About zmetheringham

Future Ski Champ ? Maybe ! But I am going to give it my all ! - This Blog follows my ups and downs (hopefully more downs at controlled speed!)

Sochi 2014 – GBR Bronze for Jenny Jones

Posted on February 9, 2014 by zmetheringham

Sochi 2014: Jenny Jones wins historic British slopestyle bronze

Well Done Jenny !

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/winter-olympics/26056289

Snowboarder Jenny Jones won Great Britain’s first ever Olympic medal on the snow with a dramatic slopestyle bronze in Sochi.

Jones, 33, held the lead after scoring 87.25 points in her second run and had an agonising wait while 10 athletes tried to better her score.

American Jamie Anderson eventually took gold with 95.25, ahead of Finland’s Enni Rukajarvi on 92.50.

“I did the best run I could have done,” a thrilled Jones told BBC Sport.

Jones scored 73.00 to place fifth after the first round, just 4.25 points off the podium places, and after an impressive second run she secured the bronze when the final competitor, Austrian medal prospect Anna Gasser, fell.

“It feels amazing,” added Jones. “I cannot believe it, I just can’t believe it. I knew I was going to drop [from first place] but I didn’t know how far. I am just so happy.

“It was so difficult waiting. I thought I did my best run and landed it as best as I could.”

Jones, from Bristol, becomes the first Briton to win a medal at a Winter Games on snow rather than ice, where 22 medals had been won before Sochi in events such as figure skating, curling, skeleton, bobsleigh and, in the more distant past, ice hockey.

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8th February 2014 Milton Keynes District Development League Winter Presentations

Posted on February 9, 2014 by zmetheringham

Following my village football team (Great Horwood Ravens FC Under 10’s) finishing runners-up of Division 2 of the MKDDLeague, we had our presentations.

Well done team, Division 1 will be a hard division, but lets give it a good try !

January and February 2014 – TGIS Football

Posted on February 9, 2014 by zmetheringham

January and February Football fixtures have been thin on the ground these two months, mainly due to the rain and waterlogged pitches.

At school I have played three fixtures in the Colts A team, playing up a year.

With a win against Wellingborough (Away 1:2), http://www.groveindependentschool.co.uk/index.php/news/40-sports-news/331-the-grove-colts-a-vs-wellingborough

a defeat 2:5 home against Quinton House, where I received man of the match “Initially we played some good football. Zach Metheringham at the back look pretty dominate and snuffed out any challenges.”

http://www.groveindependentschool.co.uk/index.php/news/40-sports-news/335-the-grove-colts-football-vs-quinton-house

and a 4:1 defeat away at Wellingborough.

January 2014 Anglo Scottish

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I entered three races in the Under 10 Anglo Scottish Alpine Races in Les Houches, France. This was my first set of ‘on mountain’ based races following a successful indoor series of races in 2013.

The day 1 dual slalom was completed in treacherous rain conditions, and I narrowly failed to qualify from my league heats into the final.

Day 2 Combi race was also challenging due to warming conditions resulting in slow traction snow. Combatting heavy rolling mist patches, I completed both of his runs with very consistent times to eventually finish 7th place out of a very strong field of 15 racers.

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Day 3 was another very warm day with fast deteriorating snow conditions, so the race organisers changed the 3 run giant slalom format with the combined best two times to count, to a two run format with the fastest timed run to count. I completed two runs with very consistent times, of which my fastest time placed me 6th out of 16 racers. What was more important was if the race had been based on a combined time basis, I would have had a podium 3rd place. Not bad for my first Giant Slalom race!

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14th December 2013 – Flaine bound !

Posted on December 14, 2013 by zmetheringham

Need to get altitude for good snow, but Season passes sorted, apartments good and Dad has tea on the go.

