Jamie- European Christmas

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and that santa came through with some good presents!

I spent my Christmas in Leogang, Austria with Nick and some fellow Kiwis and Australians. It was a relaxing day with some ice/ drifting go-carting and a big turkey feast. 

My first 2 European SX races have been frustrating. My qualifying runs did not make the cut of top 32. I had some good feeling on the skis and thought I had performed well but have been way off on the clock. In SX there is a lot of flat ski running and the first two european races have been very flat and open courses, as a result I have learnt just how important having fast skis is but also having multiple prepared skis with different wax temperatures for the always changing variables of how the snow/ weather will end up. It is a challenge preparing my own skis when the majority of my competitors have a specific ski technician but I am up for the challenge. 

The last few days I have been able to train some very aggressive rollers. It is a line of 12 rollers in a row  with the goal being to absorb and create speed. I have made some remarkable improvements in one of the important aspect of SX.  

For now it is off to the gym, a few more days training and then to catch the train up to Berlin for New Years celebration with both my brothers and a large group of NZ friends. We are all really looking forward to it and will be a good break from my hectic schedule on the snow. 

Check out some of the photos below!

I have done a heap of driving the last few weeks- Hitting the Autobahn

Puked snow for 3 days in Val Thorens

Go-carting, ice drifting

Flumseburg, Switzerland Powder day

Not a bad view...

Ski Cross has sexy dancers!

Val Thorens Start feature

San Candido- Italy

Nick- Canada part 1

Well the racing is all wrapped up in Canada for now. Little disappointing, however there are still positives I can take onwards. I will be back for the Nakiska Nor-Am finals in March to get my revenge!

I will be flying out to Europe today with the team and will meet up with Jamie in Leogang, Austria for Christmas. Then the plan is for both of us to train up to Berlin for a New Years break where we will meet Sam for a brothers reunion.

So the past two weeks racing..

 I was pumped up for the Nor-Am GS's, I was skiing well and ready to race. I skied respectively the first day, a few mistakes here and there. The 2nd day I was having a good run, 21st on the halfway split but went down on my hip 3/4 of the way down. Promising.

The Super-G track at Panorama is awesome fun, I was happy with my results in both races considering my build up prep. A couple of not quite perfect turns cost me any chance of a result.

Moving onto the FIS races, my GS performances were disappointing. Hooking a gate with my hand first day ruined any chances of a podium and then the 2nd day I had a date with the B-net. No injuries so that is a positive.

In the Slalom's I managed to score a 43 point result. Feels good to be knocking my Slalom points down, but there is definitely more room for improvement there.

To summarise the series, I would say I was guilty of scrubbing speed on a track where you have to keep your speed going all the way down to be fast.

We will have 2 weeks training before our next race to work hard and smooth out the issues exposed from the series. I am hungry to get back out there, I don't like losing!

Merry Christmas!

Nick- Pre Race

Hi.

First off, results are out and another successful year of uni is ticked off. Grades were OK, but it makes it difficult when you only get to a couple of lectures in the 2nd semester!

My big news is, I have to been awarded an Inspire Foundation Grant. It is a real privilege to be involved with such a great foundation and I am looking forward to attending the awesome workshops they run when I get back to NZ. The opportunity to surround myself with other top athletes from Canterbury will be very beneficial.

On snow my skiing has been progressing really nicely. My GS is fast and even my Slalom is ripping! Super-G I have been struggling to find my platform at the top of the turn, but it is coming along.

The first races of the season will begin on Wednesday, here at Panorama. These races are a Nor-Am Cup with 2xSL, 2xGS and 2xSG. After that, we will have 2xGS and 2xSL FIS races, again at Panorama before flying out to Austria on the 23rd.

I am excited to get my race season under way. I have had great training over the last month which has set my base for the season, everything is going to plan. I feel good.

Dumping snow.

Jamie- World Cup SX Debut

I have just completed my first Ski Cross World Cup at Nakiska, Canada.
The race track was amazing with lots of different features over the 1.2km long course. I had a blast with the training runs and was ready to attack. Each skier of the 70 male athletes/ 19 countries has to qualify (individual time trial) in order to make it through to the final knockout rounds of the top 32 men.
In the qualifying run I skied aggressively attacking the line where I could and ended up sooooo close to making the cut, only a whisker 0.07sec short. There were a few jumps where I got more air than expected, costing valuable time. So it was a mixed bag of feelings, proud to have put down a competitive run and pleased to beat some skiers who have previously won SX World Cups but frustrated at being oh so close to that next stage.

This has left me even more hungry to put in the hard work and try and be more competitive in this sport. Unfortunately I am not able to make it the next WC race in Colorado, USA, however I fly to Europe tomorrow and will be getting some equipment sorted and prepared for the next Audi World Cup in Val Thorens, France on the 18th December, so stay tuned for updates and follow me on my journey around the circuit.

Hope you enjoy the photos/ video below.

