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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!)

What this Week Brings – w/c 14th October 2013

Must look smart today for school pictures ! Fail !

Looking forward to SkiClub at school, as TGIS has teamed up with Gravity Snowsports to transfer 6/7 pupils from SonZone training into a Gravity Schools Programme.  So SkiClub for me now includes an hour of Gravity training.  (Big thanks to TGIS for organising).

Sunday was the last of the indoor races for 2013, so planning for the Alpine races and slope based training camps.  However need to finish my school Science project, “Space” before half term, as off to Tux !

This week also brings a rugby tournament at school on Wednesday.

12th October 2013 – BARSC Championships @ Chill Factore Manchester

Last indoor race of the year for me at the British Alpine Racing Ski Club Championships held at Chill Factore in Manchester.

Run 1, really went for it, but fell at the verticale, spectacular fall after getting some good air !, but still managed to finish (51.70 seconds)

Run 2, more cautious run, posted a time of 17:07 seconds, which gave me a 1st place some 0.35seconds quicker than Lucas from Lions (Thanks to Lions for the podium picture).

Happy with the podium, not so happy with my times, need to a. be more consistent with my runs, b. speed up, as I was 2.58seconds behind Oliver, who I will be racing against in the U12’s next year.

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Full results here.

Well done to Daniel Barton, winning the U16’s (6th overall) and winning as part of the International GS competition in the afternoon.

Also well done to Kayne at the ERSA Brentwood Plastic race, with a 2nd place behind Alex, which gave him a 2nd on the best of 4 (2x snow and 2x plastic) races in the ERSA Championships.

5th October 2013 – Slide2Sochi @ SnoZone MK

Helped Snowsports England with their Slide2Sochi promotion of Winter Olympics 2014 at Sochi with Sir Steve Redgrave, Graham Bell and Iwan Thomas, also in attendance was Heather Mills, at SnoZone MK today.

Glen and Ben of Gravity Snowsports set up a combined GS / Slalom timed run, which Sir Steve and Iwan sets times, with Graham Bell setting times on both skis and snowboard (Graham set a time of 12.38 on skis and Sir Steve on a time around 17.38 , Iwan 18.3- from memory).

Ski MK Race team members where invited to beat Sir Steve’s time.

Zac’s best time was 14.80 ! so he beat Sir Steve.

ITV Anglian coverage, with Zac at 1min 30seconds  http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/update/2013-10-06/sir-steve-redgrave-promotes-winter-sport/

1383898_10202110233506032_1588561784_nZac with his great friends, Oli Lloyd, Sir Steve and Miles Lloyd !

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Good luck for Sochi Heather !

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Iwen with Sarah and Riley from SMK

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Iwen checking out his time !

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http://www.planetski.eu/news/5380

2,500 people at UK Indoor Slope, this Saturday !  They were at the Snozone Milton Keynes today with Sir Steve Redgrave, Iwan Thomas and Graham Bell for the Slide2Sochi Winter Olympic roadshow. On offer were beginner snowsports sessions and plenty more.

The idea is to capitalise on the interest generated by the approaching Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and encourage people to take up skiing or snowboarding.

The Slide2Sochi event is touring round the slopes of the UK and today it was in Milton Keynes for one of its biggest events so far.

Joining the crowds were celebrities Sir Steve Redgrave, a qualified ski instructor who was giving out tips on the slope.

The five time Olympian and BBC Ski Sunday producer Graham Bell was giving snowboarding a go before clipping into his skis to set a time on the race course.

Also on hand was former 400m runner, Iwan Thomas, who was trying skiing again after a 20 year break.

To add to the Olympic buzz, GB junior snowboarders Becky Menday and Will Gilmore were also there.

“It has been a pleasure giving out tips to people who are trying skiing for the first time. I have always loved skiing with my family and it is great to see so many people here at Milton Keynes getting such pleasure from their skiing and snowboarding sessions,” said Sir Steve.

