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

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

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!!!

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!

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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!