Milton Keynes Snozone Summer Invitational Race

A couple of weeks ago I once again made the trek down to Milton Keynes for a day of skiing with the British Parasnowsport pathway team, this day began with training both in and out of gates, and finished with a mini GS race. This was a long day but well worth it to ski with and compete against my fellow monoskiers.

In the afternoon the Snozone Summer Invitational Race took place, the course set was based on a giant slalom course, which I was pleased with, as on indoor slopes, most races are of the slalom variety, a discipline I find more difficult. However, that did not mean that it would be easy, as after a full day of training, the snow had become quite rutted and bumpy, with some rather significant icy patches, which proved a bit of a challenge to navigate. The race consisted of four timed runs, with the fastest run being counted.

I initially skied the course with the aim of just getting down it, I was determined not to fall, however, I am quite aware of the fact that in race situations I tend to get nervous and stiffen my arms up, which has a major negative effect on the quality of my skiing. In this particular situation I played it safe and skied the course fairly wide to try to avoid any bumps that were trying to throw me over (although all this really did was bounce me about in the mounds of snow created by other racers). After successfully completing two runs of the course, I began to relax, and my skiing changed quite dramatically, I took a much tighter line and my whole skiing technique was closer to my best, I managed to knock three and a half seconds off my previous times! I have attached a video that shows this transformation between the first and second half of the race.

At the end of my four runs, all successful, it was time for the awards. Here I learnt that due to the risks I had taken on the last two runs, I had secured myself third place. I was very proud to have finally finished a race and to be with my friends as I did so. Hopefully with time and more races like this I can learn to not stress about racing and ski at my best every time.