Blog
Back on form!!!
Fair few junior titles....
15th February 2012 at 10:33PM
Today went pretty well overall, Aza didn't make sub 150 but he gave it a damn good shot to get his 2nd DNF of his FIS career.
The other juniors had a mixed day, my course took a few people out with some tight turns and a jump over the last roll. Barney didnt make it past the first pitch, Peter got caught out lower down and Thomasine's ski came off. On the other hand Vi won Jnr 1 girls over some strong skiers making 85 points in the process, Kieran won Jnr 1 boys, and scored a 107, and Imi made her 2nd best result of the winter (59) winning Jnr 2 girls at the same time. Roy Steudle, even with a huge error up top, managed to hold onto 2nd place for jnr 2 boys... so we just missed out on a clean sweep.
Rumour has it Izzy finished 3rd in the Children's GS today too.....! A pretty good day for the Taylor family!
Last race tomorrow for the juniors, lets hope we finish on a high.
(pics will follow soon).
Peace Out.
:-/
Hmmmmm....
14th February 2012 at 03:01PM
Today went ok.... We had a few podium places with Violet placing 2nd Junior 1, Kieran 3rd Junior 1 and Ashley 1st Junior 2 but overall this was not the best day for the juniors. We didnt do badly at all, most of the guys still made bPB's or 2nd results but at the same time, there were no real 'wow' moments - the guys skied ok but not to the level they have shown in previous days and not to their own expectations.
I'm shooting off back up to set 1st run for tomorrow, lets hope that brings us back to form and kicking butt.
Sorry for the lack of pictures, i was at prize-giving but a combination of a ridiculous queue in the pizzeria, an hour long break before prize-giving and Ashley's mates driving past him meant our athletes were not. We applauded the gap where they should have been and apologised after.
Fingers crossed for tomorrow - Aza is going to make under 150. I can feel it.
:-)
Smiley face for another good day.
13th February 2012 at 09:06PM
Today was another good day for Ambition. Thomasine Nilsone Wrede destroyed her personal best with a result of 74 points in GS. Luke Riddell and the other boys also had results but not with the same level of skiing they are capable of - they were all much better on the 2nd run technically but had left themselves with a lot to do from the 1st.
The Ambition Children also had some positive results that i was happy with and Benn will post that seperately.
Onto the actual English Championships tomorrow!
Roy Steudle in action today. Skiing into 1st GBR position.
Off to a good start!
First day of racing for the kids in Bormio
13th February 2012 at 08:50PM
Well, considering the severly bad luck we had at the last race we went to, today couldn't have been much different really! We saw some awesome skiing from every single one of the kids today, and whilst it wasn't always consistent, there was still some pretty good stuff going on. Two podiums today to top it off too, with Anna coming 2nd in CH2 and Ella skiing two of the best runs I've seen from her to end up 3rd in CH1 against some stiff competition.
Special mention has to go to Izzy too though, who came back from a pretty spectacular crash on the first run (makes for some great video) to ski a blinder second run with the 4th fastest time. Two runs like that on Wednesday from her and she'll be well up there!
We even had Rick (our resident teacher) on hand today today take some snaps of the guys in action, and whilst we've got plenty of sweet shots, I'm afraid our internet is only giving me time to upload one... So here's a shot of Anna ripping it up today.
A short morning of GS training on Oga tomorrow before we race on Wednesday again!
Benn
Proud.
Another good day at the office....
12th February 2012 at 06:12PM
Max Asquith came on the radio before his first run today and said 'i'm gonna make you proud', i replied with 'i am already just make sure you ski fast!'.
That sums up how i feel about the team right now, we are at the stage where i feel the ball is really rolling for a number of the Ambition Juniors, we have worked damn hard since last April and the benefits we are starting to see are awesome. I am proud, i take pride in the work i do and i am proud to work with the athletes we have here this season, i really do not care about the exact positions now, i am more interested in the rate of improvement, which at the moment is incredibly fast.
Today it was Beth Widdup's turn to claim a spot on the Jnr 1 girls podium (3rd), while Imi took 5th overall with a blistering second run. Violet also showed some great skiing in the top half of the 2nd run. In the boys race, Barney and Kieran made the top 30 (kieran from bib 50), and while Barney completed the 2nd run to make his best slalom points (81), Kieran sadly fell and did not complete - a shame but i am not too worried as he is now skiing fast each and every run.
Onto tomorrow NJR GS....
1-2-3 for A-M-B
Barsc Super-G goes well for Ambition.
11th February 2012 at 10:31PM
So the older Ambition boys showed the rest how to do it today when Brad, Roy and Ash took all 3 places on the GBR podium for Ambition.
We had an awesome day with so many of the guys making PB results - the one to note for the future however was Kieran Norris, he skied into an aweomse 6th GBR position to make his best result to date (84 points). When i got to the bottom i told him it was ok but i'd seen him ski better..... good news considering he was still fast with the run he had.
In a tough sport, it is great that the hard ward the Ambition athletes have put in has been rewarded, also for all the parents putting the time and finance behind their offspring - to get some hard results on the board is a great feeling all round.
The athletes are tired, they are pushing hard and the team spirit is awesome at the moment.
We are both proud and happy and that is from all the staff.
Great to see a few old faces too - Ed and Bev Stephens coming out and supporting the team.
Fingers crossed for tomorrow!
Setting the scene....
few pics from setting this evening....
10th February 2012 at 10:04PM
Making way for the machines in a hurry.... Emily, Jo and Chris..
Getting the piste ready for our fresh tracks....
Jut directing traffic.......
Back in the Borm...
Good to be back...
10th February 2012 at 01:55PM
Well we are here now and i'll come onto today in a moment but first wanted to post the training times from the GS training on Wednesday.
We had a great week of training in Hinterreit and Leogang this week, it has been damn cold so the quanitity has been relatively low but the quality of skiing has been good and i am very positive about this weeks racing as a result.
Today we ran the SG training in Bormio which was very successful. Approximately 55 athletes took part, we started on time, did 3 training runs and were finished at 11.30. All the nets are in place so i am hoping tomorrow will be the a great day for British racing when we start and finish on time.
We have had a tough program leading up to the English and with today's training finishing on time, the athletes have had plenty of time to get the skis prepped and actually have an afternoon off. Something they have been in need of. Peter and Barney also skied today and while it is even colder here than in Austria, they managed to make it through the morning without many problems.
Tomorrow will be the BARSC SG Race, lets hope the Ambition athletes can stamp their authority on a piste that they know very well.
Me and Jutty will be off up to re-set at 4.30pm. Today's course ran pretty well, going off the larger side of the Cuik jump - something i have not set on the Stelvio piste before - lets hope the re-set runs just as well.
I could have done with a set of boot heaters today that's for sure!!!
Set and ready....
Last day of slalom before English Champs...
7th February 2012 at 09:15PM
Today went pretty well, the junior team that started 15 strong in October was down to 7 today....!! Every cloud however - we made the most of the smaller group and it was an especially good day for Thomasine Nilson-Wrede who was pretty fast down Hinterreit. The slope is solid there and you pick up speed so quick, its awesome to watch! Noel Baxter joined us with Jimmy (physio) and Alex (tech) for a few runs while he comes back from a knee op, great for Kieran, Max and Luke (the last 3 boys standing) to compare their times to see where they are at.
The guys were especially excited about meeting Julia Mancuso though who posed for a few pics with the Ambition girls after training, Jutty had a question for her but im not sure he got round to asking.... might of been one for her and Vonn though.
Lets see who can come up with the closest guess and to what Jutty's question was........
Bitter - Sweet.
The good, the bad and the ugly....
6th February 2012 at 10:13PM
So i'm the good obviously.... Jutty is the bad.... and well..... he can be the ugly too...!!
