)

Blue Mountain World Cup, Canada - 31st

2010-01-23T19:50:00.000-08:00

Date 21st January 2010

The course in Blue Mountain was quite flat, and open, it was a gliding sort of course up the top. It ran quite well on the training day however, once qualification came along, of course we got a massive snow storm mid race. The first girls had a pretty slick icy course. After the snow storm set in, and started absolutely pelting down large flakes, We had a course hold at bib 23, Noriko got flagged and came around for another re run, she slotted in just before us. They had a course hold after bib 29 by which time 2 inches of fresh snow had come down. The race was basically over, we had no chance, we had powder on the track and bad visibility and no one managed to be competitive after that. It was a bit disappointing but managed to qualify in 30th place atleast for finals. We went out the next day to improved weather and the course was in nice condition. I had a very tough heat, Ophelie David (FRA), Marte Gjefson (NOR) - the eventual winner and Aleisha Cline (CAN). I had a decent start but from the outside it was difficult to get across, then we stood on eachothers skis around the first corner, by the time I moved myself off Aleisha's skis, I felt like everyone took off, so I did my best to follow and catch up, but it wasn't a terribly exciting heat. It was great experience and awesome to get some more training in heats. Off to Lake Placid now for the final World Cup prior to the Olympics. I'll be in touch from Placid. Adios!

Olympic Nomination!!!

2010-01-23T19:32:00.000-08:00

Date: 19th January 2010

Just a quick note of good news! Today I received confirmation from my governing body that I have been nominated to represent GB in Vancouver once the IOC quota spot becomes available on the 25th January. Now I just have to wait till the 26th to confirm GB receives a spot. Very exciting news!!! Hard work is paying off and the stress is settling!!! More from Blue Mountain soon!

Alpe D’'Huez World Cup, I made finals! 27th...and the car broke again!

2010-01-23T19:02:00.000-08:00

Date: 15th January 2010

We have just finished up the final Olympic qualification event in Alpe D'Huez France. Fortunately I skied well. It was a great course, with quite a lot of features. I skied well in training and then managed to take a great line in my qualification run finally qualifying for the finals in 27th position. The good news was, we got presented with our bibs at a big presentation in town and I managed to squeeze in a lunge whilst collecting mine!!! (see photos below!) Unfortunately, due to a huge snowfall, the course was deemed too dangerous the following day for finals and they cancelled them and fell back on the qualification result. I was soo excited to finally make the finals and have a chance to better my result, but 27th is still a top result. Stoked! This moved my position on the World Ranking List upward, making my chances of Olympic qualification more promising. We were travelling from Alpe D'Huez back to Peissey for the night, before driving the 12 hours back to the UK, when driving along the highway the back suspension fell off the Vectra and Gus thought the back wheel had fallen off. Fortunately everyone was fine, but the stress levels were elevated that's for sure! Insurance managed to fly me to the UK so I could connect onto my flight to Toronto for the next World Cup in Blue Mountain, Cannada. Only problem was that they have valued my car at too little to tow it back to the UK and said the repair was worth more than the car, so my car is still in France, with the back of the car lying on the tyres!! Just another thing to deal with at a later stage. My focus right now is the next races and ensuring my selection for the Olympics.

St Injection in Tirol/Oberndorf World Cup, Austria - 34th

2010-01-23T18:35:00.000-08:00

Date: 10th January 2010

After spending christmas and new years in Spain with Chio and her family and driving across to Portugal and being denied a passport stamp!!! We had a night in Munich at Sabine's before heading to St Johann in Tirol, and yet again, it lived up to its name St Injection. They had brought their injecting machine across from Kitzbuhel once again and injected the hill a few times. It was see through ice and the course was slightly longer than last year. The training day saw quite a few injuries. I had a decent run in qualification making one vital mistake onto the flat, losing speed but finishing in 34th position. I was disappointed as I missed out on qualifying by only 0.15sec. Anna Woerner of Germany was the last to qualify in 32nd and she went on to gain 4th in the finals. This was at least promising. There were A LOT of injuries due to the injected hill and the nature of the course, but it was a night event and had a great environment and was a great spectacle. We travelled across to France the following day to Les Contamines for the following world cup. My training went well, but I just froze up in qualification and just had a shocker. That is 5 times I have competed in Contamines and I am yet to have a decent result there. I am determined to change that next year. Looking forward to Alpe D'Huez, the last of the qualification events for Olympic Games. I will be in touch!

San Candido/Innichen World Cups, Italy and Frostbite!

2009-12-27T13:01:00.000-08:00

Date: 23rd December 2009

We have just finished the first two world cups for the season. The races were held in San Candido/Innichen in Italy, Sud Tirol, just near the Austrian border. We travelled across from Lienz Austria after a few good days of training up at Molltall Glacier. Many thanks to Jonathan and Fletcher for sponsoring me and making me a personalised race suit for the season :) Much appreciated! We arrived to freezing temperatures between -18 and -23 celcius. The trainig went quite well and it just felt good to be back in a course and on the circuit again!! I was pretty nervous! Natalie came as a representative from TASS to support me, which was very much appreciated. The first race I took a very round line, probably covering the most distance of any athlete…not fast! I qualified 41st and missed out on the finals by about 0.8. The 1st event was won by Anna Holmlund from Sweden. After watching girls and then all the men in the freezing temperatures (-23) I came inside to find that my big toes had turned black and I had frosbite. The beauty of it was,I could not feel it! I had always thought frost bite was somewhat fictional...hmm apparently it is pretty dangerous though…so I went to the doctor as advised as it swelled up and was kind of a dark grey colour. They said I couldn't race the following day in the 2nd world cup and that they needed to put a hole in my toe, I wasn't having a bar of that, so I told them I would come back for the hole after my competition was finished. So I left the hospital and planned on returning the following day.

So I was determined to take a straighter line in the 2nd World Cup. I skied better but missed qualification by 0.37 finishing in 39th. The strength of the field has really increased, everyone has been working hard and although I didn't qualify, which I was disappointed about, the result was not bad, however, I know I can do better! Anna Holmlund went on to win this event as well. So I returned to the hospital after the event, as promised, now the doctor told me she needed to put a hole in the end of my toe, so a different doctor came in and had a look, said lie back and I just assumed he was going to put the hole in it... I looked down and he had removed the end of my toe with a pair of scissors!!!!!!! Not an exaggeration! It was now red, flat, raw and it hurt! Great! The good thing about the frost bite was it was frozen, dead and I couldn't feel it, now it was really painful, red and open! So I have at least 5 days off snow, but potentially more as the end of my toe is soft and hurting, I don't think it is ready to be pushed into a ski boot! Off to Munich for the night before flying to Granada for 10 days in Spain, spending Christmas with Chio and her family and ideally doing some training up at Sierra Nevada, I will see how I go with the toe!! Merry Xmas!

Training in Austria

2009-12-15T08:22:00.000-08:00

Date: 14th December 2009

We are now near Lienz in Austria. Remy and I travelled across from France, stopping to see Marty in Liechtenstein and stopping in Innsbruck for the night. We had a meeting with the Kneissl team in Innsbruck in the morning and headed to the factory in Kufstein in the afternoon. Thanks to Dieter, Nick, Florian and Max for everything, your support is very much appreciated!

