The Training in Kimberly was good. Jen and I skied well together building up our communication and working on our distances. Jen is skiing really well and guided me down some tricky courses. We have three coaches with us; Euan, Dougie and Ross Green – who had been temporary guiding Kelly. He is very funny and brings a lot of experience to the Team. It is a very happy team and I’m learning a lot about my own skiing. I know I am a little too serious sometimes and dwell on the negatives so I am working more on my positives.
We stayed in such luxury in Kimberley, a three bedroom, three bathroom condo. I can’t say the same for Panorama, this is more like a youth hostel…my Mum loves it…!
We have been training as if it was a race day, so everything is to a race day timetable, including wearing race suits, it’s very cold to be wearing a Lycra suit. It was -17 yesterday. Brrrrr!
The World Champs are like a mini Paralympics. There is an opening ceremony. This took place in the valley, in a little town called Invermere. Each country paraded down the high street which was lined by the entire town. The atmosphere was so friendly, we were made to feel very welcome. I got to carry the flag and we marched into the town square and then toasted marshmallows on the many little fire pits around the square. Then there were the formal speeches and national anthems and flag raising, all aided by fully kitted out ‘real’ Mounties… It looked great, followed by music and dancing in the street.
Today I woke up to an email from my Maths teacher, telling me I had passed my Maths GCSE. I took these exams between Europa cup and World Cup races in January. Maths is my weakest subject so I am really pleased with my C although I secretly wanted a B. I am going to celebrate with a bar of Cadburys chocolate…don’t tell my coaches.
Today is a much needed rest day, so we are going to watch the SG race and cheer Ben on.