In all seriousness, it's been a tough few days, we kicked off in gates yesterday with a full-on drill course session in Maria Alm - suicides / 3x3's / line drills / leaning towers, all to improve basic skills of ski racing. By the end we had the nippers clearing a lot better and had the juniors moving their feet pretty damn fast through the various flush combinations. (this is the good news)
At the same time, the kids were racing in Piesendorf at an Austrian children's race. Great to get that experience but by the end of the day we had lost Will and Beth Soman to injury. Both will be out until the end of the season and beyond which is really sad news (that is the Ugly news)
Today we had an awesome day on Hinterreit with the juniors, Kieran, Barney and Peter all skiing brilliantly and pushing to be fastest having won 1 run each by the 4th run. The girls looked alot stronger too after yesterdays 'drills' day, taking the exits in a much stronger position. Then, a few niggles were seen to and it appears the blister on Barney's toe is the start of frostbite and somehow Peter's nail is coming off, sidelining him for the next few days.
Its the end of a long day and i'm not sure weather to be pumped, sad or just pissed off. Mix of all 3 i think. Tomorrow we are on for slalom again in lane 4, as Vonn, Mancuso and Reisch are taking up the first 3 lanes - pretty cool and something to look forward to there!
Night.
One of those days...
...where a bit more luck wouldn't have gone amiss!
5th February 2012 at 08:25PM
So today all of Ambition's children athletes took part in a local race, part of a series known as the Bezirkscup. Being part of the local Leogang ski club meant that all of our kids (apart from those born 2000 or later) could compete in a race predominantly for the region's best up and coming skiers. Today was a 2-run slalom race in Piesendorf on a hill that, at first glace, didn't seem to bad at all: a little steep on the top half, flat as pancake on the bottom.
On closer inspection though, it turned out the piste had been heavily injected, turned into something best described as an ice rink really, particularly on skier's left. Suffice to say, this made things pretty difficult for almost all of the racers, whether they were British, American or Austrian. All of our guys gave it a really good go, some really attacking it, some being more fortunate than others. Izzy and Freya made it down the first run (the much tougher, icier side of the slope) in order to give it full attack on the second which they certainly did, with some great skiing along the flat at the bottom!
Unfortunately the day was not so positive for others. As the day went by, both myself and Aaron slowly realised that it was one of those days where luck just didn't seem to be on our side. Unfortunately Beth took a tumble early on on the first run, binding pre-releasing and her subsequently tipping the next gate. After a coach making a fall of himself boot skiing down to her on the ice rink and a trip to hospital, it turned out she'd fractured both her tibia and fibula, which just goes to show sometimes how a small crash in slalom can have serious implications. Following that, after some free-skiing runs after the race, Will caught an edge and landed awkardly on his bad knee: another trip to the hospital to get it bandaged up and crutched for weight-bearing for a few days.
Even after over 100 racers there was hardly a scratch on the course...
So, definitely a great learning experience for all our guys who got their first taste of ski racing on seriously injected snow. Most the guys are pretty bummed out by Beth's injury but we all of course wish her all the best with her speedy recovery. There's absolutely no doubt everybody wants to see her back out here ASAP on skis again!
So... a day certainly put down to experience, but no less valuable for everybody!
Benn
Here, there and everywhere.
Welsh Champs / Megeve Round-Up.
29th January 2012 at 03:38PM
Better late than never, the 27th Jan was a busy day.... i started off in Champery, drove to Megeve, then from Megeve to Geneva and finally from Genvea back to Flaine. Making best use of the vignette and the parking in Geneva where myself, Benn and Justin unloaded and re-loaded (so far so good, i was sure we would miss something but the only thing that has gone missing so far has been my skis which were stolen in Les Crosets).
The 2nd day at the Welsh was another success for Ambition, we had Will Wheeler take the overall win for the 2nd day in a row, while Ella and Olivia Ward held form taking 1st and 2nd again for children 1. Izzy Taylor also graced the podium for the first time this year to take 3rd in CH2 girl - i think she was getting tired of seeing her sister's name up on this blog and thought it was time a different 'Taylor' was up!
In Megeve meanwhile, we were having a mixed morning, Imi and Thomasine went hard at the GS which was great to see but some huge errors in line saw them both on the DNF list. The boys meanwhile picked up their game from the day before with Tom placing 8th after the first run and Luke Riddell skiing from 51st into 24th on the first run. Kieran had a reasonable run but was lacking the aggression that we see from him in training and Peter was a little straight over the same rise that caught the girls out.
The 2nd run was pretty exciting as Luke finished with a solid run, nothing special but good enough to land him a 90 point result - his best to date. Tom also had a result, making a tenth up on the leader from the first run to score a 63.
So, it is all starting to come together again at Ambition, lots of good results, high confidence and skiers that are challenging the big names for their age.
Head down, Work hard. Simple.
(Just paid 6.40€ for an orange juice in Flaine. Bring back Leogang.... or Bormio)
A good day all round!
Plenty of medals for Ambition's children on the first day of the Welsh Champs
26th January 2012 at 08:28PM
Well we woke up to blue skies and sunshine this morning for the first time in a while, which could only have meant good things for the day ahead.
The guys were all in high spirits and raring to go for the slalom race today, and I think it was fair to say that almost everybody had a pretty positive day. The only exception being Olivia Ward who had a bit of a head-on collision with a member of the public just outside the race piste after her first run, yet even with a pretty sore left leg, she soldiered on through the second run to maintain her second place in CH1, beaten only by her big sister Ella, who comfortably took gold in CH1 today to be crowned Welsh slalom champ for her age.
Big well done to Alice Taylor today who skied two really solid runs to end up 3rd in CH2. Considering she felt that she could've gone even better today, hopefully she can build on it and go one or two places better tomorrow! It was great to see Freya really happy with her skiing today, particularly on her second run (skiing a brilliant steep section compared to most others), and with her GS looking even stronger at the moment, we could well see a great performance from her tomorrow. Izzy Taylor had a bit of an unlucky day today, not faring so well with the steep partly due to bindings pre-releasing. Particularly frustrating for her considering how well she's been skiing in training recently with her making some big steps forwards. But, tomorrow's a new days and I'm sure she's more determined than ever to lay 2 runs down.
Last but not least though, huge congrats have to go to Will Wheeler, who, having skied 3 really good days of training - banging in solid run after solid run - did it today in the race, producing two top notch runs to run away with the win. Will's finally reaping the rewards of almost a year of really hard work, and fingers crossed he can make it two in a row tomorrow!
It wasn't just a good day for medals though, it was a great day for all the younger or newer athletes with us this week, like Lucas Burton and Joe Constantine, who both put the last few days of training into action today, and I was really chuffed to see them skiing so well. I have no doubt that things will go even better for them tomorrow too! Rob Waghorne, having only done one slalom race before in his entire life, skied a brilliant first run today to be only 4 seconds off Will, but unfortunately suffered from a case of bindings pre-releasing on his second run on the steep, but this has only made him more determined to go out there and do the business two runs in a row tomorrow.
So all in all, a pretty damn good day for Ambition. GS tomorrow, where most the guys are looking even stronger at the moment, so hopefully I'll be reporting back with even more good news tomorrow!
Benn
Back to the CIT tour....
Megeve CIT Super-G
26th January 2012 at 08:25PM
Today was another great day for Ambition, Benn's blog is probably on here by now about the children who had an awesome day in Les Crosets. At the same time, some of the juniors left here at 6.30 to arrive in Megeve for the CIT Super-G races.
It was another great performance from Imogen Taylor, who started the race ranked 5th and ended up taking 2nd place on the podium. She did not make a points result but she read the course well and skied an attacking run throughout. This is good progress from our races last week in Austria. Thomasine also put in a good performance after some initial nerves to score her best points result. The boys gave it a good shot and there were some good sections, nothing special today but it was good to get back on the long skis and have another shot.
Onto GS tomorrow, for the juniors in Megeve and the kids in Les Croset. Lets hope we have more good news to report then!
Blood (nearly), Sweat (lots) and Tears (a few).
Welsh Champs Jnr Round-up.
25th January 2012 at 05:46PM
The days have been long and hard at the Welsh Champs, with 120 competitors in GS and 100 in slalom, my original plan of training each afternoon was thwarted by a dodgy few days.
We had great prep for these races, on the 23rd we had a slalom timing session followed by race simulation with the whole Ambition Team on the GS race piste. Some of the kids giving the juniors a run for their money and Imi taking the fastest time of the session, much to the disappointment of the boys (who made some dodgy excuses about ruts - apparently our 1999 & 2000 births make big holes - Nat).