We arrived in Lienz to some difficult weather and met back up with the New Zealand team. The glacier had high winds, fog and no visitbility, we were concerned, but luckily they towed us to the start with a Groomer and we were able to atleast achieve some good start training. We freeskied in Silian the following day, testing all the new skis, and then finally did speed testing of all the skis at a little T-bar in the middle of no where! (Bloody freezing!!!!!) The good news is the Kneissl's are still the fastest!!! Yesterday we had a great day up at Molltaller Glacier with perfect weather. It was great to get into a course again, some good features and get some feeling back. It was a great day! We are hoping to get a couple of good days training up there before heading to San Candido/Innichen, Italy on Friday, fingers crossed the weather holds up. I will attach a few photos below, including some from recovery sessions in the river nearby! I guess next update will be from the first World Cup, getting pretty excited now, it has come around fast!

Started training in France!

2009-12-01T08:12:00.000-08:00

Date: 1st December 2009

I have been fortunate enough to receive a TASS 2012 scholarship from TASS (Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme) which has allowed me to change the way I have been doing things and really focus on this season. Training until now has been going very well off snow, working under the guidance of strength and conditioning coach Michael Chiovitti. We have seen great strength and power gains and am hoping to really see a difference on snow.

I spent a couple of days in LA catching up with the Bennett family which is always a hoot! Then onward to Heathrow and down to Fareham to catch up with relatives and meet up with the representatives from TASS before driving across the channel to France. After a long drive I finally arrived at destination... Peissey-Nacroix, France. I brought the snow with me, that's for sure! It hasn't stopped! After a day of rest, we hit the slopes today at Tignes and it was great to get back on my skis. Loads of fresh snow and I felt strong on my feet. It looks like the first events in Grasgehren, Germany have been cancelled so I guess the first event will be the world cups in San Candido Italy on the 21st and 22nd December. So far so good! Be in touch soon!

Back in New Zealand Training - Winter Games cancelled

2009-09-07T00:07:00.000-07:00

Date: 6th September 2009

After success in Mt Hotham at the ANC Continental Cup SX events, I was back on a flight to New Zealand in time for the Winter Games SX event. The field was strong with the Canadian, Japanese, Australian, Spanish, Romanian, Ukraine, Swiss, New Zealand and of course British world cup athletes present. Unfortnately I brought the weather with me across the sea and the conditions were terrible. Snow/rain/sleet/wind/more wind/some more wind/no visibility/fog....all in all not terribly safe. On the training day the course was icy from the snow being blown off the top an the berms were full of fresh snow. There was no fencing as it blew away, and one of the top Swedish SX guys broke his leg with the varying snow conditions. Hoping it might clear up, we went out on the event day to very difficult conditions. We inspected the course but the light was so flat, and it was so difficult to see that it was postponed. The event was off and on about 5 times during the day, and after another inspection at close to 2.30pm, finally the event was cancelled. They tried to get the event off on the Friday but cancelled it at 7.10am as the conditions were the same. It was unfortunate that the event did not go ahead but the events team did everything in their power to get it off the ground, but the weather just made it impossible.

Although the bad weather stuck around for a couple more days, we had a great time none the less. Queenstown is never short of something to do. Once the weather cleared up, there was fresh snow everywhere, we got in great freeskiing, excellent training and was even asked to do a photoshoot for NZ Ski. After the mountains had been shut, we were up at Remarkables at lift opening time and straight up to fresh powder, chutes, drops and open runs. It was great, look forward to seeing the photos! We managed to get in a couple of good days on the course at Cardrona and also on the jumps in the park. Great company, great snow, awesome conditions, overall a top trip! Now it is back to Melbourne and back in the gym for me. I have successfully met the IOC criteria for the Olympics so now I just need to train hard, get over to Europe, ski fast and earn me a spot in Cypress!!!

2 x 2nd Place results ANC Ski Cross events @ Mt Hotham

2009-08-24T17:44:00.000-07:00

Date: 25th August 2009

We just had two SX Australia New Zealand Cup events at Mt Hotham, Australia. I feel like all the training is paying off and I am really pleased about the results. We had very difficult conditions to work with, rain came and washed away a lot of the course and the snow. The events department at Mt Hotham did an amazing job to get the events off. We had rain, gale force winds, bad visibility and wet snow, but they did everything in their power to make it happen.

We had quite strong fields with Magdalena Iljans (Swedish, world cup winner, 2nd at X Games 2009) as well as a Swiss young gun Fanny Smith, Noriko Fukushima (Japan,world cup winner) and the Australian national team, Japanese national team, Kazakhstan and other aspiring Ski Cross athletes. I skied well in qualification and my starts were quick in the finals. I won my first heat and was very pleased with myself. I went into the Semi final with Magdalena, Noriko (both world cup winners) and Reina Umahara (A top level GS japanese skier)..as I mentioned my starts were quick, I was right on it, and I just flew out of the start, out into the front position and held it the whole way down...I was gob smacked, did not believe what i had just done and I had moved into the grand final. The weather came in so badly that they were unable to run the grand finals and the small finals that day, and they postponed those two remainig final heats to the following day. I was a bit gutted as something was so right on Saturday, I was so switched on!!!! We went out Sunday morning to almost equally difficult conditions, they finally ran the finals and I intially got out into 3rd position which I was not happy with, but then I did a great overtake over the Swiss girl over a jump and moved into 2nd position behind Magdalena. I finished with 2nd place behind a world cup winner whom I had beaten the day before in the semi. I think this was the most satisfying result to date.

They decided to try and get the 2nd event off, so we all did our qualification run for the second event. I qualified 2nd and they were unable to run the finals due to the weather, you couldn't see 2 metres in front of you! So the qualification results stood and I finished with another 2nd place. STOKED!!!!! I have now more than met the criteria for the Olympics so now I just have to focus on top 30 results at the World Cups next season and do my best to get there. The whole weekend was really encouraging, and I now feel that when I continue working as hard as I have been, that I can give this northern winter a really good shot!

I am now in New Zealand again, pretty tired, having a rest day preparing for the final ANC SX event at the Winter Games at Cardrona which will be held on Thursday 27th August. I am looking like a contender for the overall ANC cup now, I will be in touch to let you know how I get on. Please find below a photo from the second presentation. 1st. Fanny Smith SUI, 2nd Sarah Sauvey GBR, 3rd Noriko Fukushima JPN.

Pappas and Co. Alterations

2009-08-13T19:32:00.000-07:00

Date: 14th August 2010

I returned from New Zealand to Melbourne on Tuesday 11th August after a few more days of good skiing, good company and great conditions. Even managed to squeeze in an appearance in the Queenstown newspaper, that photo with the guy mooning everyone in Horni Misecky whilst I stood up there on the podium none the wiser... never grows old!!! Thanks for the write up Mitchey! I will be sure to pack the "Vist Specials" aka 'flawless red 80s disco pants' upon my return! Watch out Lavabar!

With one hundred things to sort out before heading up to Hotham for a week of training before the Continental Cup events, team Pappas gathered and set themselves up for a night of unpicking, sewing, windstopper, lycra, and permanent markers! With the new ski cross rules and measurements for the 2009/2010 season released, team Pappas ensured everything met the requirements. Many Thanks to Meils, Ed and Andy for their hard work, much appreciated!!!