“There has been a real buzz about the day as we get excited ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi next year and to top the day off I even got to try and beat Graham Bell in the timed run. I thought I had done it when I looked at the leader board, but then realised he was on his snowboard!”

Here at PlanetSKI we have skied and raced with Sir Steve out in the Alps at the Crysta SkiFest in Sestiere – he can get quite competitive especially when racing against another Olympic rower.

What this Week Brings – w/c 30th September 2013

Hoping for a slower week after last weeks ski race and school sport fixtures.

Need to get on with my School Science Space project this week !

Monday brings a School Colts fixture against Bedford Modern School and TGIS Ski Club.

UPDATE: We lost 34:7, but some great improvements and hopefully the extra training ountil our next match it will all click.  School Report here.

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Tuesday is SMK Ski Training.

Thursday is GHFC football training.

Saturday I am taking part int the Slide2Sochi promotion event at SnoZone MK.  This is to promote Sochie and also to promote and encourage Ski and Boarding through  Go Ski Go Board taster sessions  www.goskigoboard.org.uk

Hopefully I will get a chance to race gates against Sir Steve Redgrave, Graham Bell and Tim Fawke of SSE.

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29th September 2013 – ERSA Championship – Snow Centre @ Hemel

Back down to earth with a bump, through either compliancy or tiredness (after a week of three ski races and two school rugby matches) ?  But not a great race meet for me!

ERSA Slalom, two runs with a combined time to count – Run 1 amazing fast run, but straddled a gate so DSQ, Run 2, with nothing to loose really went for a fast time – Face plant into the snow !

Well done to Alex from Norfolk (1st), Kayne (2nd) and Thomas (3rd) from Hemel.

Slalom Results link here

Again, thanks to all who organised and the volunteers (thank goodness that Dad didn’t have to commentate today ! couldn’t stand listening to him all day !)

SnowSports GBR & Atomic Indoor Race Series U10 Champion

It’s Official – I am the UNDER 10 SNOWSPORT GBR & ATOMIC INDOOR RACE SERIES CHAMPION !

I cant’ believe it, this is amazing, in my first year of indoor ski racing and I won the SnowSports GBR Indoor Race Series for the Under 10 Age Category.  I collected the Perpetual Trophy, a trophy to keep and a gift voucher from sponsors Atomic and Ski Bartlett on Saturday from SnowSports England CEO Tim Fawkes after the race at the Chill Factore in Manchester.

Out of the six races around the indoor courses around country, I ended up with three 1st Places, one 2nd Place, one 3rd Place and one race not attended.  My SMK team mate Kayne came 2nd overall, so well done Kayne and congratulations to George with 3rd!

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SnowSports GBR 2013 Indoor Series U10 Results

In 2014 I move up on the Indoor Series to the Under 12 age group, so the races will be harder, but as I told my Dad on Saturday, “my aim is to give back this U10 Trophy this time next year and collect the U12 one !

Hopefully Kayne will be pushing for the U10 next year !

Thanks to SMK team and coaches and Gravity Snowsports (Glen and Ben) for their consistent improvement in my ski training, technique and fitness, my School for their ever increasing support, Snowsports GBR for introducing a new U10 perpetual U10 Trophy, and Atomic & Ski Bartlett for sponsoring the race Series and the gift voucher, all the parents and volunteers who make the races happen and to my Mum and (the amazing ski prep’ing) Dad for helping me win this Series !

BRING ON 2014 !

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28th September 2013 – Snowsports England British Indoor Championships @ Chill Factore Manchester

Early start (5:00am) to travel up to Manchester this morning, and enjoyed having my gluten free cornflakes at 80mph ! whilst surrounded by my duvet ! Breakfast in Bed I called it.

The SnowSport England race today is the last SnowSport Indoor Race of the 2013 series.

SSE races for U10’s are around stubbies and the fastest of the two runs.

Run 1 I went for it and missed a gate on the tight section.