Anyway, the GS race was set to be a cracker with awesome bibs for the boys and an even better penalty than we expected. The girls race seemed ok on paper also with Imi and Thomasine going for the top spots.
The day started off with a 2 hour delay after timing failure. So we waited and kicked off at midday.... Imi came down with an ok run to place 4th, while Thomasine skied brilliantly to keep in touch with the leaders. All seemed ok, although the holds did drag on for a while. The girls had a few problems with the soft snow on the second run and while Thomasine recorded another great result with 90 points, Imi did not start due to a back problem after being whipped by a gate on the first run.
By this time it was 3.20 and the TD decided the course was not in great shape - (there were 2 gates that needed work). Myself and the referee asked for 10 minutes to get the slope right and after sweating a few litres and calling other coaches in from the start we were ready to go. Peter, Barney, Kieran and Luke had all made the top 30, were all within 4.5 seconds of the leader and were all on to make PB results - something that would have really helped this young group.
But in true IDIOT style, the TD decided not to even come and check the work done on the piste, instead cancelling the boys race. All the prep, shovelling and graft wasted without even checking. The time was 3.45, we had 55 men to go and the slope was in better condition than the first run, we had the blue dye out and there were people working their butts off to make it happen. I spoke to the TD who said he didnt understand what i was saying... i think i was using a universal language.
Anyway, today went a little better, we managed to finish the race at least. AND IMI WON making a 64, her best slalom result to date!!!! She was seeded about 8th and went into the lead after the first run before skiing a great 2nd run to win overall. Thomasine also made a PB result, 103 points, another step in the right direction.
In the boys race, we never got to see Kieran show his skill after his ski came off on the pitch, Barney and Peter got to the finish however, making the top 30 in the process and Aza negotiated the ruts extremely well to keep in the mix. On the 2nd run, Barney was alike a man possessed, moving from 22nd into 8th, with the 3rd fastest second run, awesome skiing from him. Peter had a few mistakes but still skied a decent run and Aza scored his best result by a mile, hanging in when the going got tough and improving all the time - Great job Max - he is doing all of this with true determination while praying for a growth spurt!!!
Onto Megeve for SG races tomorrow, while the kids kick off their Welsh champs challenge.... lets hope it runs a little more smoothly than ours did!
Been a little slack.....
Now in Champery for the Welsh...
23rd January 2012 at 07:19AM
Been a bit slack on the blog what with all the travelling about towards the end of last week.......
Anyway we are now in Les Crosets where we are getting ready for the welsh champs with most of the Ambition juniors and children, despite a crappy start with rain and soft snow yesterday, the sun came out and the slopes have frozen overnight, we are just heading out.
We made a bit of a rutline with the guys yesterday to get used to the bumps so that was a pretty cool way to start, the whole team watching each other nail through the troughs - Max Asquith pulling a front flip out of one!
Will keep you posted!!
Maria Maria.....
Maria Alm for the girls, Lackenhof for the boys....
17th January 2012 at 08:36PM
Not a bad day as such considering the company we were in at Maria Alm. Imi skied pretty well and kept up with the girls around her but didn't quite manage to re-create yesterday's form - the ruts hindered our performance a little today but on the plus side, the last week of racing has given us a chance to work out exactly why Imi is fast/slow and where she is gaining/losing speed. So we have a little more info to work with now. We are looking forward to racing on Hinterreit in February that's for sure.
For the boys, i hear they are trying to find their feet a little at the CIT slaloms, bibs under 100 for once so not a bad race on the face of it. Pressure is on to get some better results tomorrow for Luke and Max.
Myself and Imi will shoot off to Spital for 2x SG's after tomorrow's race while Max and Luke arrive home with Justin, ready for the Maria Alm NJR GS races.
Busy busy as ever - check out the start list from today. Not a bad field!
Getting it right at Hinterreit!
Imi Taylor shows best GS form to date while boys nail the SG in Radstadt
16th January 2012 at 10:55PM
While December was a pretty tough month where snow conditions hindered our ability to race, early January has seen record snowfalls in Austria, also hindering our ability to compete with races being cancelled left, right and centre...
But there is light at the end of tunnel, or more in the sky as today was perfectly clear and damn cold! Imi was on fire in GS training today, leading the 2nd & 3rd runs on the timing session that included girls on less than 30 GS points. Point taken Imi, you are better on the steeper, injected slopes than on soft snow on the flats. We are feeling very positive indeed for tomorrow's race in Maria Alm!
Meanwhile over in Radstadt, Luke Riddell and Max Asquith got their 2nd FIS Super-G's and Super-Combi's under their belt, Luke with a stronger performance and Max getting used to going fast on a pair of skis that at full reach he would struggle to touch the tip. All new experiences for these 2 and i was glad to hear from Justin that they both made positive changes on yesterday and were both in the finish.
All of this alongside Kieran's result from last week really makes me feel like we have got the ball rolling now. Hopefully the weather will stay calm and the guys can carry this momentum through to February.
Here's one of Imi's runs from today..... Think she is better suited to Hinterreit than Turnau!
Home sweet home....
Onto Maria Alm....
16th January 2012 at 07:18AM
The weather has finally cleared and my god it is cold here now....
Myself, Imi, Tony and his team of lads finally returned home late last night, unpacked and we are now about to go and train on the race hill in Maria Alm in preparation for the FIS races over the next few days. Yesterday went a little better for the Brits, Imi worked some things out and raced like crazy to get the times she did, we have some way to go on the flats but this was a really good performance and she certainly showed that 'race face' and the right attitude. Jai Geyer won the 2nd run in the mens which was awesome, showing what he can do when he puts his mind to it.
Max and Luke are once again off to Radstadt and then straight onto Lackenhof for 2x CIT slaloms. Imi will be here racing Maria Alm and then onto Spital am Phyrn for the FIS SG's.
Lots to pack in before we head off for the welsh champs on saturday!
Will keep you posted on what we're up to.... as will other people it seems.
Marc Telling
Spanish invasion....
Spanish team join the list of ski teams training at Ambition's new base...
13th January 2012 at 09:57PM
Another National team is coming to join us for training and some races this week, with the Spanish Junior teams arriving tommorrow (women) and wednesday (men).
As a nation we always talk about exposure to the other teams and training/racing against them and the vision at Haus Tirol is really starting to work. It is not just the athletes that learn by watching others, as coaches, it is great to work alongside new faces and pick up new ideas along the way.
The Guest-Book is filling up fast!
It's a Dog-Eat-Dog World!
PB from the K-Dogg.
13th January 2012 at 09:26PM
He's only gone and done it...... K-Dogg laid down a couple of sweet runs today and made just over 100 points. A just reward for his hard work and commitment. In the last week Kieran has gone from big time struggler in the bumps, to making speed in one of the roughest courses we have seen since..... well... Klausberg in December i guess.... my point is it was tough but he did the business.
I am exhausted so not going to go into too much detail but Kieran put himself up there, just shy of 6 seconds out on the 1st run from bib 154. Not a bad effort. 2nd run he had a few errors but held on to score his best result by 25 points.
Imogen also put herself in contention with a solid 1st run and she went all out running 5th on the 2nd run before a cross rut took her out, shame as this was a completely different and improved perfromance to the one we saw yesterday. We will get there!
Few pics from the start (which was delayed) in our much needed puffa's..... the floodlights had to be turned on to finish 2nd run, think Kieran started at 4.30pm..... Exhausted.
Goodniiiiiiiiggggggghhhht
Get your groove on....
Little bit rough in Turnau.
12th January 2012 at 07:39PM
Today was pretty tough in Turnau.... some huge, huge grooves/holes for the boys especially. Not too sure what it will look like in the GS once everyone is skiing the same course but will cross that bridge on Saturday!
Today was a mix for us, the older Ambition boys all DNF'd and have left Turnau. Imgoen Taylor had a tough day and struggled to ski cleanly on either run, something we have been working for us but did not happen today - we will be going again tomorrow but have changed the plan back to GS where we have more confidence for next week.