Great Article on the Lack of Support for Our Winter Olympians

Posted on December 2, 2013 by zmetheringham

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/others/kevin-garside-ed-drake-works-on-a-building-site-and-pays-to-transport-his-own-skis-its-no-way-to-maximise-your-winter-olympic-medal-chances-8976262.html

Kevin Garside: Ed Drake works on a building site and pays to transport his own skis. It’s no way to maximise your Winter Olympic medal chances

The amateur in sport is still out there. And that is not a good thing if we want medals to be the food of love. Ed Drake is a British Olympian, an elite athlete about to embark on the qualification process for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. This week in Canada he contests the first of seven Olympic qualifying events for the ski cross discipline, a mad amalgam of downhill and obstacle course for which only nutters need apply.

Drake paid his own fare to Canada, including the £130 extra baggage charges for lumping his skis and boots across the Atlantic. Well done British Airways. Brilliant bit of PR there, the national carrier ignoring personal pleas from the skier via Twitter to waive the baggage charges. Drake wasn’t even asking for an upgrade. He is 6ft 3 in and folds himself into an economy seat for nine hours. That should help him get across the line. Wonder if they charge BA ambassador Justin Rose to transport his clubs to and fro? Wait a minute, here’s an idea.

BA fly thousands every year from Britain to the Alps and to North America for winter skiing holidays. Ed Drake is a skier. It is the season of the winter Olympics. Why not boost business by using Drake and his comrades as the focal point of an ad campaign helping BA connect with a skiing community that runs into millions of high net worth individuals? Genius. A career in PR marketing beckons. Someone, somewhere is missing a trick.

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We have been tweeting at them to try to get a response. We are not asking for much. There are four of us going out to race. Trying to fit all of the ski equipment and clothes for two weeks into a baggage limit of 23 kilos is not easy. I might have to walk on the plane in my ski boots.” Don’t laugh. It happens. “I’ve seen guys do it. A couple of years ago I had to wear my helmet and goggles onto a plane because we weren’t allowed to clip them to our hand luggage and couldn’t fit them in the hold luggage.”

Drake has been at the wrong end of winter sports penury throughout his career. When he began his journey nine years ago as a 19-year-old, there was funding for British skiers breaking into the world top 100. The moment he crossed that threshold funding was withdrawn, reducing him to beggar status. Drake calculates it costs him £20,000 to compete during the season. He drives from event to event in Europe in a patched-up VW Passat (06 plate). He stays in billets that cost €40 a night. No en-suite in his sporting life.

To make all this possible he coaches in the summer at an indoor ski centre in Hemel Hempstead and fills in with a bit of labouring on a building site in St Albans. The lack of funding of British winter sports effectively takes a lump hammer to their hopes of ever escaping the Eddie the Eagle perceptions that still attach. Michael Edwards, as he was known on the piste, was a serious skier, but was forced through lack of funding to switch to ski-jumping, for which Olympic qualification was more straightforward since no one else in Britain was mad enough to do it.

There is something of this behind Drake’s switch to ski cross. He fell into it by accident after he had driven eight hours across Switzerland to contest a Super G event in Saas-Fee that was cancelled. “I saw there was a ski cross race on and decided to enter that instead. I haven’t looked back. It’s so much fun, like racing with your mates.”

Drake likens the event to BMX, a specially built course full of jumps, banked corners, off-camber turns, rollers, etc. Four go at it simultaneously, with the first two progressing to the next round. It is made for TV, which ought to make it easier to sell. British Ski and Snowboard, the sport’s governing body, receives £300,000 a year to fund the Alpine events, none of which feeds through to non-medal prospects. Britain’s podium chances lie in the ski and snowboard freestyle events, which command the bulk of the dosh, but even that does not amount to a living wage.

Winter sports as a whole command fewer than five per cent of UK Sport’s annual £100m handout. “We were training in Italy a month ago. It cost us €150 a day just to use the track. We have definitely got the talent in this country. What we don’t have is the backing to allow us to train in the same way as our competitors. Our rivals are fully funded. They are not working on building sites after the gym in the morning. They get the right nutrition, the right coaching, the right support all laid on. They get to concentrate on what they are good at. I get to concentrate on what I’m good at after I have done a load of other stuff. It’s not a fair fight.”