Training in New Zealand

2009-08-07T19:59:00.001-07:00

8th August 2009

I arrived in Queenstown on the 25th of July to absolutely awesome conditions. Staying with Mitchey the NZ Ski Cross girl in Queestown with her family, we have had access to some excellent training conditions up at CoronetPeak and Cardrona. We have done loads of freeskiing, off piste, jumps and start training with an awesome gate that Mitchey engineered and made wtih the help of her dad. New Zealand has some of the most spectacular views as you will see in the photos below. I head to Australia next for some training at Mt Hotham before the 2 SX Continental Cup events before heading back to NZ for the Winter Games on the 27th August. Training off snow ispaying off, have been noticing differences and I am thoroughlly enjoying time here. Will be in touch soon!

Czech National Champs - 1st Place Horni Misecky, Czech Republic

2009-06-17T01:02:00.000-07:00

5th April 2009

After placing 2nd in the last Europa Cup, I went out the following day wanting to win! I felt good and I had a great qualification run, clearing out on 2nd place by nearly 2 seconds. I had the best starting gate in every heat and was confident. The conditions were excellent, although quite warm, the course held up well and the weather was perfect. I won each of my heats comfortably and went on to win the final, clearing out on the rest of the field. 1st place in the Czech National Championships! It was a great feeling to finish the season on such a high note! After the event, Craig, Greg and I drove down to Prague to show them the flashing dance-floor at the Karlovy Lazne, that I have talked so much about! It was a great trip all round!

Europa Cup - 2nd place Horni Misecky , Czech Republic

2009-06-17T00:39:00.000-07:00

3rd April 2009

Sorry for the lack of updates, I broke my computer! My knee took some time to heal after my crash in Japan. After taking a large amount of pain killers and anti inflammatories I made myself compete in the World Cup events in Switzerland at Grindelwald and Meiringen. I was hesitant due to my knee and in pain, and my results reflected this.

I had a few days rest and I decided to drive from France to Czech Republic for the final races of the season. A short 16 hour drive and I arrived in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech, even got there without a map of Czech! The course was good, but the conditions were warm, my knee still didn't feel 100% but I was happy to give it my best shot and keen to try and end the season on a good note.

In the qualification run for the Europa Cup, I fell inside hitting my hip on the ground off one of the jumps, thus I had a slow qualifying time which left me with the outside gate. This was a huge disadvantage given the first turn was on the left and I was on the far right. I had a good start in the final but could only get across into 3rd place. I had really wanted to win this event, so I sat in close behind Helena Gallland from France, and slip streamed her into the final jump, then pulled out and overtook her over the jump and into the finishing area. I was stoked, and very excited. Mainly because my tactic had worked! So I finished 2nd in the final Europa Cup for the season. A good result none the less coming back from my knee injury! :)

World Championships - Inawashiro, Japan - injured!

2009-06-15T01:24:00.001-07:00

February 28th 2009

After flying from Oslo to Geneva and sleeping in my car in P51 parking area at the airport,,,it was really really really cold and I didn't sleep well, once I heard the first plane flly over head, I returned to the terminal at Geneva airport to warm up before departing to Tokyo. I was greeted at Tokyo airport by a number of Japanese volunteers who were very friendly and helpful. I caught the bus to Inawashiro which was about 5 hours away and headed to bed after arranging my accreditation. I slept well, but was incredibly jet lagged.

We were in the 2nd training group so i woke up, at some breakfast and was so tired I went back to bed. I rolled out and went to training not feeling terribly switched on. My inspection wasn't great and my attention span was less that ideal. The conditions were warm and wet, the jumps were large and the course was fast. On my first training run, I did not realise the kick on one of the largest jumps into the steep section and I flew, i sat backseat and came down hard. It hurt but it wasn't too bad. I managed to get back up to give it another shot. I tried as hard as I could to stay forward and yet again off the same jump I entered the jump full speed, sat back and absolutely launched, landing about 50m later, smashing my knee up along the way. My initial reaction was "I have really hurt my knee" but followed closely by "I have to go up there and do that jump again cos if I don't do it today, I won't do it tomorrow" to which a doctor who had arrived to assist me responded "you won't be doing that jump tomorrow". I sat in the snow hoping the pain would subside, hesitant to let medical staff look at my knee and assist me. I didn't want to face it. I continued putting their help off, until about 30 minutes later when i was still unable to move and my knee was swelling more and more by the second. I finally let the doctor look, and the on hill diagnosis was "We think you have broken your patella and proximal tibia and going by the swelling here we think you may have torn your medial ligament as well" not what I wanted to hear.

I was taken to a hospital about half an hour away for x-ray and MRI. To every ones amazement I had escaped with bad bone bruising through my patella, tibia and femur but had escaped relatively unharmed compared to what I was expecting. I was out of the World Championships though, and that hurt. I watched the competition from the sidelines. At least another 4 girls were seriously injured off the same jump. I spent the week on crutches and am hoping to be able to compete again this season. I will have to judge the pain as I go along. Next it is back to Meribel for a rest and hope to recover in time for the Swiss World Cup series in Grindelwald and Meiringen. I will let you know how the knee comes along!

Branaes World Cup - Sweden - 29th!

2009-06-15T01:21:00.000-07:00

February 23rd 2009

The course in Branaes was good. Perfect conditions, rollers out of the start, a tight top section which opened out into almost a downhill set finishing with a series of large jumps and double rollers into the finish. After a few runs of training I posted a reasonable qualification run. I had placed 29th and unfortunately due to television, the organisers only took 16 ladies for the finals which was disappointing. A video from training has been uploaded to my website under the media gallery section. So although I enjoyed my time in Sweden and the course was good, it seemed to all be over quite quickly and we prepared to travel to Japan, Inawashiro for the 2009 World Championships.

Voss/Myrkdalen World Cup - Norway - 30th!

2009-06-15T01:16:00.000-07:00

February 18th 2009

It continued to snow in Myrkdalen, by this stage there was about a metre of fresh snow! The training day was cancelled as there was far too much snow on course from a safety perspective. There was a pretty nice opening ceremony held in the centre of Voss, where we all got to walk across the stage and collect a goodie bag from Kari Traa! We were stoked with the goodies in the bag! The following day we went out for training, they changed the course slightly for the FIS event, making some jumps bigger. It was extremely difficult conditions, the course was soft, it was chopped up and bumpy, there were holes in the course, a lot of competitors were losing their skis from the holes in the course. There were a number of concussions and plenty of crashes! Qualification went quite well, I was in 30th position and gained a spot in the finals. I had a good heat and knew that I had a chance if I really gave it a go. I was pumped and willing to give it everything….that I did! I had a great start and got over the first jump and moved into 2nd place behind Meryl Boulangeat, in an attempt to try and hold my position I skied a tight line (which I had not skied before) and I realised why…the rollers were far more savage on the inside line and they just threw me about, I was a bit out of control and then crashed hard - straight on my head!!! It hurt! I was GUTTED! But everybody said it was a great start and I really went for it and in the words of Heikki “You showed great courage”. Only 1 heat of of the 8 ladies heats finished with 4 competitors on their feet! It was tough and rough! I think this was the highlight of the season so far, I know I can be in the mix if I can just stay on my feet! Well…that headache hung around for the next 5 days! Potentially a mild concussion but didn’t want to face it. We loaded up Andra’s car and Mitchey, Andra, Sophie and I car pooled all the way to Branaes, Sweden and arrived about 9 hours later. Next update from Branaes!