The performance of the day for me went to Kieran Norris, who will have skied to his points or even made a result in one of the hardest races he has done. Kieran worked damn hard, skied all day, practicing in the ruts of the warm-up courses and really skied the rough conditions well. Usually the brakes go on for Kieran when it is like this so to see him move as he did was impressive. Im sure no-one will fully understand my enthusiasm as Kieran has not set the world on fire but i am pleased he is moving in the right direction and i have faith in this guy. Watch this space - you heard it here first!
Some pics and vid for ya...
Plenty of Powder!
A round of the Anglo-Scottish and everything since...
12th January 2012 at 03:44PM
Well it's the new year, the BARSC and Anglo-Scottish races have already come and gone, and we're now well into the January block of training leading up to the Welsh in about a week and a half.
The Anglo-Scottish races proved to be a mixed bag of results for the Ambition Children, with most struggling to string two good race runs together in one day. Conditions were far from perfect though, to be honest, with the huge dumps of snow having already started there when we came out on the 30th of December. Suffice to say, 'bobsleigh track' seems to be the most suitable description of the conditions at the slalom race at least, which didn't make it easy for our guys to get two good runs in the bag. Anyway, I think there were some lessons learnt by all there, where, some of the girls found out that you've got to go for it from the very first gate of the first run to have any chance of doing well. But it's all a learning curve and at least that's something they'll take on board for next time!
The view from the top of the GS course in Les Houches...
A notable mention has to go to Will Wheeler though, who, just like at the BARSC slalom, came back from a mistake-ridden first run to storm the second to end up in 4th place in his age group overall (from 7th!). Although, he was originally down as in 3rd place when the race finished, but somewhere between the race finishing and the prize giving two hours later, Will had mysteriously jumped from 3rd to 4th... Ah well, still a great result and by far one of the best second runs of the day!
After that it was a case of dropping some of the guys off back at the airport, and then myself, Ella, Olivia and Freya (with Lucy joining us) travelled back over to Leogang to start the next training block. But by the time we got back, the snow had already started falling by the metre, and the next three days of training turned into three days of epic powder skiing. I think Ella had the steepest learning curve of us all... whereby the end of the third day, I think she was quite fed up of me having to dig her out of holes along the lines of the one in the photo below!
(In case you're wondering, this photo is upside down, can't get it to upload the right way up for some reason!)
Since the powder though, we've had some amazing training conditions, which look set to continue all the way up to our departure to the Welsh in a week's time!
Benn
Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou.....!
Its time to race....
11th January 2012 at 07:59PM
Well, looks like the forecast for Austria is getting clear and cold....... FINALLY!! I say thankyou but Justin has text me from the race meeting to say there are 240 boys competing in tomorrow's race.... plus 120 girls... and we thought CIT races were a way of easing into junior level racing! Looks like this is going to be a tough year!
We are now in Turnau to start it all off and through the next 9 days, there should be a variety of Ambition athletes racing every day. Training has been a little tough recently with some great sessions mixed in with powder days, though we have been able to rely on the piste at Hinterreit for some great training.
So first up Turnau for CIT SL & GS's, then Radstadt, followed by Lackenhof and finally Maria Alm and Spital. Then we head to the Welsh Champs. It will be busy but at least we have the chance to race.
In the mean-time the kids will be training back in Leogang, maybe racing nearby in the Austrian series and getting ready for our onslaught on Les Crosets.
This pic will seem pretty standard for most people but when you haven't seen the sun or sky for 10 days it was pretty refreshing!!!!!
2012....
Ok, ok, ok.... im on it....
10th January 2012 at 09:05AM
Back due to popular request..... the Ambition Blog...!
In 2012 so far from what i can gather someone, somewhere is not too keen on us getting the races in with the juniors! A mix of weather has made it pretty difficult but as we speak we are entered and ready for an onslaught on Turnau CIT series and as of yet... nothing has been cancelled.
So January, well the kids went to the Anglo-Scottish and i'll let Benn tell more on that one but from what i saw, we had a few good runs but overall not as strong as at BARSC. Back here in Austria, we had some great training to start off with - Barney, Kieran and Imi all present and making good improvements. We had a few days on Hinterreit training next to the like of Shiffren, Vonn amongst others, we also had a day of timing with the British Team athletes, putting Barney, Kieran and Imi up against it to push them. Roy Steudle also mentioned his powder day last week where he turned up to find that his coach's sister (Marles Schild) would be joining them for some fun skiing. All in all we are surrounded by some of the worlds best skiers here and if that is not enough to inspire you then nothing will be.
The new set-up at Haus-Tirol is also working well, with Paul Epstein and the GMVS 94/95 birth team staying with us through January, again great to be training alongside some of America's talented youngsters. We have also had one of the Icelandic Junior Team girls staying with us for some races and we are looking forward to welcoming the Ontario Womens Team on the 14th Jan. Already the vision for the base is working well and we are now able to create a stronger peer group around our own athletes to help their development.
What else..... oh yeah, seems one team is trying some 'fanstasy football' style tactics with Ambition athletes, not sure if you can call it bribery but let me say that there is a certain satisfaction in working for success rather than trying to buy it. I personally find it rewarding to develop athletes through coaching and finding ways to get them to achieve.... each to their own i guess.
Anyway, anyway, with Barney out and about it has meant we had the services of professional photographer about - Paul Lewis.
Enjoy.
Driving Home for Christmas
On the way back from a successful BARSC for Ambition
23rd December 2011 at 08:51PM
So the GS race eventually got cancelled yesterday when it became apparent the lifts weren’t going to open at all… Bit of a shame for our guys who were all pumped up and ready to step it up from the GS the day before, especially considering that, apart from the wind, the weather was absolutely perfect for a day’s racing.
Instead though, there was a final prize giving for overall/team awards which proved to be quite a haul for the Ambition Children’s Team. Firstly, we came joint-second in the team competition with the Scottish Ski Club, something we weren’t expecting at all, and something which wasn’t a bad effort considering we only had twelve guys racing, not all of which finished every race!
After that though, it seems the hard work Anna Henderson has put in over the last six months has started to be recognized much more widely, with her being presented with the Ladies Ski Club award for a female childrens athlete at the BARSC who performs exceptionally!
So congratulations once again to Anna for her medal haul this week, along with Will Wheeler and Sarah Glasgow for their medals also. But most importantly, congratulations to all of the Ambition team, every single one of which gave it their all this week and did us coaches proud! There were some great performances by all, but more importantly, we’ve got a great group of kids this year with a great atmosphere within the team both on and off the hill. We’re looking forward to getting back out after the Christmas break for the Anglo Scottish to build on what we’ve started here.
So all that’s left to say is have a very Merry Christmas from all at Ambition!
Benn
The BARSC
From a snowy and windy Champoluc with the Children’s Team…
23rd December 2011 at 08:47PM
We thought, instead of daily updates during our week at the races, one big post at the end with all our news from the week would be better! It’s 8:15am here on our last day of racing, and having been down to the lift to discover that it won’t be opening for at least an hour and a half due to wind, what better an opportunity to blog whilst the kids are waiting anxiously back at the hotel for Day 2 of the BARSC GS.
All in all, we’ve had a pretty good week in here in Champoluc. We’ve had plenty of good skiing from the guys and even a few medals to top it off too. With the season having been extremely slow to kick off this year, the week’s training back in Austria prior to coming here was a tough one for the kids. With no lower resorts allowing any race teams (other than World Cup) to ski gates, it meant we were back on the Kitzsteinhorn glacier for another week which meant three things: very early mornings, long days and some unbelievably cold weather!
The guys all trained really hard though with a mix of slalom and even some super G training thanks to an invite from the Salzburg ski club, where 1997 and 1998 Y.O.Bs had the chance to run a full length Super G course on the glacier for 3 days with a super combined race at the end. Opportunities like that don’t come around often and having been invited, it was something we certainly couldn’t turn down! The kids all absolutely loved it and, more to the point, gained a lot of valuable experience from it.
Back to this week, though, and whilst not everybody may have had consistently good runs all week, all of our guys have done the business one run here or there. Particular mentions to Ella Ward who, having been disappointed with her slalom runs, stepped it up in the GS to finish 5th in her age group, along with Will Wheeler who made up for a scrappy first run in the slalom (from 4th place by 0.7s) to finish 3rd in his age group, what a second run that was! Notable mentions also go to Phoebe Long and Ben Smith who, having improved tremendously over the past few months, this week showed what they’re now capable of, and both myself and Aaron couldn’t be more happy with their performances. Sarah Glasgow also laid one down in the minis GS race yesterday to finish up 3rd, fingers crossed she can go even better today!
