On the hill

Early Season

It’s has been a somewhat tough start to the season this year and unseasonably warm weather has created challenges for many resorts throughout Europe. We began training on the 13^th December and as Les Houches was not yet open, we spent the first few weeks commuting each day through the Mont Blanc tunnel to La Thuile, Italy. Early season snow conditions in the Aosta Valley where excellent and we were able to get down to some really productive technical training and some SL gate training thanks to co-operation from the Italians. Following a little more snow and cold weather we were able to get skiing in Les Houches shortly after Christmas.

By the time things opened we had just over a week’s training left in our build up to hosting the Anglo Scottish races. With over 250 competitors due to attend we were all slightly nervous looking at the snow situation. Fortunately with cold enough temperatures to make snow and a lot of hard work form the resort, things where in shape ready to start racing on the 3^rd January.

*Coach Dave Tee working hard to get all the goggles dry for the start of the race

While snow conditions for the races where challenging with the only piste available being Maison Neuf Noir (middle section of the Chamonix world cup downhill), we managed to get all of them off with an incredible effort from the BSA team and the ESF staff. While it was probably the most difficult circumstances we have tried to run races in Les Houches, we have now only missed one day of racing in the last 7 years, due to too much snow (a pretty incredible record!). Unfortunately there was some controversy over the Super-G races which were not able to count for seeding. All I can say is that I have never had a smoother more positive day at super-G race whilst I have been skiing.

BSA had some exceptional results over the course of the races and some of the improvements in performance from our trainees on last season were quite staggering. Hannah LG won both GS races and SG’s by a considerable margin with some really impressive skiing. This resulted in a richly deserved call up to represent the GB U16 team at a new event taking place in Kitzbuhel, Austria at the end of the month, as part of the world cup weekend. There were also some of really promising results from U16 girls with Megan Davis narrowly missing the podium in the final GS and Charlotte Pantelli posting some strong top 10 results.

In the U16 Boys, Kieren Troup showed the form we had been seeing in training in the first 2 SL races. Scott Buchan and David Christy really stepped up their skiing from last year. Scott topped off a great week by winning both SG’s with some incredibly fast skiing.

In the U14 girls Natasha Stocker and Rebecca Chastney showed some excellent skiing and BSA newcomer Katie Stuart great promise without having done a lot of training yet! .

In the under 14 boys the results where incredibly strong. George Case had a great set of races throughout, while Charles Rankin, Jake Doyle, Euan Robertson and Joe Christey all made the podium. Tom Hudson showed perhaps the biggest step up from last season to take victory in the 2^nd SL race!

Alas the parent’s race had to be cancelled to focus getting the other races off. Always a great spectacle, we look forward to seeing you again at interschool’s races in Les Houches in March!

In the minis competition, Brendon and Bori ran a really successful set of races and it was great to see some exceptional performances from a number of BSA trainees. Iona Ross and Ted Slade where really consistent on the podium throughout in the under 12’s as was Sophie Stocker in the U10’s.

BSA results are shown below.

Children Slalom 1

U14 Girls 5^th Natasha Stocker

U14 Boys 1^st George Case

U16 B 2^nd Kieren Troup, 5^th Scott Buchan

Mini Stubbie SL

U10 G Sophie Stocker 2^nd, Kita O’neil 4^th

U12 G Iona R 3^rd

U12 B Ted S 1^st, 4^th Euan McDougall

Children Slalom 2

U14 Boys 1^st Tom Hudson, Ewan Robertson2^nd, 4^th Joe Christey

U16 Boys 1^st Kieren Troup

Mini GS1

U10 Girls 2^nd Sophie Stocker, 4^th Kita O’neil

U12 Girls 2^nd Iona Ross, 5^th Ana Stocker

U12 Boys 2^nd Ted Slade

Children GS 1

U14 Girls 5^th Natasha Stocker

U14 Boys 2nd George Case, 3^rd Charles Rankin 4^th Joe Christey and Jake Doyle

U16 Girls 1^st Hannah Loeffen-Gallagher

U16 Boys 2^nd Matt Heginbotham, 4^th Scott Buchan, 5^th David Christey

Mini GS 2

U10 Girls 2^nd Sophie Stocker, 3^rd Kita O’Neil

U12 Girls 2^nd Iona Ross

U12 Boys 2^nd Ted Slade

Children GS 2

U14 Girls Natasha Stocker 5th

U14 Boys 2^nd Joe Christey, 3^rd Charles Rankin, 4^th Jake Doyle

U16 Girls 1^st Hannah Loeffen-Gallagher,  Megan Davis 4^th

U16 Boys 3^rd Scott Buchan, 4^th David Christey

Mini All Star GS

U12 Girls 3^rd Iona Ross, 4^th Anna Stocker

U12 Boys 4^th Ted Slade

Children SG 1

U16 Girls 1^st Hannah Loeffen-Gallager

U14 Girls 5^th Natasha Stocker

U16 Boys 1^st Scott Buchan, 3rd Kieran Troup, 5^th Matt Heginbotham

U14 Boys 2^nd George Case, 3^rd Jake Doyle, 4^th Tom Hudson, 5^th Ewan Robertson

Children SG 2

U16 Boys 1^st Hannah Loeffen-Gallager, 5^th Megan Davis

U16 Boys 1^st Scott Buchan, 4^th Kieran Troup

U14 Boys 2^nd George Case, 3^rd Jake Doyle, 4^th Tom Hudson, 5^th Charles Rankin

 

*Charles, Jake, George and Joe all on the podium

*Ewan Robertson taking the U14 overall prize!