30th November 2013 – Dave Ryding’s Sochi Fundraising Race

Posted on December 2, 2013 by zmetheringham

Lions Ski Club ran a new seeded race to raise funds to help David Ryding on his way to Sochi and the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. The race took place at Castleford on Saturday November 30th at 4pm. … The organisers plan to run the Minis race starting at 4pm with two runs on the same course. The slope will then be groomed and the other racers will start at 7pm.

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The day early evening split race format was brilliant, and the whole event was held in a fun race manner. Whilst being out numbered by Lions skiers, I tried to help some of the Under 8’s and 10’s and the novice racers on course inspection. As usual for a Lions course, the course setters had included a few bumps, so it was going to be a great incident packed race !

On my Run 1, after watching several of the U8 and 10’s fall at one gate, I also stumbled and had to use my strength to push off the snow to carry on down the course. Run 1 was a dissapointing time of 20.79 seconds, but I am beginning to understand how to correct my errors.

After watching the U12’s on the top of the course also struggle , I came up with a new plan of attack for Run 2. Lucas from the Lions in his 2nd Run posted a fast time of 19.04 seconds, so I had to push on my 2nd Run.

Following my plan of attack to hit the problem gate higher, I had a good run, ;although my Dad says I need to hit the finish line with more speed), I finished Run 2 with a 1st Place time (Under 10’s) time of 18.63 seconds.

Big thanks to Lions, Graham and Cathy Beck for organising and to Dave Ryding’s Parents for awarding the trophies.

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What This Week Brings – w/c 21st October 2013

Posted on October 19, 2013 by zmetheringham

Gravity SnowSports training camp at Hintertux this week, so off to Gatwick to Innsbruck then transfer to Hintertux.

Arrived Sunday into Innsbruck, super fast transfer to Hintertux and the amazing hotel Tiroler Hotel. Unload and check in, followed by walk to local shops to get food supplies.

Day 1 (Sunday) – hard day on GS skis for the very first time (Atomic 144 GS Redsters), which is about 16cm longer than my slalom skis. Glen training us to turn and cope with faster longer turns. So this AM on lots of fast slopes and after lunch (they do massive roast chicken lunches :-)) back on the slopes. Afternoon finished off with strength and conditioning.

Also new additions to my ski equipment, with a new massive nordica bag! it’s so big I can actually fit inside it.

And a great new blue POC race helmet and POC goggles!

Luckily my hired GS skis are being prep’d tonight by the hire shop, so dad gets a night off. But the hotel here is amazing and they let ski team use the basement garage to prep skis.

Last thing on day 1 is the news that the German men’s ski race team and the Austrian women’s B ski race team are staying at out hotel !

Day 2 (Monday) – more GS drills and exercises today, and onto a steeper slope to start generating more speed ! having a great time !

Really starting to get the hang of GS skis. They are totally different to SL and the technique has been difficult to start with, but Glen saying starting to get the hang of it.

Mum and Dad also seem to have a great time skiing as well ! Dad got much better after realizing his ski brake was dragging !

Like every afternoon, strength and conditioning.

Day 3 (Tuesday) consisted of more GS runs and drills along the long fast Hintertux slopes.

This week at our Hotel, the German Mens team are staying, they include the German No. 1 Felix Neureuther and Fritz Dopfer (both Nordica skiers) and Stefan Luitz. Also staying at our hotel, where the Austrian Womens B team and the Netherlands ParaOlympic Team. Great atmosphere in the hotel. The Mens and Ladies teams would be off to Soleden for the first FIS GS races of the season.

Day 4 (Wednesday) – Last day on the GS skis today. They have been hard to get used to at first but by the end of the four days really getting used to them and the method of turning. Been a big move from my Atomic Slalom skis at 125cm to Atomic GS skis at 144cm.

Our first (and only) day of bad weather on the slopes, but as Glen and Ben say, get used to it as you will have to race in it ! We also had a great session of emergency training from Glen, in terms of what to do in an accident, how to get down the mountain safely in a whiteout and general low visibility sking.

Day 5 (Thursday) – Onto Slalom skis for the next two days, which means first runs on my new Nordica SL skis.

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