But a special mention undoubtedly has to go to Anna Henderson who has been on form all week. Anna lead the slalom on Tuesday after a brilliant first run, but unfortunately just skied a little too conservatively and ended up 3rd, something which was still not a bad result at all! Anna laid it down again in the first run of the GS, and with the second run being cancelled due to the first run taking abnormally long, she secured her first ever victory. Anna’s been skiing extremely well these last few months, and it was only a matter of time before the results started flooding in. Well done to Anna, Will, Sarah and all the rest of the guys!
On to the final day of racing, and fingers crossed we get another race!
Benn
Krampus....
Austria's traditions!!!!
9th December 2011 at 07:45AM
So it was Krampus night this week and after a meal out we decided to go and watch the parade, which is basically a mass of huge guys wearing pretty scary costumes and masks, and whipping people with sticks.... all pretty scary/exciting stuff!! Freya Eaton seemed to be a favourite with the Krampus and while she was busy hiding behind Benn, (with us laughing) Barney got attacked unawares. There were hundreds of people there and a great atmosphere. Brilliant Fun.
The rest of the athletes are flying in today and with Leogang opening for training on Monday, we are set to go! Most of the new Colmar stuff has arrived and looks sweeeeeeeeet too.
Enjoy.
Ambition Production.
Justin making use of his i-movie skills while he's out of action....
2nd December 2011 at 09:11PM
Check this out.....
Youth Olympic Games Trials
Proud of the Ambition Crew....
2nd December 2011 at 08:32PM
So the fastest athletes today were Rachelle Rogers and Paul Henderson in the girls and boys races respecitvely. But the Ambition guys gave it a damn good shot and i am really happy with how they are progressing.
The girls trials were fought out at the front by Rachelle Rogers and Alice MacAulay with Rachelle winning the timing by 0.01 of a second!!! Unbelievably close and very exciting! Violet Miller and Beth Widdup took 5th and 8th respecitvely - both Ambition girls skied hard but could not challenge the top 3 today.
The boys race switched leaders on the first and 2nd run, with Paul Henderson initially leading the way before Max Moss sneaking him by 0.03 on run 2. Kieran Norris lay in 3rd place just 0.22 seconds behind Max going into run 3 with Barney close behind Kieran.
Kieran pushed the boundaries with nothing to lose but it was not to be as a mistake ended his chances with a DNF on run 3, but holding onto 3rd place overall. Max could not better his 2nd run charge and Paul laid down the run of the day to win the 3rd run by nearly 1 second and set the fastest time of the day.
All in all the guys skied hard and workewd hard in the training after the trials again. In just the few days they have been here there have been improvements. We are on the right track and closing the gap.
Performance of the day has to go to Kieran Norris who loked like a different skier compared to yesterday, really upped his game for the trials and looks very promising for the future.
Head Down, Work Hard.
It's worked for us so far........
24th November 2011 at 10:04PM
Been using the new facebook group for the quick updates and few photos recently as it saves a little time in our schedule here but today was a pretty awesome day up on the Kitz. We had a good GS session this morning where Imi Taylor made some great steps forward and i think we are back on track at last. Luke Riddell was also trying a few new things, he always looks pretty handy on GS skis but we're looking for a bit more power now.
This afternoon we set up a few GS gates, nice and open for feeling and getting the movements right again, Luke Steyn joined us and it was cool to see how much his GS skiing has come on in the last 10 days, some great work from him and Kevin there.
This afternoon/evening we went down the road to our local climbing wall where Mr Riddell showed me up by ragging it up a few walls in record time. Its great on these quieter weeks to get some cross training in with just a few athletes. We are making progress fast and working hard and i am sure it will all pay off soon.
Anyway, its getting late - there are new pics up on the athlete profiles courtesy of Neil Mcquoid at Racer Ready, big thanks to him...
Make sure you keep your eyes peeled on this blog and Amb Ambition-Racing facebook group for more updates.
For now its off to bed so we can get up and work our butts off again tomorrow....!
(Maybe i'll treat myself to a nice chocolate waffle with some whipped cream, i've heard it's all the rage and can really help with training.... Nat)
Bon Nuit.
New Pics....
New shots to liven up the site courtesy of Racer Ready.
20th November 2011 at 04:15PM
After a few weeks of sifting through the Racer Ready archives, Neil Mcquoid has been kind enough to help up liven up the site with some new action shots....
We'll be uploading them to the site over the next week - get in touch with Neil if you want to get your hands on a hard copy.
Current British Jn1 Slalom Champ - Peter Glasgow Pictured below....
Glasgow in Glasgow....
Ambition athletes still doing the business indoors...
19th November 2011 at 05:35PM
So, ive dusted off the blog as its been feeling a bit neglected recently.....
October camp was pretty damn busy so we skipped that part and since then well, basically ive been writing and recieving emails and the athletes have been back at school getting ahead of their work (we hope) and beasting the fitness ready for December.
Norway sadly got canned but the senior team plus Imi and Luke Riddell (arriving next week) will back training, getting in the vital mileage before the first races (if it ever snows) in December.
Anyway enough of that, for this weekend saw little Sarah Glasgow take gold up in Glasgow at the Scottish Indoor Champs, but she was not the only one with William Wheeler continuing his form towards the winter, taking 3rd place CH2 (6th overall), and a few scalps along the way. Ella and Olivia Ward were also there, great to see Ella back on the results sheet after her injury scare in October to finish 3rd CH1 with sister Olivia close behind in 5th.
The UK race scene is looking strong and it is great that so many Ambition athletes are getting on skis on a weekly basis. With a new series in 2012, i personally have just joined Hemel and we are trying to get a few more coaches out of retirement to compete next summer! I even chucked on a pair of rear-entry boots and rental skis last night to do race training at Norwich last night - I've missed the cold nights, floodlights and blasting gates.... and the rental equipment does make it more of a lottery as to if you are actually going to make a gate or crash right through it!
In other news..... Freya Eaton has won the Warick District Sports Person of the Year award and Beth Soman has been put on the Elite athletes program at her school, both great achievments and well deserved.
Must do better with the blog.... i'll keep you posted on the new Ambition Facebook page Amb Ambition-Racing!
Adios.
Kitzsteinhorn... Autumn or Winter?
New Children's Team, New Base, New Snow, New Coaches, Epic.
24th October 2011 at 07:37PM
Unbelievably, we're almost half way through the camp already, and having finally had our first day off today to take a break from the early starts and the long days on the hill, there's now time to fill everybody in.
So four days down on the hill, another five to go, and so far things couldn't have gone better training wise. We were greeted on the first day to some less than desirable weather - zero visibility and plenty of fresh snow falling all the time - but since then we've had blue skies all day every day, and almost perfect snow conditions. With the snow being as it is, and the temperature being as cold as it is at the moment, the days feel more like January than October. Having skied GS gates so far this camp with the main focus being upper and lower body separation for the children athletes, both myself and Aaron have been really impressed with all the hard work and improvements going on each day. As we move into slalom tomorrow with 5 days left, there's still plenty of time to see the children continue to go from strength to strength.
The view from the glacier...
Everybody seems to have settled in really well to Haus Tirol, the new Ambition base, with darts board in particular becoming a favourite amongst the athletes at the moment. We're almost all set for the winter now, and what a winter it promises to be... The children's team is showing some great promise at the moment, both from those in their first year of children racing to those almost in their last.
The Gang
With us skiing such long days, and almost always being the last team (along with the juniors) on the training piste each day, we've placed less of a focus on fitness and the like, especially compared to the summer camp. But with no skiing today, we finally had time to see some more of our new home for the coming season, and took a trip to Kaprun to have a go on the 'Meisflitzer', an all-year-round toboggan track that runs down the side of the Meiskogel skiing area.
And here we go with the final stint... 3 days of slalom and 2 more days of GS. Fingers crossed this sunny wintery weather continues...