Voss/Myrkdalen FIS Ski Cross, Norway - 7th

2009-06-15T01:13:00.000-07:00

February 15th 2009

After a short stop back in France, I washed my clothes and packed them back up and left for Norway. After flying into Bergen, I took the airport bus into town, and with the assistance of a shopping trolley (best 1 euro I have spent) I loaded it up and made my way to Bergen Train Station! Classy! I took the train to Voss and was greeted by the organiser of the event who conveniently offered to take me to Myrkdalen as the public transport stopped in Voss! I arrived at a Christian Hostel and was pleased to go to sleep! Craig my team mate arrived the following day and seen as it was the last accommodation in town, we shared a tiny room with a put up bed instead of a desk. It had started snowing and didn’t seem like it was going to stop! We were unsure whether they would be able to pull off the FIS event due to the huge amounts of snow that had fallen. The organisers were VERY keen to get an event off and we went out for training. It was soft, it was bumpy, bad visibility and there were lots of rollers at the start of the course which were pretty intense. It continued snowing and one line had been slipped in the course. We all did a qualification run and everyone was sure that they would not run finals given that there was so much snow next to the course and with 4 people, it would just seem dangerous. But no, they ran the finals, some competitors refused to start it was really difficult conditions. I managed to crash twice in my first heat, once at the top of the course in the compression, then my ski came off into the corner jump. It was a crazy event, but I finished in 7th position which was quite good, there was not really a lot to report from the event.

Cypress World Cup - Olympic Test Event - 26th place

2009-06-15T01:10:00.000-07:00

February 9th 2009

Well what a week! One of the more difficult weeks I have endured! It started with a foot of snow in London, therefore Heathrow shut down and all flights into or out of London were cancelled for the whole day. So out came the insurance policy and off I set to find the cheapest flight via anywhere other than London I could. There were massive queues everywhere but I managed to buy a KLM flight online, which happened to be the same one as Em. I am not sure whether it was just being run down or all the sprawling across the floor at Geneva airport trying to book flights online, read insurance policies, while moving up in the queue or what but I had a bad head cold that made my head feel like it was going to burst on the aeroplane and my ears as if they were at completely different levels.
We arrived in Vancouver and were put up at a very nice hotel in downtown Vancouver! After a pretty rough sleep, and some serious jet lag, We went out the following day for training. The conditions were very warm, about plus 5 and sunny. The course was a bit different to normal. A lot of features about 14 jumps, berms and a lot to think about. Some of the jumps were pretty big and due to the slow snow it was difficult to gain enough speed to make the landings. We had a second day of training and went out for qualifications the following day.
Qualification went quite well, there was one corner table jump at the bottom that I just couldn’t clear, but other than that it was alright. I skied into 27th position and had qualified for the finals. I went to pick my race skis up at the bottom and couldn’t believe what I saw…a huge chunk out of my base, right down to the core about 6 cm long! I had obviously hit a big rock in the course or at least landed on it. I was pretty annoyed about it, and after seeking some help from a few technicians I was off to get it fixed asap, as I only had 2 pairs of skis and the training pair was in pretty bad condition from general use! When I got back to the hotel, Coni one of the Swiss guys offered to help fix it and he glued it up and did a great job of it! I went out for finals the following day. The finals started at 1pm so the course had had the sun on it for hours. It was really wet and slow and the landings didn’t hold up very well, there were troughs in most of them. Em was in the first heat and I was in the third heat. After Em’s heat had left I heard over the radio at the top, “racer down, 2nd last jump, we’re going to need a blood wagon.” I had a bad feeling it was Em and shortly after I was notified that it was. She had injured her knee and she passed a message up via medical staff to tell me that she was OK, worried that I may not start my heat but rather get down to help her. I guess it is times like these when you really wish you had some support staff. I can’t say I felt 100% confident, Em had just been taken off in a blood wagon and I knew the landings were a bit sketchy. I guess I didn’t give it everything, I had a good start but over the first wu-tangs I just fell into 4th place and sat there. I finished in 26th position. At the bottom I ran off to get all of Em’s stuff together and got over to the medical centre asap. I spent the next hours/days helping Em get everything together, comforting her, arranging MRI and talking with her insurance, getting her to the doctor and Airport. She has done a pretty good job of it and it looks like she will be out for the rest of the season after having surgery. Get well soon Em, I miss you already! It was all quite a draining experience and a long week. I was very happy to arrive back in France for a much needed rest. I am off to Norway next and on to Sweden and Japan after that. I will be in touch!

World Cup at Lake Placid - The Coldest Place on Earth!

2009-06-15T01:03:00.000-07:00

24th January 2009

We left Flaine, and departed for Lake Placid, USA. Em and I met up in Newark, New Jersey airport. It had been a long few days and upon arrival into New York Albany airport, my luggage as per usual, did not arrive. This time I was not alone, most teams were without luggage but by the time we arranged for my luggage to be sent on and got the keys to the hire car, it was already getting on to 8pm. We got to the hire car, which they had told us was in parking slot 24, we made the comment “wow that’s pretty big for a small car, I would call that intermediate at least!!” and we put all our bags in the car and tried to put the back seats down to get the skis in when Em said “Mate, I can’t open the boot.” So I said well try the ignition to check we have the right car….”Mate they don’t work in there either”…we had managed to load up someone else's car with all our stuff! After laughing quite hard we got all our stuff out and I started walking around the car park pressing the unlock/lock button repetitively. Luckily we found our car about 200m away. We managed to get a Chrysler Cruiser which we thought was terrific, total style! We set off in the wrong direction for Lake Placid, 15 minutes hadn’t gone by before we had to stop and ask directions! We ended up stopping for a pizza along the way in a ghost town. We were pretty tired by this point, after all the travel, I was seeing double, Em was dozing off and we still hadn’t reached Lake Placid. So after a dangerous drive, we finally arrived at the Olympic Training centre, when we got out of the car…oh my god….I understood at an instant why this place was called the coldest place on earth…it really was! It was somewhere down around –40 mark, it hurt to breath, you just coughed! We ran inside and were told “You aren’t staying here and the accommodation lady has left for the evening”. No one was able to tell us where our hotel was, we were so tired and it was so cold, we just wanted to go to bed. No luggage, freezing cold and no accommodation….this was getting better by the second! Luckily one of the ladies felt pity upon us and luckily there had been a recent flood in the training centre, thus a section of rooms had been damaged, had no carpet and water damage, so she said she could set us up in one of those rooms for the night and we could sort it out in the morning when the lady arrived at 8am. Thankfully we grabbed the room key and got straight into bed! We were in the first training group in the morning and we were absolutely shattered!!