Run 2, after learning where I went wrong in Run 1 I approached the run in a more calculated way and nailed a winning time of 16.02 seconds, with Kayne running into 2nd Place with a Run 2 time of 16.80, and Lucas from Lions in 3rd with a time of 16.99 seconds.

20130928 SSE Brit Indoor Champ Results

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Racer-Ready Magazine Report link is here

23rd September 2013 – BISS Indoor Championships at Hemel

The Grove entered is first major competition, the British Independent Schools Ski Racing Championship (BISS) held at The Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead.  The U10, U12 and U14 categories attracted over 120 competitors representing schools from the South Coast to Colwyn Bay.

For three of The Grove team members, Michael Eddelston, Daniel Camish and Charlotte Ingram, representing the U12’s, this was their first experience of major slalom competition.  Charlotte overcame nerves following a fall on her first run to record a very respectable 18.95 sec time on her second run, whilst Daniel demonstrated great consistency with his first and second recorded times.  Michael defied convention improving his second run time by 0.58 sec.

I came 1st in the U10’s Boys with runs of 12.86 and 13.06 seconds, and an amazing 9th overall in the competition, which was dominated by U14’s ! (his time was on 0.39 seconds from a first place).

The Grove came a very respectable Joint 11th (with Bedford Modern) out of 25 Pre-Prep and Junior Prep Schools.

Emily Sarsfield, British No. 1 Ski Cross, presented the awards.  Good luck Emily, one of our Sochi hopefuls !DSCF1096

http://www.emilysarsfield.com/emilyskicross/home.html

Well done to the whole team, keep up the great work !

School Website Report

BISS results now posted on their website

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Under 10’s Ranking below.

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Overall Mens Result (Under 14, Under 12 and Under 10) below.

 

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Schools Ranking below.

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Zac and Daniel on Course inspection.

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Charlotte, Michael and Daniel after their first run !

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What this Week Brings – w/c 23rd September 2013

Busy week coming up;

Monday BISS (British Independent Schools Ski) Indoor Race at Hemel, The Grove has entered a team, comprising of Michael, Charlotte, Daniel and Zac.

UPDATE: Team did really well, I got a 1st in U10 an 9th Overall 

Monday afternoon, picked as scrum half again for The Grove Colts A team, and we are playing at home against Quinton House.

UPDATE: Colts played a hard match against Quinton House, which ended in a well deserved draw – team needs to work on pressure and rucks !

Tuesday, back to SMK for U10/U12 training session.

Wednesday is rugby again, but playing for the Junior Colts v Akeley Wood away.

UPDATE: Junior Colts, we lost to Akeley Wood

And then over the weekend, the Snowsports England British Championships at the Snow Factore in Manchester and then on Sunday, Part 2 Indoor Snow of the ERSA double header at Hemel.

UPDATE: Snowsports England British Indoor Championships on Saturday, Run 1 missed gate Run 2 winning time for Under 10’s (well done Kayne for 2nd place)

UPDATE: ERSA Championships on Sunday, Run 1 straddle gate whilst posting a great time so DQ, Run 2 really went for it as nothing to lose but fell on lower gate – bad day really (well done Kayne for 2nd place)

So a very busy week !! Busy for Dad also having to prep skis ! and he also prep’d Kaynes for Sunday ! is that why Kayne did so well !

NEW Ski’s Have Arrived !!

Massive surprise when I came home from school today ! Thanks Mum and Dad !

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Hard rugby match at school this afternoon. Playing in Under 11 Colts, so playing up a year, as Scrum half, against Akeley Wood U11 A Team for one half and B Team for second half. As it was our first match, we lost against a well drilled A Team by 7 converted tries. Second half, we ran in 5 unconverted tries to Zil.

Great second half performance from our team. Dad says I played well, great tackling and pressure, played well at scrum half with a mix of runs from scrum, pass outs and a couple of great kicks, oh and a Try.

School match report

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