Benn
HERE WE GO!!!
The day it all began.... again!
19th October 2011 at 09:36AM
Ok, so the athletes will arrive this morning and luckily we are ready at Haus Tirol. Since the 20th September when i collected the keys, there has been a huge amount going on.
Having missed my flight on Sunday (not so funny) i arrived Monday morning to find the ski room finished and the electrics ready for the athletes lounge etc to be finished.
The sofa came just on time yesterday and then Hieronymous arrived with a truck load of new gym equipment, we still have a few items to come but the guys spent a few hours putting up the mirrors and getting the power rack in place.
All in all we are there! Just a few erands to run this morning then we'll be off to Salzburg to collect the kids...... oh and the snow is coming today, just in time to set us up for the sunny days to follow.
Time to get back to the part i enjoy - Coaching!!!
Keep an eye out on the blog for the updates and enjoy.
Haus-Tirol.at
Haus-Tirol progress report!!!
10th October 2011 at 01:50AM
Busy last few days.... the drive is shorter than getting to Bormio but it is still a bit of a mission. Tristan decided we should get the ferry and that was our first mistake, it just drags the day out. Tunnel every time from now on.
So we arrived here on Thursday night, with another van packed full of 'boom boxes', wax kits and the odd door or shower unit. It was a cross between Bartletts and B&Q.
First thing on Monday morning the guy from Hieronymous fitness arrived with our new gym flooring, the first for the cardio room - light weight, slightly cushioned and easy to cut. Myself and Roy got that one down in no time - though the edges of the room did take a while. Some of the gym kit arrived too so the room below just needs the rest of the cardio/core kit to arrive plus the mirrors and it will be finished!
Next up came the weights room. Now the flooring for this room is extremely dense in order to absorb the force of dropping the weights, however this meant that the 10m x 2m roll weighed in at just over 200kg. Originally we left it outside, but eventually plucked up the courage to try and move it downstairs.... myself and Roy nearly ended up as 2-dimensional cardboard cut-out type figures but we managed to roll/twist/grind the flooring downstairs. Once the power-rack, rubber dumbbells and mirrors arrive, the room below will also be finished!
In the midst of the flooring arriving and being laid, we had Andy Crane out from ABC to put a false wall and sliding door in the senior boys room. 2 days work was squeezed into 22 hours and at about 2am Saturday morning after about our 10th cup of tea we finally managed to get to bed....... i think you will all agree the finished job looks absolutely awesome!
And last but not least..... I managed to get the dartboard up after finally clearing all of the odd doors and cabinets out of the video room - note the extra wall protection - Bob the builder eat your heart out.
Lots done in just 3 days and i have even (if only 5 mins ago) replied to everyone's emails. Head Children's Coach, Benn Hall will arrive tomorrow so that we can go over all of the Ambition plans and programs for a few days before kicking off in little over a week at Haus-Tirol.
The website for the Hotel is www.haus-tirol.at, we are yet to change much but i am sure you will all enjoy the music as much as me ;-)
Enjoy,
Marc.
New Pics...
Just an update....
2nd October 2011 at 01:34PM
I'm back for a few days before driving back out to Austria with more kit, staff and materials to finish off the house before the first camp on 19th October!
The ski room is looking good, they are well on target with that, loads of space, well insulated and the lights will go in next week....
Having made god knows how many beds and wardrobes in the last 14 days, i am all set for a career in IKEA, one question though - How hard is it to count 14 screws.... not 13, not 16, just 14? In true 'man' fashion, i did not count the screws etc first, better to plough ahead and realise 2 hours later that you cant quite finish it!
The gym rooms. This was our focus for most of last week, the bar room was stripped as per last photos, the electrics have now been re-done, we have safety lights up (don't want anyone getting a tube light over the skull) and the walls have been plastered and painted. On Thursday i headed down to Hieronymous Fitness in Salzburg, which is basically the biggest warehouse i have seen, full of gym equipment. The chief Michael is an ex-power lifter, full of useful information and will be making our racks to specification. He also has a shopping list 3 pages long of equipment to bring up to Leogang on the 7th October, including proper weight lifting flooring.
The downstairs bedrooms are also finished with laminate flooring now in place so next week the furniture can go in and away we go.
I'll keep the pics coming as the gym equipment arrives next week, will now be a case of the finer details, decor etc etc.
Apart from that, i am awaiting news of Will Wheelers most recent race result, hopefully he is finishing off the summer season in style!
Enjoy.
(yep this is the same room that had wood covering over every wall and the horrendous looking bar inside)
(not so exciting, but this room looked more like a jail cell 14 days ago)
Amendment!
Oops.
25th September 2011 at 07:52PM
Will Wheeler actually 9th overall in Hemel Champs..... sorry about that one!!
All in a week of Ambition.....
Lots going on in the lead up to first core camp on 19th October.
25th September 2011 at 09:03AM
It's been a hectic 2 weeks since returning from Chile with lots of going on for many of the Ambition athletes, coaches and parents!
Last weekend we had the Hemel Champs where William Wheeler came in just behind Robert Poth (2nd CH2 / 3rd Overall) with another strong summer performance, while Anna Henderson skied brilliantly to win the CH2 category and finish 2nd overall. At the same time we had Benn Hall up at the coaching conference and i am yet to catch up with him (despite his efforts) to see what we missed up there.
At the same time myself, Justin and Harriet travelled out to Austria to collect the keys for Haus Tirol, working solidly from Tuesday onwards (i've still not unpacked). We have been ripping out the downstairs gym rooms, with many of the locals collecting their fire-wood from us for the winter, the ski room also is HUUUUGE, the Austrians have done a great job with that and this weekend we have had Mark Garfoot from Surrey Sports Park come out to design the gym rooms and order the equipment to make sure we are making best use of the space.
We had some help from Andrew and Mandy too, passing through with all the kit from Bormio in the big van, much to the anger of customs at each border but it's all here!
(Last but not least, for all the parents reading this who are waiting for replies to emails.... i am locked out of hotmail. So please call, i can receive calls on usual phone though cannot always here it past the hammers and drills).
Enjoy the pics.
Old Bar.......
New Bar..... (to be gym room 1)
Old Sauna......
New Sauna...... (to be Justin's Bedroom)
Old Shed........
New Shed...... (to be ski room)..... This pic doesn't do it justice though.....
That's better.......
This and that....!
The countdown to take-over.....
14th September 2011 at 10:02PM
I haven't really pushed this side of things much, we are moving location to Haus-Tirol in Leogang and we are getting things ready for that at Ambition right now. It's pretty busy but equally it's all very, very exciting.... next Tuesday i will be collecting the keys for the new place in Leogang and then have around 4 weeks to be perfectly ready for the first core camp of the 11/12 winter, starting on the 19th October.
Think these guys are going to become my new best mates:
So i'll be trying to keep everyone up to date with developments right here on the Ambition Blog, for now however, Jutty has finished his first I-Movie production, an area he will most certainly be an expert in by April!!
Enjoy....
Ella Ward - Welsh Club Skier of the Year
One of Wales' most promising young skiers presented with the Helen May Trophy.
14th September 2011 at 05:38PM
We were just back from Chile this weekend while the Welsh Champs were going on at Pontypool, where for the 2nd weekend running, Ella Ward's name came out on top with a series of strong runs.
Ella took the CH1 title in both the Welsh National and Welsh Open Championships and was then unexpectedly awarded the Helen May Trophy also. At the start of the summer Ella seemed frustrated with her skiing/racing but certainly the tail end of this season has been hugely successful and to have recognition of that is brilliant.
Ella has only just recently become part of the Ambition Team so we want to congratulate her on her hard work throughout this summer, and also the Dragon's Team who i know she has carried out much her skiing to date with. Lets hope she can keep the improvement going right through the winter season.
Great job and a great honour for Ella to receive such an award.
From Snow to Water
Skiing, fitness, BBQ and wake boarding... All in a day for the Children's Team!
12th September 2011 at 09:52PM
So yesterday saw half of Ambition's Childrens Team athletes and coaches get together for a day of crammed full of activities. With a bunch of athletes new to the Ambition setup this coming season, not to mention an all-new coaching lineup, yesterday provided the perfect opportunity to get to know each other away from the mountains!