We slept very well, we woke up and arranged where our accommodation was. My bags had arrived over night which was perfect and we travelled across town ate breakfast and got ready to go up for training. The event was being held at Whiteface mountain. We got up there for training and it was savage, the snow machines were blowing in your face it was –35, it was painful, everyone had every bit of their skin covered, I didn’t think my body was going to function! We couldn’t believe there were people skiing out of choice…as Em told one of them “this isn’t pleasurable, this is punishment, we have to be out here, now get inside and get yourself a hot chocolate!” A lot of teams still had no luggage so the training group was small. The course was quite flat, open and had a section with about 4 doubles in a row and quite a big step up jump. The first jump was quite difficult, you either had to suck it with no speed or jump for your life at full speed and still not make it. We took a run and went inside to warm up, took another run, went inside to warm up, our boot liners had a thin layer of ice all around them, the boot shells were rock solid, it was absolutely freezing out there!

It warmed up to about –20 the following day, we realised that this cold snap was not normal when locals said it was the coldest snap they had had in years. I was glad to hear it, and –20 seemed totally acceptable after the first day!! We had another training day, I managed to double eject off the first jump and went off the second jump on my stomach like a penguin. You know when you are winded yet you can still hear people cringing from the chairlift… this crash hurt my shins quite a lot but I was not alone as a few people did exactly the same thing! We had qualification the following day. Because the course was so open, every mistake made a huge difference in time, I was slow in qualification and quite disappointed but they took 32 girls for finals so I was in 29th and ready for my first heat of finals for the season.

Finals took place the following day, I had a difficult heat, but pulled out with quite a good start, I was in 3rd and then didn’t give 100% into the first turn and came out in 4th. It was good to get into the heats again and it made the trip very worthwhile. Final placing was 28th. The following day, we stacked the Cruiser full and also gave Chloe a lift to the airport, 3 people, 3 big bags, 7 sets of skis, and a number of small bags, it was a tight squeeze but we did it! Amazing what you can fit into a small car! Em and I travelled back to Europe before heading to Canada in February.

Update from Les Contamines World Cup

2009-06-15T00:58:00.000-07:00

Date: 10th January 2009

We are now in Les Contamines, France for our second world cup of the season. The course was excellent, fast smooth and lots of flowing features! We managed to get in some great training and things were feeling really good, even grabbed a few compliments from other nations coaches which was very encouraging. It was the sort of course that one minor mistake and you lost a lot. After being so pleased with my skiing in training, I don't know whether I stiffened up from nerves or what, but for a double feature that I managed to ski really comfortably on the 8 training tuns, I managed to open right up into a T jump over...not fast! Thus losing speed onto the flat. Mainly disappointed that I could have been right in there on a good run, I ended up in 38th place, it wasn't too bad considering but I am looking forward to Flaine, event though my tib and fib are hurting already! I have taken many positives from this event and will write again after the 3rd World Cup in Flaine!

First World Cup for the 08/09 Season!

2009-06-15T00:49:00.000-07:00

Date: 6th January 2009

Happy new year! We managed to train with the German National team at their national training centre for 2 days just prior to the New Year, which was invaluable! I also managed to get my new skis tuned and prepared by the World Cup Technician Martin Lampert from Liechtenstein, he did a great job and I am very appreciative!! We travelled back to France for the new year and then back across to St Johann/Obernsdorf in Tirol, Austria for the first world cup! They put on a real show! The ladies field doubled and we had 50 ladies starting. However, they did bring the injecting machine across from Kitzbuhel and inject the slope a few times. On training day it was rock solid, there was some fairly large jumps with really hard landings and it was fairly hard to hold an edge, but everyone was in the same boat. That night we were greeted with a competition dinner and Tyrolian dancers slap slap slapping their thighs, kicking, toe taping, bum slapping and so forth! Brilliant! The following day we went out for training and everyone was fighting for a run, everyone was given one run in the end. I thought the snow looked a little more see through in inspection and it turns out they injected it again over night…not that it was necessary!!! Well…everyone described that training run as ‘bambi on ice’ and it is an accurate description! Skis just doing their own thing It was so icy that I tried to take some direction into the final 3metre jump and the skis just slid out, I went off it inside, back and just went splat on the “concrete” landing. Hurt a bit, I must say it shook me up a little, I lost some confidence and only came away with a scratched and bruised wrist! The qualification run, didn’t feel so good, but I don’t think it was a course where you could feel good! I ended up 36th but know there is room to improve. Did manage to enjoy a good night of Tyrolian dance interpretation in the town centre followed by some karaoke practise. The finals were the following night and were excellent, the organisers did an excellent job and it was a real spectacle. There were some fairly large collisions. Marion Josserand from France won the ladies after leading Ophelie’s ski pre released in the final half way down and the men’s was won my Michael Schmid of Switzerland. We set back off to France (being pulled over by the police along the way for not having a vignette on our car and being charged 120euros for it or threatened to take our car away and pay 3000euro to get it back…he was very stern….but we talked our way out of it…of course!!) Oh and on a positive note…the car is back running on 4 cylinders and purring like a kitten!! We are now preparing for the next World Cup in Les Contamines France.

It makes it all worth it!

2009-06-15T00:46:00.000-07:00

Date: 13th December 2008

Just a quick note: Today...Blue skies, good company -7 degrees and fresh powder...it's days like these that remind you why it's all worth it!

My 3 Cylinder Car! WORTH A READ!

2009-06-15T00:37:00.000-07:00

Date: 11th December 2008

As per usual I have a story to tell, I know there are those few of you who enjoy this thread for that reason. Never short of a story!

The ski lifts open on the weekend , so I had a few days to settle in and do some dry land training. I was ready for a relax. After a couple of days I was a little concerned about my car. So I drove down to the nearest garage who said it needed a new coil. They said they were unable to do it but booked me into the Opel dealer in Albertville for the following Monday. I arrived at the Opel garage at 8am sharp in hope to get back for a ski in the afternoon. How wrong I was. When I took my car to Opel, expecting a new coil to take about 1 hour and a bill of about 100 euros....after ten minutes the mechanic walked out and said "BIG PROBLEM"...thats when I asked I don't care what just tell me how much?? ....2000 euros....thats when the tears began. No one quite knew what to do about me bawling amongst a large variety of new cars in the middle of their show room.

So I finally asked whether another garage that was cheaper could do the repair. After a lot of trying to translate with my dictionary, and some phonecalls, I was off to another garage, they didn't want to give me the keys he said "you can't drive this it go BOOM!" so he reluctantly gave me my keys after I said "well buddy its not staying here at 2000 euros!" (thats twice the cost of the car) and i set off to find the cheaper garage. After 2 hours on google translator with the mechanic, we established it was the cylinder. Thats right I had been driving my 4 cylinder car around on just 3 cylinders. I established it was worth repairing rather than buying a new car, as everything else was good on the car, and it would cost about 800 euros, mainly labour cost as its a huge job and will take 2 weeks. So I call my insurance company to see what the situation is, turns out with roadside cover I get a free hire car for the duration of the repair and any taxis etc that I need. So they tried to be very helpful which was nice. They arranged a car and said you can't pick it up until 2pm, it was about 11.30am, so the mechanic man who spoke no english (hence the google translator tool) dropped me at the car hire place and i walked around killing time. Then at 2pm I go to pick my car up, its got summer tyres, manual and no chains. I said umm the insurance company told me, winter tyres and automatic. "No we have no car with winter tyres"...brilliant this is in the middle of Albertville which is surrounded by mountains..they treated me like I was being outrageous for asking. So unfortunately the insurance company was unable to locate a car with winter tyres and it was nearing 4pm, so they rang me to tell me everything is closing so we'll taxi you home and we will taxi you to go skiing tomorrow while we sort this out. So I returned home and went skiing with my taxi return. The insurance company called me and said ok we haven't a car with winter tyres, but we have an automatic (which is better than nothing as its what I am used to), it is in Lyon. So I said right well I won't get up my road in it (i really wont its not cleared and I was expecting it to snow) so I said can you arrange some snow chains. So after being made to feel like I had asked for a luxurious vehicle with a dvd player and GPS navigation system built in (i had merely asked for some chains in a mountainous country) they called back and said you can pick the car up in Lyon tonight, you can catch a train there etc, you'll get there about 9.30pm they have some chains for you and you are lucky my supervisor said we would cover the cost.