Following the races, the staff had a well-earned break, and for the trainees it was time for school to begin and for a little more routine to settle into the program at BSA

Coming up next we have the Welsh Championships in Champaluc, Switzerland at the end of the week.

Scott

October Camp 2014

Looking back towards Mont Blanc, home of the BSA from 3500m on the Tignes Glacier

This October's BSA adventure started on the Tignes glacier as the Ladies and Mens FIS teams joined coaches Ali and Ruslan for some technical freeskiing and gate training on the slopes of 3500m, Champagny and Rosolin. The teams were based in the oldest chalet in Tignes Le Lac - Le Chardonnet and right opposite the sports hall which they visited after snow training each day.

Amazing snow

But our main training week happened 3 hours away in Les Deux Alpes.  We had 43 trainees, 10 staff to look after them all and 7 days of training.  The glacier was in brilliant condition, with firm snow that didn't rut or bump up throughout the day!  Our training lanes were one of the best on the mountain with loads of space so we had the opportunity to set a variety of training courses and race courses.  The weather was also extremely kind to us - what we'd call 'bluebird' days - blue skies, no wind and warm temperatures...actually the best weather we have ever had in an October camp!



View from our lunch stop at base camp

Superstar Simon did some great development
work with some of the newer and younger athletes

There were lift queues in the morning due to the popularity of this glacier but because of the weather we managed to stay up on the mountain until last lift every day! This meant the athletes got lots of freeskiing time and mileage on the skis while also having the time to take their technical work into the gates.



The camp started with some foundation work on the Giant Slalom skis and we continued working on GS for 3 days.  Progressing each group into drill courses and eventually full gates depending on their experience and progress - the great thing about having so much space here is the options to have a FIS course for the Junior program, some children's courses and skills for the younger athletes too.


We then trained Slalom for the next 3 days with some groups working on fast feet off snow to help with quicker courses on the hill.  We also kept it competitive with a mix of dual slalom racing and timing.

So after all the hard work of the week, we finished on our final day with a fun fresski morning - riding in the park, carving all the slopes that the glacier has to offer and practising the new skills learnt.  By now the athletes were shattered!  Time for a good snooze on the drive home!

Well done to all the athletes for their organisation and time keeping, the housemums for their tireless work looking after everyone (including the coaches), the coaches for their efforts in coaching all aspects of being a racer and of course to Malcolm for managing the whole operation! Camp a success!

BSA Trainee - Will Feneley

Last year, in addition to alpine, park and pipe and skicross Will started training and competing in moguls. Moguls combines many elements of all the other disciplines and is judged on 3 elements: 50% of the score is you technique and style through the moguls, 25% of the score is the execution of the 2 jumps (with a multiplier- which can be negative or positive depending on difficulty of the jump), and 25% is your speed down the course. Will took to moguls like a duck to water and has had podiums in many mogul competitions.

 

In March 2014 he achieved the criteria to be selected to represent GB in moguls at the Junior Worlds, the youngest GB athlete (14yrs) ever to represent Gb in moguls. This year he has been awarded a FIS B licence for moguls, and is on the National Academy for Moguls team. He has already competed at FIS competitions this season, most recently in the British and European indoor moguls championships in Manchester. These competitions included competitors from all round the world including USA and Japan. Will achieved some great results:

Overall British Dual Moguls Champion

Overall U16 Dual Moguls Champion
Overall Dual Moguls 4^th place.

In the singles competitions he was 8^th overall in the British Chamionships, and 9^th overall in the European (all countries and ages).

Will also competes in tumbling gymnastics at National level, achieving a Bronze medal in the national champs this year.

 

 

Photos: Will performing Forward Flip at FIS British Mogul Championships, Chill Factore Sept 2014  & Podium - Will Feneley- British overall and U16 dual moguls Champion

Summer Camp photos 2014

More photos of the Zermatt Camp group, and more to follow of Norwich.
Also see Jordan's excellent report on his Summer training in Les Houches and Zermatt: blog

Summer Camp - Zermatt, Switzerland

 

We had 40 BSA trainees on our 2 week summer glacier camp at Zermatt, Switzerland. The resort was full of world cup ski stars from across the world, there to take advantage of training at the highest skiable area in Europe. There can be no better inspiration for our young racers than training alongside some of the best ski racers in the world and Zermatt provides training opportunities second to none for summer skiing in Europe. Along with the BSA regulars we were delighted to welcome a number of new racers to the programme who integrated very quickly and we look forward to seeing them again this coming season. 