Unfortunately not everybody could make it yesterday due to either skiing or school commitments (special mention goes to both Ella and Olivia Ward who came 1st and 2nd in their age groups respectively both days at the Welsh Champs this weekend!), but the day was a great success all the same.
After an early start, we were straight on the slope at Hemel for 2 hours of skiing outside of slalom gates, with a few technical drills, but the main aim was just to get 2 hours on skis just enjoying it and having some fun. This was followed by some fitness just before lunch over at the sports track next to the slope. Again, nothing too serious, just a circuits session to begin with to see how the summer fitness training has come along (lots of good planks going on which was good to see) followed by some work on the fit balls, sit fits and balance boards.
The boys enjoying 'The Plank'
Beth 'in the zone' on the balance board
A HUGE thanks goes to Steven and Jackie Smith who without doubt put on a brilliant BBQ at the house at lunch time, which set us up perfectly for some wakeboarding to top the day off! We even had some of the dads join in, giving their coaches a run for their money for sure, especially a certain Mr Tipping who seemed to have some trouble getting up on his board... It seemed that by the end of the session Luke Maynard and Ben Smith had gotten bored of wakeboarding and preferred instead to be dragged around on the cable boardless, each to their own eh...
Will arcing it out on the water
The Oldies getting briefed on their kneeboards
All in all though, a great day and great chance to catch up with everybody. Days like today make you realise that sometimes it's good for teammates to get to know each other away from the snow, and it's something that we'll certainly be doing time and time again in the future. With a brilliant group of kids like those on the Ambition Children's Team this year, both myself and Aaron don't doubt for a second the bright prospects of this coming season.
Until the October Camp...
Super-G, Super Trip, Super Team
Last race finished in Chile
7th September 2011 at 11:23PM
What a day, the frustration continued as we started the race at 9am, and 75 skiers and a million 'holds' later we were finished at 11.45.
Luckily it was well worth the wait as Luke Steyn looked like a man possessed out of the start gate, blasting down to score a 69 point result, his best to date. Kieran Norris was also on form, recording his best Super-G result to date while nursing a thumb injury from yesterday's downhill. Roy Steudle started bib 12 but was not as fast as he would have liked, recording a respectable time but not quite getting the line right.
For the girls, there were some good attitudes and some aggressive starts but again the Russians were just too fast and a few mistakes left us too far off of the pace. Thomasine returned from her calf injury to record a PB Super-G result but there is definitely more to come from this group during the European winter.
For now that's all - we will have some free-skiing fun tomorrow before packing up and heading down to Santiago on Friday at midday. It has been an awesome camp, the best i have been involved in from a training point of view by a country mile, you simply cannot beat the variety and volume of training available here. The races included lots of P.B's and i hope this is a sign of more to come during the 11/12 winter.
A great job by all of the Ambition athletes here!! Look forward to getting more of the pics online once home.
Over and Out.
Marc & Jutty
Racing Time!
DH Races....
6th September 2011 at 11:27PM
So yesterday went pretty well, the start was a little higher than training so we had some issues with the girls jump which has was changed in the end for the race runs.
The girls got used to the course yesterday, Ellie doing just 1 run to save her back for today, while Imi completed both runs looking confident on the snow and in the air alike.
For the boys, Oli got his first taste of Downhill, for-running both training runs, whilst Luke, Kieran and Roy all had good runs or sections of runs in the training. Roy especially set a good time on the 2nd run, only 3.8 seconds off what looks like a World Cup field.
So onto the races, well the WC guys definitely stepped up the pace but the boys managed to hold on first run and all 3 made their best results by a country mile. In the 2nd race it was a little tougher and bumpier by the time we got underway at around 2pm, the boys went for it but made a few too many mistakes, along with quite a few athletes it would seem by the results.
For the girls, it was a tiny field, and Imi and Ellie completed both runs but were slightly further off the pace than we would have liked. Neither of the girls made P.B's but it was good to get another 'tougher' downhill it and both are fit and ready for the SG race tomorrow.
So the bibs for tomorrow's SG race are:
Roy: 12
Luke: 18
Kieran: 52
Imi: 3
Ellie: 4
Thomasine: 15
Alex has picked up a small knee injury so will miss tomorrow and Oli will continue his role as pro for-runner for this speed series.
Fingers crossed!!!
(Ellie last week in training..... the jump was slightly larger for yesterday's training run.....)
(Early morning.... lovely)
DH Training.
All the info you need....
5th September 2011 at 01:44AM
All set to go for tomorrow, standard long race meeting but we are now ready, forecast is clear for tonight and bright tomorrow ready for our 2 training runs.
We have Oliver Chalkley and Alex Buchanan in to for-run....
In the girls race Ellie Pocock will leave the gate number 9, followed shortly by Imogen Taylor at 15.
In the boys race, there are a whole host of world cup stars including Daniel Albrecht from the Swiss Team and Adrian Theaux from France, not forgetting the German and Slovenian WC teams....
However, as Roy has South American Cup points from 2010, he will go down bib 4!!!! Luke will head down 44 and Kieran 45.
Cant wait.
Goodniiiiiiiiiiiiigggggghhhhht!
Chile is great for Speed they said...... well not internet speed thats for sure....
Great training block leading up to South American Cup Speed series.
4th September 2011 at 10:51PM
My god, this internet is so frustrating, i have tried everywhere in the last few days to upload some pics and nowhere is playing ball.... it took about 3 hours to get this one below up.... Not too exciting and its more to do with the last post than this one!
Anyway, since our days off in Santiago, the guys have been on good form, we have had 3 days of Super-G training on a variety of pistes, with Luke Steyn especially finding some speed and challenging for the fastest times. Saturday saw us move back on GS training on yet another piste, where Roy Steudle was right back on form, blitzing the timing session with very strong skiing from him. The girls have also done well this week, with big steps forward from Thomasine and Alex in SG, great to see them more competitive in the timing sessions too. Sadly Thomasine and Ellie have picked up minor injuries this week, Ellie with some back problems out of the blue and Thomasine having a bit of a fight with a GS gate yesterday.
We have also had the DH boards on this week for jumping practice - each lunchtime the jump has been closed off and Ambition along with the other teams have been able to practice the jump 5-6 times. These kind of opportunities are pretty rare so we have been making the most of this. Roy, Luke and Ellie also managed to have a few runs on the full length DH track with the Russian National Team - again great experience for them and we hope all of this will help us be competitive in the races on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The difference with this camp to the past 2 years in Chile has definitely been the variety of training pistes. We have not run more than 2 sessions on any piste - making for lots of good inspection practice and new feelings every day for the athletes.
What else.... well the new radios for Motorola are in so thats good news, should help communications especially on the longer speed hills, also work starts on the new ski room in Leogang tomorrow so im looking forward to seeing that progress also.
ALL ENGLAND
Just managed to get onto today's results from the All England and it was great to see both Ella Ward (1st) and Will Wheeler (3rd) making the podium in CH1 & CH2 respectively. Benn Hall also tells me that Ambition took the Karting title on Saturday night, we all love a bit of karting during the season and there is actually an ice karting track about 200m from the new base in Leogang - lots of winter practice i think.
Last but definitely not least, K-Dogg aka Kieran Norris, has been awarded the Tim Reader award for the most improved Junior boy this year. A brilliant achievement and certainly the focus and improvements we have seen since easter and in Chile especially, very well deserved.
Hopefully i can get some more pics online soon..... very frustrating!!
Do I laugh or do I cry? / The 'W' Crew!
The highs and lows of alpine ski racing.
30th August 2011 at 02:44PM
This really should have gone up Sunday evening but I just wasn’t in the mood to write a blog. It’s hard to know what to make of Sunday because on the one hand it was so positive and yet on the other, I couldn’t help feeling that we could have got more out of our final GS race here in El Colorado. Not only that, I felt the team deserved more.
Sunday saw P.B results, from Emily Evans (54), Thomasine Nilson-Wrede, (113), Kieran Norris (115) and Roy Steudle (51). On that basis it was a good day, Emily and Kieran had great 1st runs and Thomasine looked strong on the flats especially. But for Roy it was so close to being a great day because what he did on Sunday was truly impressive.
