Southern Region Inter - Field Races / Remarkables Dual SL

After a week of ideal training conditions at the Remarkables we raced a Dual SL on Sunday.
A good field of U14 Girls ran both courses with close results, just 2.41 seconds between the 1st and 5th placed podium positions.
The U14 / QAST Girls did well picking up four out of the five medals with a fifth placing going my way.
Next up are the Southern Inter - Field Races at Cardrona.... :)

Training At The Remarkables

I'll be training at The Remarkables Ski Area this week in preparation for the second Southern Region Inter-Field Dual GS Race on Sunday 25th August.
I'm looking forward to a good week of training and a pleasing result this coming weekend....
Happy Birthday for tomorrow to my wonderful coach Celine :)

Round Two NYS - Mt Hutt - GS / SL

Gurrrrrr!
Both the GS ( Saturday ) and the SL ( Sunday ) events were cancelled due to poor visibility and very wet snow conditions, a little frustrating but that's ski racing....
Next up is the Southern Region Inter-Field Race ( Dual GS ) at The Remarkables next Sunday, hopefully we get some cold weather before then!
Thanks to our Coaches for a great trip to Mt Hutt and doing an excellent job on and off the mountain.

Round Two NYS SuperG Mt Hutt

Surprisingly today dawned calm and warm allowing for ideal race conditions!
I on the other hand wasn't on fire, I skied OK managing a 9th in my first race and a 10th in the second race, not my finest day on snow by any means but none the less two clear runs in a new race environment so happy with some aspects but still a lot of work to do on my Super G....!
My QAST team mates all skied well, especially Alice, Alex, Rose, Sophie and Carmella, well done girls.
We're scheduled to race GS tomorrow but lets see what the day brings in terms of weather, it may be a SL day instead :)

Two Day Speed Camp - Mt Hutt

After a day and a half of Speed / Super G Training in almost perfect conditions on dry, hard packed snow with excellent visibility at Mt Hutt and considering I haven't really trained or raced Super G since my last speed event at SilverStar in Canada ( 4th Place ) back in February, I'm feeling pretty good with where I'm currently at :)

The QAST team trained and worked hard yesterday and again today until lift operations were halted due to near gale force NW winds so we bailed back to Methven for an afternoon of Dry Land Training before Mum and Dad arrived to pick me up.

We relocated for some pre race day home comforts, roast lamb, a soak in a hot bath and a Coronation Street session on the tele at the apartment at Terrace Downs.

Fingers crossed for less wind and clear skies tomorrow allowing the races to get underway.

I'm heading to bed for an early night while my ski man ( Dad ) tunes my race skis for morning :)

More tomorrow....  

Mt Hutt Speed Camp / NZ National Youth Series Round Two

I'm soooo excited to be heading to Mt Hutt with my QAST team mates tomorrow for a Super G Speed Camp ( Wednesday / Thursday ) and then Round Two of the New Zealand National Youth Series

Races will be held at Mt Hutt over three days.
Super G - Friday.
GS - Saturday.
SL - Sunday.

Fingers and toes crossed for good weather / racing conditions and hopefully another podium finish....

Southern Region Inter-Field Race - Treble Cone

Another good week of training on hard, compact snow at Coronet Peak and some last minute gate training at The Remark's was a good way to prepare for the second, Southern Regional Inter-Field Race at Treble Cone yesterday.
We raced in good conditions, had loads of fun and some stiff competition from the other U14 girls from the Southern Region.
I was pretty happy with my two combined run times picking up a 5th place medal and making progress with my GS skills, small improvements and hard work are starting to pay off...
Looking for to Mt Hutt next week :)

Julia Mancuso

Wow, spent some time riding the T-Bar at Coronet Peak last week with my idol Julia Mancuso!
Jules gave me some good advice, signed my helmet and wished me luck with my season :)
So cool to be surrounded by such legends while training myself...
Thanks Jules, and all the best for your upcoming season and the 2014 Winter Olympics!

QAST U14 Girls / Ted Ligety

Midweek training at Coronet Peak saw Myself, Alice, Alex and Rose bump into the current Men's World Cup Champion Ted Ligety training with the U.S Team.

It's very inspirational to be training alongside the best in the skiing world!

New Zealand National Youth Series - Round One Coronet Peak

Round One of the New Zealand National Youth Series was held over three days ( Aug 2nd - Aug 4th ) at Coronet Peak.

I raced in both GS and SL events against the best U14 athletes from throughout NZ, Chinese Taipei and South Korea, the conditions we testing to say the least but we all raced well on long, testing GS and SL courses over the three days of competition.

My GS result was an average performance but I ticked off a few goals and felt happy with my overall early season performance picking up a 7th place on Day One and an 11th place on Day Two.

My SL result was a lot better, finishing in 2nd place after two clear runs on a long, tough course that challenged a lot of very good SL skiers.

Overall a great three days of competition, lots of laughs and tons of fun :)

QAST Junior Academy Training - Coronet Peak

Hi there;
Here's an update on my season thus far - I've been training with the Queenstown Alpine Ski Teams Junior Academy Programme five days a week ( Tues / Wed / Thurs / Sat / Sun ), we train mostly at Coronet Peak but also at times across the valley at The Remarkables.

I train from 8am to 12 Noon during the week then head back to school after lunch and then catch up on my school work in the afternoons while at home, training takes place from 8am to 2:30pm on weekends.

Queenstown Primary School and my teacher are really supportive of my training schedule and I work pretty hard to maintain my grades, staying up to speed with my school work via my laptop and the  QPS internal Ultra-Net System.

Generally the snow has been pretty good for race training and considering the lack of regular snow fall the NZSki Race Dept has done a fantastic job of keeping the snow that we do have in great shape allowing us to train and race as scheduled.

We've had a fairly balanced training schedule so far this season with an even mix of both Slalom and Giant Slalom gates and technical drills and also some speed ( Super G ) work too.
Our Coaching Team is amazing and it's great to be part of a hard working team that's focused on achieving our goals, making podiums and getting results :)

Hi there

Mikaela Shiffrin and me

Welcome to my new blog! I'll be posting regular updates here about my progress on the NZ Junior Ski Racing Circuit and about my skiing in general.

To start off, here's a picture of someone I was very pleased to meet the other day... 

US Ski Team member, Mikaela Shiffrin! 
Mikaela won the Slalom Gold Medal at the World Champs in Schladming, Austria this year along with three World Cup SL Medals in the 2012/13 season.  An inspiring person to bump into whilst training at Coronet Peak for sure!