So off I go, get to Lyon, which in itself was a story but I shan't go there, get the car, start to make my way back to Meribel and of course in comes the huge snow fall they were expecting (and was still going 2 days later) after being on the highway for maybe 40km. And I am talking HEAVY SNOW FALLS! So I took my summer tyres rental car, fish tailed my way down the highway at 38km/hour (actually overtook a truck at that speed ...ridiculous), I did fly out of a tunnel at 110km into a white out and 20cm of fresh snow on the road, absolutely shat my pants, thought that was the end, horrible didnt know where I was going, if there were cars, whether to break or not, it was bad, thats when the speed went right down to 38km/hour. So I reached Moutiers (bottom of the mountain) at 2am. Couldn't actually go any further as the highway was so dangerous with no turns, let alone a mountain with about 25cm fresh chopped up snow everywhere, no road clearers in sight. So I went to put the chains on, so glad at this point that I had got them...wrong size aren't they... way too small. Fighting with the car hire company at 2am you can imagine...so they say we'll send someone and if they can get the chains on you have to pay 100 euro atleast and if they are too small we will deal with it (i was reasonably confident i am not that bad with chains and the box didn't have my tyre size on it), so they send someone at 3am...meanwhile hanging out at the closed Elf service station...so the man turns up at 3am says "it is too small...in french"...then wait for it....tows my car away...leaves me in the snow...pelting down snow, battery on my phone is beeping low, i am on the phone saying please i am freezing (no jacket just a polar fleece!) they have towed my car away now what?? please can you get me home. So I wait till 4am when they finally can arrange a taxi and I get home at about 4.20am. Not happy at this point.

So I woke up feeling exhausted and mentally drained, then wait for it, car hire company called me and asked me "why did they tow the car away, there was nothing wrong with it"...like I was pleased about it, cos i just love sitting in probably -5 being snowed on for over an hour at 4am....with no jacket...great! Then said....you are lucky that this is being covered and that you did not have to pay for the towing and garage....I said "lucky...are you taking the piss??" this guy could not find a file on everything that had happened, apparently my file didn't exist. Then they refused to pay for me to have some chains that fitted. So they taxi me to get my car from the garage and tell me we won't pay 120 euro for the chains from the garage so you must go to the supermarket and buy some cheaper ones. So I drive with no chains in the snow , with my summer tyres, to the supermarket and get the cheaper ones as instructed, so they will reimburse me. Well of course they are of lower quality so naturally they have broken and the chains are flinging around hitting the inside of car...which just makes me look like I don't know how to put chains on, you should hear it! So now I have this car until they can fix mine, and they aren't looking into it until Monday 15th because they are too busy before then...anyway just standard Sauvey shambles! Oh you can't actually access anything from where I am staying without a vehicle no buses or anything and about 20+ minute walk to a bus. Anyway, thought you may have a giggle, atleast I can kind of laugh now. On a positive there have been no fires and no ambulances. So i'll take it as a positive.

Am off to Grasgehren, Germany for a Europa Cup on Thursday, (in my summer tyres and broken chains...for the first time ever I am really hoping it doesn't snow because I really don't want to deal with it). Although I haven't skied that much or done much training, it will be good to have 2 days of training on the SX course. I will write again after that! Good Times!!!

The first update for the 2008/2009 season!

2009-06-15T00:36:00.001-07:00

Date: 5th December 2008

I left Australia on the 19th November. Stopped off in Reno/Tahoe, USA, to visit the Bennetts after flying to and from San Fransisco and LAX a number of times to rack up the remaining airpoints I needed to move up a loyalty class, (cheaper than paying excess baggage), but failed to think about how tired it would make me. I had a few nice days in Tahoe though, relaxing and hiking with the family, it is always so nice to see them!

Onward to London... (via San Fransisco and LAX of course...) so totalling 9 flights from Australia to London...I arrived and made my way down south to Fareham where my dad's cousin Pauline resides. I stayed here for 3 days with Pauline , Mike and Ashley who were all extremely helpful and accommodating! I was absolutely knacked by the time I had arrived and well jet lagged! I picked up my car...1998 Vauxhall Vectra, what I thought was to be a total gem and bargain! I left early on the 26th to make my way across to near Meribel, France. A good 10 hour drive plus a ferry. Well I put the location in France into the GPW and off I set, finding myself at Portsmouth dock before realising the GPS was taking me across the sea to Spain...obviously a quicker route but not the one I had the ticket for. Brilliant! So by the time I reached Dover, I missed my ferry. No worries, I sat around and got on the next one, and hit the road in France. One wrong turn a few hours later and I found myself lost in Paris...just what you need...Paris peak hour traffic. An hour in and an hour out, it was now getting on to dinner time. I stopped somewhere between Paris and Lyon at an Autogrill and decided to have a quick feed. I still had another 5 hours to drive. When I walked out I realised just how tired I was feeling, and decided to pull up with the trucks outside the autogrill and have a sleep. So into the back I hopped on top of everything I own and crashed for the night. 10 hours later (I really was tired) I woke up with ice on the inside and outside of my car, -4 degrees, the beauty of being at the Autogrill was I nipped in, had a croissant and coffee and straight back onto the highway. Handy!

By the time I reached Lyon, the car started sounding like a tractor. When I stopped to take a ticket at the telepeage (pay point) I thought my car was going to conk out. Anyway I arrived at my apartment and unpacked the car. I started to settle into my apartment and set off the following day, chugged along back to Lyon as I had to go and pick up all my equipment from the Kneissl factory in Kustein, Austria. So I flew to Munich caught the train down, spent a night in Innsbruck with friends then caught the train back to Munich airport via the Kneissl factory. I then drove back to Meribel in my car that sounded like it was about to blow up, arriving around 2am. I will get my car looked at sometime this week. It is nice to have arrived and started settling in for the season! Looking forward to skiing!

