New Zealand Youth Series / Round Three / Mt Hutt

We travelled to Mt Hutt for our annual Speed Camp last Tuesday, we set up camp at Barkers Lodge in Methven which as usual was fantastic.
We trained two days of SuperG in perfect conditions and sunny, clear skies at Mt Hutt on Wednesday and Thursday working ourselves up to speeds around 100Km/hr on the speed gun.
Round Three of the NZYS at Mt Hutt consisted of 4 x Super G Races + 1 x Slalom Race.
Super G Race One and Two on Friday went well with a 7th and a 4th placing, SG Race Three and Four on Saturday weren't bad either with a 5th and 6th place, overall I was the fastest 1st Year U16 Female Athlete, I felt comfortable at speed and ironed out a couple of small positional issues that pleased my coaches and picked up valuable NZYS Points :)
Sunday we raced Slalom, the course for the first run was long and very tight, after four days of speed training and racing there were some very tired ladies, I skied well and with the exception of a big mistake on the second to last gate I managed a 5th place, would have been a lot better without the mistake!
My second run was great, I went out with a determined attitude wanting to make up time for the mistake on my first run. I charged hard and managed a 4th place with the three podium places going to Second Year U16 Athletes ( Well done Eden, Georgia and Cam ), happily I still managed the fastest 1st Year U16 Athletes time, thanks Sophie T for a tough weekend of close competition and pushing one another to ski at our best!
Overall a very pleasing weekend with solid results, I'm looking forward to the last round of the NZYS at Cardrona in a couple of weeks!
Thanks to Team Hutt for a great week and well run races :)
Stay tuned for the final NZYS results and overall placings...!

New Zealand Youth Series / Round Two / Coronet Peak

A bit late posting this as we travelled to Mt Hutt for Speed Camp and then Round Three of the NZYS Races the day after Round Two finished at Coronet Peak so it's been a full on and pretty hectic two weeks!
Round Two of the NZYS was held at Coronet Peak last weekend, we raced 2 x G.S and 1 x SL race.
Conditions were fine and sunny with hard packed snow on the tricky Out Wide course.
Day One was GS, my first run was OK although conservative, I managed a 4th place and maintained that in my second run to finish 4th overall.
Day Two was GS once again, my first run was rubbish, a total nightmare, I started OK but just couldn't find my groove, I stiffened up and finished 9th, my second run was better but still not great but I managed to claw back a couple of places to finish 7th overall :(
Day Three was my preferred event Slalom, my first run was OK but I wasn't totally on my game picking up a 5th place, my second was solid but not my best. I managed to hold onto 5th place with my QAST team mate Sophie T making podium in 3rd place.
Roll on Round Three at Mt Hutt next weekend...

Slalom Run One / Ohau NZYS Round One

My first SL run from Round One of the New Zealand Youth Series at Ohau on Sunday, fastest women's 1st run time overall.

New Zealand Youth Series - Round One / Ohau

What a fantastic, inspirational weekend at Ohau for the first round of the New Zealand Youth Series Races ( GS & SL ), thanks SSNZ and Twizel Ski Club for a great two days of U14 / U16 racing.
It started off well when I bumped into Ted Ligety playing tennis on Friday afternoon at Ohau Lodge, after a chat he signed my Slytech Arm Guards, well his arm guards actually as my Dad scored them off him on a TV Commercial last winter.
Saturday dawned a beautiful, clear and sunny day, I had breakfast at the lodge with the U.S Men's Team and was totally inspired and pumped to watch them train a full GS course set from the top to the bottom of the mountain at Ohau.
The U.S Team finished training and pulled the lower section of their course and left the upper section ( 28 Gates ) in place for us to race the first round of the NZYS GS on - So cool to race on a course set for the U.S Men's Team / thanks Sasha :)
My first run was solid, I was fast on the upper flat section of the course and skied the lower steep set well, finishing my first run in 4th place overall with the fastest 1st Year U16 time, my second run was good too but a couple of small mistakes meant I finished 5th overall with the 2nd fastest 1st Year U16 time, just beaten by 0.52 of a second by my QAST team mate Sophie T, well done Sophie.
Sunday was another sunny, clear day and with my favourite discipline / Slalom ( 38 Gates ) I was pumped to race and do well!
A nice course set on dry snow with a steep start then a flat technical section leading to the final pitch with a rhythmical tight set to the finish.
I was stoked to put down the fast overall U16 women's time ( 35.90 sec ) in the first run, leading Georgia Bushell ( 2nd Year U16 ) by just 0.21 sec.
After a course reset and the addition of a few more gates ( 44 Gates ) my second run was fast too registering a respectable second fastest time ( 37.18 sec ) behind Eden McKay ( 2nd Year U16 / Team Hutt - well done Eden ) but just enough to hold off Team Hutt's Georgia B by 0.37 sec ( Well done Georgia ) for the Gold Medal and 1st Place in Round One of the NZYS SL Races.
With Round Two of the NZYS Races coming up this weekend here at home at Coronet Peak it's going to be exciting, I'll keep you posted....

August Update

With the season now in full swing and three of the five Junior Inter-field Races complete I'm looking forward to the real race series ( New Zealand Youth Series ) which starts this weekend at Ohau.

The Junior Inter-field Races haven't produced the results that I'd hoped ( I seem to own 4th place at present... ), I've struggled with the tight / turney combi courses on my adult race skis so am looking forward to the NZYS Race Series with regular SG, GS and SL courses.

I must say that my QAST team mate Alice Robinson ( U14 ) is an inspiration, displaying some totally awesome skiing, blowing away all male and females competitors in both the U14 and U16 age groups with some very impressive times!