Canadian Traffic

Ski Testing

My turn- Driving an Audi S4 2013 during the Audi Driving Experience  

Inspection with the Aussy's 

Mens Final

World Cup Debut

Snowmible jump beside the SX finish area

Upside down snowmobile 

Special thanks to internationalracer.com for letting me use their base in Canmore- Check out their website.

A few bumps and bruisers

(25th November)

Our first training block is almost over. Jamie will be heading to Canmore on Sunday, while Nick will be joined by Nils and the team in Panorama on Monday. For this last week, we have had a great block of GS, training with the Australian Ski X team and Quebec team.

The bad news... Jamie dislocated his hand on Monday and had to wait a long 4 hours before it was put back in place. This has resulted in torn ligaments around his thumb. He has been in a cast for the last 4 days and is hitching his way to Invermere today to get a better/smaller version made. He has managed to train (with a couple of socks over his hand) and hoping it will not cause him too many troubles pushing out of the start gate in Ski X.

Nick has had a few good crashes throughout the week leaving him with some decent bruises on his hips and legs. But pushing boundaries is all part of this learning phase.

The good news... Due to limited runs open at the moment, we have had high numbers of athletes training in our courses. This has meant the snow surface is just like it is in a race. Has been a huge benefit training in these conditions. Even though we have had our frustrating moments, we have progressed each day and have learnt a great deal.

It is now time for us to split up and continue on our own paths. We will keep you updated on what each of us are up to. Coming up we have; Jamie racing his first World Cup Ski X at Nakiska on the 7th December and Nick begins his racing season with the Nor-Ams at Panorama on the 14th December.

Hope you enjoy the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xZmU4LbOlA

Ski in, ski out!

We have arrived in Canada!

We are sitting in our sweet room at Panorama Mountain which overlooks the main slopes,writing this blog, reflecting on the first 3 days on snow. Feeling a little stuffed from the high volume of skiing. Everything is soooo convenient, slopes, gym, hot pools right on the doorstep.  Would have to say, we love it here!

There were a few hassles getting over here... We were on board our plane at Auckland ready for departure, movies selected and soon were informed there was an oil leak and everyone would need to disembark the plane and switch to a new aircraft. Meaning we missed our connection flight to Calgary. Only hassle with that, was we got left with having to re-check in our luggage in Vancouver. Air New Zealand's deal with extra bags obviously didn't apply in Canada!!! It took some serious sweet talking for them to see it our way. Finally, after missing out on our first standby flight, we made it to Calgary.

More importantly our skiing feels good, it doesn't feel like we have been off snow at all. Right on track! We have been free-skiing and some training in brushes and hopefully gates tomorrow.

The snow here is a little lean with only 2 runs open at the moment. However, the guns will be going all night and snow is forecast on Sunday.

Check out the photos below and keep an eye out for our next post.

New Helmet set up!

Flying over Vancouver

Not a bad view from our room

Nick

Jamie- rocking his new Helly Hansen gear.

New endeavours

The most important news to kick off this post, Jamie is chasing a new dream! This season Jamie will be racing the World Cup circuit for Ski Cross.

Our second piece of exciting news is the contract we have signed with Shred and Slytech, brilliant protection gear with rad designs and graphics. Super stoked to be part of the Shred team!

So here is an outline of our plans with the departure date set for the 14th November.

We both head to Panorama, Canada for early season training. Panorama is an amazing mountain village set up with on snow accommodation and perfect slopes for start of the season technical progressions. After 2 weeks together, Jamie heads to Nakiska to work in with the Australian Ski Cross team in preparation for the first World Cup of the season in Nakiska December the 7th. He then makes his way onto Europe getting himself organised with equipment, car for a busy season chasing WC's all over Europe.

Nick will be joined at Panorama by Nils and Australian/ NZ athletes and this will be his training team for most of the season. The team will race the Nor-Am's and FIS series pre Xmas before continuing onto Europe, based in Leoganag, Austria at the Australian HQ.

The key event of this season will be the World Champs at Schladming, Austria. Located in the heart of the Mecca of ski racing this event is sure to be mind blowing. See picture below, Check out the Schladming 2013 website.

As for dryland training, both of us are feeling in great shape. We have added in some more variety to
our training and smashing the weights.

Is a busy time with University end of year exams. We have been cramming in the study, so the days are full with dryland and all the planning for NH. Nick has just finished his exams whilst Jamie has a harsh timetable, with his last exam on the last scheduled exam slot!!

Bring on the season 2012/2013.......

PS. Thank you very much to Ian and Anna Bright for their help and support with Atomic over the last 5 years.

For those who don't know, here is a video about ski cross.


If you like to see crashes, go to 2.25min

Teaser for World Champs- Schladming Austria, night slalom.

Study.... too much of this

Backyard start ramp!

Out of our control

Robbed of Opportunities!!

Mt Hutt ANC finals have wrapped up the end of the racing season, frustratingly only managing to get 1 race away out of 8. For some reason the worst week of Nor-Westers decided to wreck havoc with the races. Everyone was hugely disappointed including us! It was a great opportunity to perform against strong international teams on our home mountain. In the one slalom race nonetheless, Jamie and Nick placed 1st and 2nd NZer's.