What was meant to be my week on snow! Continental Cup SX - Hotham

2009-06-15T00:34:00.000-07:00

Date: 1st September 2008

I had been looking forward to my week skiing for the last few months. Working hard at both my jobs, back at uni part time and training hard off snow, I was ready to get back on skis! I had a weekend cruising around at Hotham and managed to fall violently ill with influenza on the Monday, and it took me down BADLY! After being put on a drip on the Tuesday, food would not stay down and I spent the remainder of the week either in bed, the toilet or on the couch watching Olympic repeats. After not being able to keep food down for 5 days I,for some crazy reason, decided I would start the ski cross continental cup race on the Saturday. For those of you who are regular readers or know me well will know by now, sometimes you just can't stop me! Without the strength to tune my skis, team mates Craig Robinson and Gregg Samuels tuned, waxed, prepped and scraped my skis for me so I was ready to go in the morning, a huge thank you to them as I would not have been able to do this by myself in the state I was in.

So I left the apartment for the first time all week and found myself in the start area for the SX. I felt weak and sick, I rag dolled my way down the course and ended up in the finals in the outside gate (I was actually happy to get that far). I had a bit of luck and found myself in the big final. With little to no energy left after 7 runs down the course, feeling exhausted and sick, I fell straight into 4th place and made it to the bottom. I wish there was more to tell you, but it was fairly uneventful and I was just pleased to cross the line in that state! Actually a great result, potentially a stupid action even starting the event, but everything worked out well and I rushed off back to bed. I managed to keep some food in later that night for the first time in 6 days. The race was won by Aleisha Cline from Canada.
I left Mt Hotham on the Sunday and returned back to Melbourne where I spent the next 7 days just renourishing my body. The illness has put me out of training for nearly 2 and a half weeks and I am just getting back into it now. Gutted that my week at Hotham was spent sick as a dog, but am looking ahead now to the Northern season and will continue to work hard off snow.

First ski for the 2008 Southern season!

2009-06-15T00:19:00.001-07:00

Date: 25th July 2008

Have just returned to Melbourne after the first ski for the season. A last minute rush up to Hotham for some photographs with Tony Harrington, Hotham proved to be fantastic and I enjoyed some of the best days of skiing I have had in Australia! The weather was prefect, the conditions great, good snow, it doesn't get much better! The 6.30am starts showed some of the nicest sunrises I have ever seen. After successfully testing the Kneissl GS skis, all looks good and I can't wait to get back up there in a few weeks time for more! ...Even managed to squizzle my way on to the '08 Hotham Season passes!!! Please find a couple of photos taken below. Thanks to Harro for the photos!

World Cup Finals, Valmalenco

2009-06-15T00:18:00.001-07:00

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!

Update from Switzerland World Cups

2009-06-15T00:17:00.000-07:00

Date: 10th March 2008

After the Spain incident, I took 6 days off and went to Prague to sight see and meet up with a friend. Good news was that once the swelling went down I could close my jaw and eat meat again! The jaw was not broken!! Prague was really nice and I would recommend it to anyone, I managed to come across the most amazing flashing dancefloor there as well, if ever in Prague and in need of a good night out with retro music and as I said an amazing dancefloor...just drop me an email and I will send you the bearings! Good times! I spent most of the time recovering and enjoying time off snow.
At the end of the week I traveled to Geneva and was picked up by team mate Em, No luggage arrived of course, standard procedure...and off we set to Grindelwald for 2 open Swiss cup races and a world cup. The weather was terrible, raining and wind so the events were canceled, as were the training days. I had the stitches removed from my neck in Interlakan hospital and was ready to go! They managed to pull off the world cup after a few days. It wasn't until I put my ski boots on about 8 days after the accident in Spain that I realised, I actually hurt my leg quite badly in the crash and was in a lo of pain, but had not realised as I was more concerned about the bleeding neck and potentially broken jaw to have realised at the time. Not to mention I lacked confidence in general after the crash! I only managed to get one training run in as they closed the chairlift due to wind and I qualified slowly pushing me back to 25th in the field. We then continued on to Meiringen where we had another world cup. I was unsure initially whether I would start due to my leg, I did the training and thought it is the last event just grit your teeth, take some more panadol and mobic and do it...so I did and yes produced a bad result surprisingly! To be honest, I broke after this event, physically, mentally and emotionally I was ready to go home!!! It was shortly after this that we were asked to attend the World Cup finals in Valmalenco, where they only take 16 ladies and 32 men, which we were really pleased about and was worth waiting around for! (Even though 2 hours prior I had been heard saying.."Get me on a plane home NOW!". So I have headed back to Meribel with Em and had a few days down in Brides Les Baine relaxing and resting the leg. Next news will be from Italy!

Update from Sierra Nevada, Spain

2009-06-14T23:44:00.000-07:00

Date: 25th February 2008

I have been in Spain for the last 5 days for a World Cup and 1 FIS ski cross event and I have some stories to tell! The course for the world cup on training day had some large features where it was almost impossible to clear the flat and make the landings. I hurt my shins quite badly, as did most of the field, including the men. The course claimed a number of competitors and some of the features were changed slightly so it was possible to actually land on the landings. The course was extremely fast at the bottom with a number of rollers which you hit at a speed that was almost uncontrollable, I held on for dear life! In my qualification I over-jumped one of the features with the wrong direction and had to make a big direction change into the upwards corner jump losing some vital speed. I qualified 18th unfortunately not going through to the final 16 which was disappointing, however I am confident that I could have had I have had a clean run. It was good fun none the less. The event was won by World number 1, Ophelie David from France which was no surprise.
The following day the jumps were cut down substantially and a few rollers were removed which slowed the course right down. I qualified 7th which was quite slow and I wasn’t that pleased with it. It was alright as I know once you get into the finals anything can happen. In my first heat I came down in second behind Dagmara from Poland. I had comfortably made it into the final 8. The organisers were using snow mobiles to get the athletes back to the top of the course to cut time between heats. It was cloudy and the light was flat and at full speed my driver did not see the compression ahead and we flew up in the air…I subsequently somersaulted off the back of the snowmobile with all my equipment and my skis hit me in the ribs along the way and I landed on my head! The Canadian coach came running calling a medical sled along the way and the driver apologised profusely, meanwhile I was just trying to breath. I said to them “Can you please ask them to hold the start” while trying to get some air! The ribs were a bit sore but with all the adrenalin from the race I said lets keep going, got back on the snowmobile and was dropped at the top. When I arrived back in the start my final was in the gates ready to go. I literally did my boots up and they said “attention GO” and down the starting board went. Towards the bottom of the course I started to get dizzy, and got black patches over the last jump, I stood up crossed the line and sat on the snow trying to clear my head. It was quite frightening. Being up at 3000m altitude probably didn’t help! After a drink of powerade and 5 minutes rest it was back on the snow mobile back to the top for the small final.
I felt alright so I decided to start. I didn’t have a great start and over the first double, the two competitors on either side closed in on me slightly, I landed on the back side of the double roller right between them we all bumped skis and I think the Canadian girl caught her edge and skied straight into me. We had a big tumble and somewhere along the way her ski flew off and her binding hit me in the neck. It hurt quite a lot, I undid my helmet buckle and when I stood up and the medical people came over carrying some of my belongings, they cringed when they looked at my neck, I then heard the Canadian girl ask “can I keep going?” My reaction to this was… “Bugger that I don’t want to come 8th!” so I grabbed my poles, did my helmet back up and tried to continue…I realised after attempting the next jump that something was seriously wrong, I was in a lot of pain there was blood and I thought I may have broken my jaw!!! I pulled out and stopped at the next medical assistant whom rushed me down to the hospital. After seeing the nasty open gash on my neck in a photograph, I realised how crazy I was for attempting to continue the course. The Canadian girl had my flesh in her binding!!! Quite revolting, I have seen the photos of it bein removed! A huge thank you goes to my team mate Emily, Chris and the best dam team manager going round, Janet Sarsfield for running around after me, getting all my equipment, looking after me and transporting me to and from Granada hospital. I was stitched back up, a few layers as it was quite an open wound and the xray machine for the mandible was not working so we were unsure of the result. I still can’t close my jaw but it is already feeling much better so we are pretty sure there are no cracks! All in all…a bit of an average day! I feel run down and my whole body hurts (in particular the jaw, shins, fibula, head) but I have a week to recover and hope that I will be able to return for some events next weekend in Switzerland and get my stitches out before the next World Cup in Grindelwald, Switzerland on the 6th March. Stay Tuned!