*Great day up on the Glacier 

The coaching team assembled was really exceptional and pulled together to provide some amazing input for the trainees on the camp. We had Ruslan Natchkov and Ali Morton who are heading up the Male and Female FIS teams for the season supporting a number of our current British Junior team athletes at an age when the federation is not providing a programme. Also joining the full time coaching team this season with myself, Dave T and Cammy Gunn we were delighted to have Natalia Pruska join us for her first camp. Natalia brings a wealth of knowledge and experience having coached in Europe, the US and New Zealand.

In addition we were very fortunate to have some great guest coaches join us this summer. Recently retired British Olympic skier Chemmy Alcott was on hand to provide some great coaching and share her experience following the end of her illustrious career. It was also great to have along British Number 1 speed skier Dougy Crawford who joined us for some training in order to keep up to speed while he seeks funding and support for a program this coming season. He provided great influence training with our FIS athletes and was always willing to give encouragement and advice. Finally we had current British Senior Team member Jai Geyer joining us once again as a break in his own race programme allowed him to come and do some coaching with us. Overall we had a coaching team that provided some amazing input and inspiration to the next generation of British racers.

*Jack O’Neil working on his balance in dry land training

 

The first week of training presented some challenging weather conditions causing us to miss some days skiing, but we still got some useful technical foundation work done back on the skis and the trainees really knuckled down to fitness training mixed with much fun and games along the way. This was followed by a week of near perfect summer training conditions with some fresh snow from the previous week and cold temperatures overnight. The great thing with summer camp is it allows us to focus on making big changes and improvements in our trainees skiing without the pressure of imminent races approaching which we have during the season. With such great conditions and an excellent coaching set up it was amazing to see the progress made throughout the camp. At the end everyone was thoroughly exhausted with an incredible amount of hard work having gone into maximising the last 2 weeks.

 *Fraser Buchen training some Pro-SL
 

We are looking forward to our next camps at Norwich dry slope at the end of August and October glacier camp in Deux Alpes.

Scott

Scottish Championships

The Scottish Championships in Courchevel provided us with a good warm up for the British Championships immediately after.

Minis 

The minis enjoyed two days of racing in Courchevel, with a GS and Combi.  The minis ran after the childrens races therefore we had plenty time to warm up and make the most of the morning snow!  On our last day in Courchevel we were also lucky enough to watch members of the French National team take part in a SL ski testing session. 

GS

U12 Girls - 1st Siena Horton, 3rd Nadine Hugec 
U12 Boys - 1st Joe Christey
U10 Boys - 1st Max Laughland

Combi

U12 Girls - 1st Siena Horton, 2nd Nadine Hugec, 3rd Rebecca Chastney 
U12 Boys - 2nd Joe Christey, 4th Ted Slade 

Minis Report: 

"The Scottish Championships were good fun but very hard at times. Due to the warm conditions the courses were salted on both days to keep the snow hard. This also stopped huge ruts! On Sunday we enjoyed a very short  but difficult GS. This included a very big banana gate , this was the gate that you had to get right! We all had a very good GS day with many of the BSA coming in the top 15! 

On Monday we competed in a great Combi race which included GS gates,stubbies,some brushes that we had to jump over, suicides, undergates and wigwams(figure of eight).  Again this was very challenging course and we all were very tired at the end. Quite a lot of us on the first run missed a gate or fell over so we hard to come back hard in the second run, which most managed to do!  Again the BSA did very well with lots of us finishing in the top 15!

Overall  on these two days of competition everyone did very well! Now we look forward to the British, good luck everyone."

By Siena Horton U12 - Overall winner on both days of the Scottish Bairns Race!

 

Children 

The weather conditions on the first day caused the race to be cancelled meaning we had 2 races remaining. There was a slight difference from the normal format for the U14’s with each run counting as a separate race for prizes. There were some good performances and also some good indications of changes that need to be made in approaching the races in Meribel in the coming days

GS

U14 Boys Race 1 Charles Rankin 3^rdU14 Boys Race 2 Charles Rankin 2ndU16 Girls Marion Legais 2^nd U16 Girls Yazmin Cooper 3rd

SL

U14 Girls Hannah Loeffen-Gallager 2^ndU14 Girls Nicole Hugec 3^rdU14 Boys Harry Deighton 2^ndU16 Girls Megan Jenkins 1^st U16 Girls Lucinda Dilworth 3^rdU16 Boys Angus Wills 3^rd

Hatrick for O'Neil at Heinrich Harrer Cup

Jack O'Neil one of our long standing trainees,  had a great run of races at the Heinrich Harrer Cup. Winning in GS , SL and SG! A special mention to Jack's win on GS day as he won by over 2 seconds!

The race was held in Seefeild, Austria and he was representing his school the International  School of Geneva.

A massive congratulations to Jack, who took the hatrick and leaving with a brand new pair of skis!