We did however make the most of one of the closed days to check out Mount Olympus for a powder day which was a great adventure involving; awesome powder, nut-crackers and rope tows, getting stuck! and a wrecked tyre.

Tracking backwards to our National Champs at Coronet Peak a week earlier, we picked up 5 national podiums between us in the GS and SL. Nick scored a PB 26 points to match his 26 from Cardrona, placing 2nd behind Ben Griffin and 1st Junior.

In the Slalom a costly mistake by Jamie robbed him of a national title, placing 2nd behind Adam Barwood with Nick rounding out the podium in 3rd place and also taking 2nd place in the Juniors.

All in all, a trying season with opportunities lost due to the mysterious weather of the NZ mountains.

For now we are back to University to catch up on missed work and we will then make the most  of Mt Hutt's awesome snow for some spring training.

Our Northern Hemisphere plans are coming together with the focus on making the Sochi Olympic criteria for 2014!!!

Nick- National J Title

Jamie 2nd, Nick 3rd, Barwood 1st -National Slalom,

Ready to drop in- Olympus Freshy's

Nick and Taylor

Well and truly stuck- attempting to go through 70cm wind drifts

Buldozer- had to clear road after towing us out!

Jamie- Downhill

Nick- Flying 60m distance on DH jump

Races, races, races!

The 2012 racing season kicked off at Cardrona with 2xSL and 2xGS. There is always a lot of anticipation for the first race with nerves flowing through the system and excitement for the race!

The first day of the SL saw a good result for Jamie, placing 3rd and scoring a 33 and Nick halving his start position to place 14th.

Day 2 Jamie skiied awesomely, with 2nd place after first run, 0.30 off the lead. A less than perfect 2nd run dropped him into 3rd, however Jamie recorded a PB by breaking 30 points with a smooth 29 pointer. Pretty happy to be racing to the level we have been training at.

In the GS, softer snow added a challenge. A 6th place from Nick scored him a PB 26 points and Jamie just half a second back in 11th with a 32 point result.

Day two of the GS. Well.... The day started with fog flowing through the course. We both knew the fastest guys that day would be the ones who attacked the course, even with low visibility. Nick skied into first place and Jamie into 4th!!! We were both super pumped and couldn't wait to consolidate our positions for the second run. BUT the storm came in. With no visibility we waited in the cafe... Delayed till 1.. delayed till 1:45... delayed till 230. Unfortunately the weather didn't play ball, the race was cancelled. Bugger!

JAP FIS at Coronet Peak was the next race series in the calendar, and even though we both really enjoyed racing on the new GS piste, we had mixed results in the races.

ANC GS and SL followed next and once again we were not overly happy with the outcome, however taking the positives out of the series, we both managed to pick up some ANC points which will be crucial for start numbers at Mt Hutt.

Currently, we are back at Mt Hutt taking advantage of some amazing speed training with the Canadian Women's Team. Superb weather, big jumps (60 meter distance!) and even some awesome freeskiing. What more could you ask for!!!

Check out some cool photos below;

Jamie on the Podium!! Zampa SLK 1st, Stiegler USA 2nd.

Full length Super G training

Rakaia Saddle Mt Hutt

Brother Sam- Off the back of Hutt

Top of the new race hill at Coronet

Jamie- looking from the back of Coronet

Nick and Finlay Neeson -Lake Wanaka, pristine!

Jamie- mid winter ski!

Stage 1.... Complete!

Our first block of training has been a great success, we are pretty happy with where we are at. As confidence grew, it was great to feel progressive changes in our skiing each day.

We kicked off the season training under Nils at Mt Hutt with good technical focus enjoying the easier terrain of Johny Doles Run, before joining Chris Mosaed alongside Team Hutt.
Then it was off to Coronet Peak where we found Race Arena (Rocky Gully) to have more terrain in it at the moment than we have ever skiied before. The first day was a bit of a shock to the system- the movements were not there and it was quite challenging. However as the camp went on we both adapted and started skiing better and better. Great to get the grips of steeper demanding slopes and Nils was really happy with the progress which is always a bonus!

We are now back home in CHCH, getting semester 2 underway at university, having a break off snow to re-cooperate, so we can charge into the rest of the season!

In other big news Jamie has a new equipment sponsor with Stockli!!! The support from Brandex with Atomic has been great and its a huge thanks to Ian and his team. Jamie is really looking forward to working with Stockli from Switzerland. None of this could have happened without the massive effort from Adi in sorting out this amazing sponsorship deal. This will ensure he has access to top equipment and Stockli are well known to have some of the fastest bases!

Check out some cool photos below, special thanks to Rohan Coull for the amazing skiing photos above the clouds at Coronet Peak.

Jamie's new Stockli skis have arrived!

Dryland training- Ice hockey on a natural pond below Coronet

Spinning it out with Lance watching from behind

Jamie diving into the clouds

Nick- working all the terrain, Coronet, Race arena

Coach Nils

Jamie

Jamie

Mt Cook