Update from Bormio Europa Cup - 8th!

2009-06-14T23:43:00.000-07:00

Date: 5th February 2008

I have just got back from the next event on the circuit, a Europa Cup SX in Bormio, Italy. Due to a large overnight snowfall on Friday, the course was extremely bumpy and with limited visibility, the event was nearly postponed! It cleared up around midday and we reinspected the course and started again. It was still really bumpy and with a pretty messy qualification I made it through into the heats. The finals were at night and starting with the outside gate I just went for it, nothing to lose. Managed to win my heat and proceeded through to the semi finals. In my semi final I got out quickly but managed to take a low line nearly missing the second gate, once i climbed back up I was back into 3rd unfortunately not going through to the finals. In the final my start wasn't as good and after running it low again I nearly missed the jump throwing my skis across to make it and landing on the flat as I lost my speed. I finished 8th and it was a pretty pleasing result.

Update from Meribel, France

2009-06-14T23:40:00.000-07:00

Date: 28th January 2008

Sorry it has taken me so long to write an update! It has been hectic the last few weeks and trying to find the time to sit down and write something has been difficult!

Les Contamines: The first world cup of the season, one to be forgotten! Massive jumps, large gaps before the landings, I was struggling to clear the landings on the training day, then it snowed overnight and slowed the track down, other than my ski falling off in training and losing most of my confidence as I ate it hard, I ended up compressing my back landing badly off one of the big jumps and ended up spending the next 2 days at the physio!

Flaine: The second world cup, Just a few days after Les Conatmines, I wasn't sure whether my back would hold up, Andrea the physio did some excellent work and I was able to start. After double ejecting off the first jump in training I realised I was going to have to get my bindings re mounted as I was losing confidence and not able to commit to the course fearing my skis may fall off again! Happy just to be able to start, it was a pretty nice course, quite techincal and the jumps had nice landings, I skied into 24th position, but had a lot of room for improvement.

Kreischberg: After a 12 hour trek across Europe with Em my team mate,, and a brief stop at the Milka factory, we arrived in Kreischberg Austria to minimal snow for the 3rd world cup within a week! Training was cancelled but they managed to pull the event off. The course was pretty good, I skied alright, was closer to the winner in qualifying with 2,9 seconds off and finishing in 20th position. Still not overly happy with my skiing, seeing places where I could improve, particularly on the jumps. Overall had an absolute blast.

Zweisimmen: The first Europa Cup for the season. The course was set quite open and along the flat, it was fairly tame, with fairly straight forward jumps and nothing too difficult. I unfortunately just struggled to create speed on this course. I wasn't scared of anything but just skied slow. I think some longer/faster skis may have helped so I didn't qualify (18th) which I was pretty disappointed with, especially after doing well on this course last year placing 5th. The following day there was an open ski cross event on the same course. After another slow qualification run, i realised the course just was not for me. After qualifying 13th I had last choice of gate, ended up on the outside lane, but managed to come 3rd in my heat, not continuing on into the finals. It was good to get in the starting 4s finally!

I am now back in Meribel, France with Em, having some time off and giving my shins a rest! This weekend there is a Europa Cup in Bormio, Italy, so I am hoping for bigger and better things there! Will be in touch when I can! Until then, Take care!

Update from Innsbruck, Austria

2009-06-14T23:38:00.000-07:00

Date: 6th January 2008

Happy New Year! I am currently in Innsbruck, Austria. I left Canada on the 29th December and the rest of the trip was far less eventful than the beginning, thankfully, and I managed to get in some good training and plenty of freeskiing! Thanks to Luc and International Racer for this opportunity, check out their website, you can find the link on my homepage. The first 2 crossmax events I had planned on doing in Garmisch, Germany, were unfortunately cancelled due to lack of snow. The snow here in Innsbruck has been substantially less than I had hoped for, so now I look forward to the first competitions which will be in France next weekend. I will be in touch!

Update from Sun Peaks - BC, Canada

2009-06-14T23:32:00.000-07:00

Date: 4th December 2007

I am currently in Sun Peaks in BC, Canada. I have had a crazy start to the trip actually. A bit of a string of bad luck. After having my flight from LAX to Reno canceled and subsequently spending the better half of the day in the LAX terminal, my next flight a few days later, from Reno to San Francisco was also cancelled. After being re-routed via Seattle to Vancouver, I arrived with no luggage. We decided to stay the night in Vancouver before driving to Sun Peaks. We got some accommodation at a motel/hotel in Langley just out of Vancouver. At 1.45am the fire alarms started blaring, we all assumed it was just burnt toast, until everyone had their doors bashed down "Fire!! Everybody get out" in a state of serious panic we grabbed everything we could and threw it in the car, however, I had no luggage, which made my trip quite a bit easier. The place was burning to the ground, the room above me had smoke pouring out of the doors and windows, the roof of the whole hotel was on fire smoke and flames filled the air. We later found out it was arsine. So we set off for Sun Peaks at about 2.30am. My bags finally turned up one at a time, and some of my luggage was in pieces, including a brand new POC helmet which had not previously been used. When we thought the luck had to stop there, after merely one day of freeskiing, I awoke to chronic pain at about 5.45am the following day. I was nauseous, dizzy, hot and the severity of the pain was indescribable. Something I have never experienced!! After screaming and rolling around on the ground "something is going to burst Luc, please I am dying!!!", an ambulance was called by Luc my coach and I was rushed to Kamloops hospital. The pain finally subsided and it was later found that I had torsion of the ovary. Not sure what caused this, particularly while sleeping, but possibly a cyst which burst and caused the ovary to twist. A very painful experience. Since then I have been a bit hesitant on snow but after seeing another doctor yesterday I am now ready to look forward for the rest of the season. After doing 2 days of freeskiing, it looks like we will be doing some Super G and GS training in the next few days which will help. Stay tuned for what I hope will be a less eventful update in the near future!

Curl Magazine Article

2009-06-14T23:26:00.000-07:00

Date: 23rd November 2007

I just had news from the editor of 'Curl Magazine' that an article called "Sarah Sauvey's Story" is in the November/December edition of the New Zealand/Australian magazine. A lovely 2 page spread. The article was written and images were taken by Jane Emerick, keep your eyes out at your local news agency for a copy or have a look at the PDF copy in my Media Gallery section of this website! Heading off tomorrow so I will be in touch from North America!