Roy started bib 39, and as such we were looking to get inside the top 30 and stay as close to the leaders as possible, Roy has been skiing very well recently so that was a fairly easy target. However Roy obviously had different ideas and skied probably the best race run I have seen from him going into 4th position. 39th into 4th.......Wow!!! As a coach, you always hope that your athletes will produce some of their training form when it’s crunch time, well Roy did that, and more on Sunday.
Sadly Roy he fell inside 2nd run, but he got back up and completed, and still made his best result to date in GS, he did not get the podium position that he wanted but he will take away the knowledge and the belief of what is possible for him now. The reason I mention all of this is because I was really, really proud on Sunday - runs like that make all the hard work by everyone completely worth while.
Anyway, it’s clearly going to be another exciting season at Ambition. There is a lot more to come from all of the athletes, that’s for sure!!
Since then we have headed down to Santiago for a break.... and rather than bang on about it, (we are here still and there is much to be done) i thought i'd post the pics!
Enjoy.
First things first, teaching us how to fall....
Mice were never really made for water.........
Go Jutty Go!!!
Roy's 3rd year.... check the technique....
That's right.... i'm standing (momentarily)
And that's my face eating wave/plastic
Smiles all round at the 'W' for dinner.....
On route to the roof-top pool and bar....
Santiago by night....
The 'W' Crew 2011..... From Left; Thomasine, Oli, Kieran, Imi, Ellie, Marc, Alex Justin, Emily, Roy and Luke.
Ciao
More Powder and more racing..
New snow in overnight....
27th August 2011 at 08:42PM
Well we woke up this morning to more new snow and after the wind of the last few days we definitely needed it!!!! There must have been about 20cms of new snow by the time we left the hill after training this morning. None the less we managed to get 6 good runs in, the course needed lots of slipping but we got down to some hard snow after a couple of runs. There was some varied performances but certainly overall the guys are looking pretty consistent in GS at the moment. Bit of core to follow and the guys are now getting their skis ready for the South American Cup GS tomorrow, most of the team will be starting just outside of the top 30 and conditions being as they are, it could well work in our favour come 2nd run tomorrow.
We have not had time to fit everything in and with only 2 afternoons of slalom brushes we decided to miss the slalom races, with the exception of Ellie Pocock who looked pretty strong in both of those sessions. The results are not up yet but Justin was happy with Ellie's skiing and we are pretty sure she will have a personal best points result from today.
After tomorrow we will head to Santiago for our mid-camp break, everyone is doing well but a re-charge at lower altitude will definitely be appreciated to get us ready for a big push for last 10 days.
Also, Imogen Taylor's birthday today and i didnt mention but it was Emily Evans' on Thursday too. Will celebrate when we head to Santiago.
That's all for now, keep everything crossed for us for tomorrow's GS!!
Race Face....
First races of 11/12 season underway...
26th August 2011 at 07:47PM
Well the last 2 days have been an experience thats for sure. Anyone who thinks we take a while running races in the UK, need only watch the Brazilians/Chileans in action at Valle Nevado...... we don't do too badly.
We started on Wednesday with first run GS, a few delays to start and some long, long intervals meant the weather had come in by the time we were meant to run the 2nd run - so it had to be postponed until Thursday morning. By this point we were doing OK i would say, Emily Evans looked like she was on for a personal best GS result, as was Kieran. Roy, even with some huge mistakes was still somehow reasonably close to the race leaders and just inside the top 30. While we didn't have any DNF's, the others looked a little rusty on the 1st run and were not placed as well as they or i would have liked.
Anyway, Thursday came and we managed to get a 2nd GS run off by lunchtime, Roy had a really good time, clocking 6th fastest on that run and ending up with a personal best result. A sign of a more to come from Roy as his fitness, technique and equipment all seem to be working very well at this point. Sadly, Emily and Kieran ended up losing valuable seconds on the 2nd run and their results showed this in the end - both making OK results but definitely not at the level of their first run times. Alex Buchanan put in a much stronger 2nd run, showing more of the form we have seen in training so far.
So, no time to dwell (we thought), straight into the Super-G..... well not quite! The inspection, scheduled for 11.45-12.30 ended up being 12.45-1.30. Finally at 2.30pm the for-runners went out of the gate and the girls race ran reasonably smoothly with a solid run on the flats from Ellie Pocock and some smooth skiing from Thomasine.
The top 15 boys meanwhile were stuck on the lift (which had stopped) so another delay meant an even later start for the men. By this time the light was not looking great so the German men's speed team pulled out too. I think i'd lost track of time but we did get a mens race, one in which Roy scored his best points result with a very, very strong run to place just inside the top 10. Kieran and Luke also had some good sections but did not manage to carry the speed right through to the end.
And it was home sweet home at 5.20pm, with everyone absolutely knackered.
Anyway at least it was over...... and a day off today.... kind of....... as mine was interrupted by Roy's omission from the SG results meaning a nice ski back over to Valle Nevado from me to get him back on the results!!
We will now train and re-focus on the GS coming up on Sunday, let's hope it's a shorter day!!!!!!
Adios.
P.S News just in... Peter Glasgow, 7x A's and 5x B's in the GCSE's.... Awesome news and more proof that with hard work ski racing and school can go together.
I feel the need.... the need for speed.....
Great day of SG skiing
22nd August 2011 at 09:47PM
We got a little bit shafted yesterday when the lift on our SG training piste stopped working..... The lifts are a little old school here so that was a bit annoying. Anyway, today went really well, we can keep the pistes for much longer on the weekdays so we managed a few warm-up SG runs, then 5 runs in the first course, a re-set and another 3 in the second course - all before 11am (just).
Some good skiing going on, especially by Emily-i don't like speed-Evans who clocked some good times in the first course and a very positive day for Imi too. We have also seen big steps forward from Thomasine Nilson-Wrede and Alex Buchanan in just a few days and also a blistering time from Ellie in the second course. Kieran and Oli are getting cleaner and faster with almost every run too.... and last but not least Roy and Luke who are setting the times for everyone to chase. Roy looks a little like Dougy Crawford from the British Team when in full suit (Head skis, same catsuit/helmet) so Roy sent Dougy down one run to clock a time..... i assumed it was my brilliant coaching that gave Roy his best time..... but it wasn't even him.
Sorry no pics today (except the one below of Roy on his fastest run) - was busy setting, re-setting, slipping, filming and all that jazz, i was thinking to whack another sun-set one up but they're all pretty similar (amazing but similar).
Onto GS tomorrow, then the races! Races have been re-arranged due to weather coming in so we have a GS Wednesday followed by SG and then Slalom in the storm on Friday. Good for us as we are looking a little better in GS and SG to slalom currently.
Adios Amigo's.
Powder and more.....
Back on track in Chile....
20th August 2011 at 10:39PM
Well the internet here well and truly sucks so trying to get things online when i can but generally takes an hour to load one photo so been storing them up.
Basically since our last post we took a day off, and then it got foggy, real foggy, so Thursday's powder day turned into no skiing and some serious dizzyness/off-piste from me and Jutty trying to make our way down the mountain with gates. Literally could not see anything!!!
However, every cloud as they say, it snowed like a demon Thursday from mid-morning through until dusk, so yesterday we had an awesome day of powder; jumps, bumps, crashes, (i basically landed on Imi and Alex while they were filming so that should make for interesting viewing on the camp video).
Anyway, back to it today, we had a great morning of Super-G training, gliding up on the top flats, a little soft but the wind had blown a bit of the new snow away so we actually had a productive morning. This afternoon we were onto slalom brushes and.... well..... we need some more time in slalom!!! We'll stick with the same schedule tomorrow, got a few clear and cold days lined up now so should be good.
Adios!
Results Day
A-level /AS results
18th August 2011 at 01:58PM
Results day!
Red sky at night....
here comes the snow....
15th August 2011 at 08:40PM
Ok, so this is what it looked like last night...... beautiful heh..... Sunset, incredible view over the mountains of Chile.
However, i'd like to make a formal complaint about the whole 'red sky at night' thing, as today was absolutely freezing from the tornado blowing around La Parva. Anyway, we managed to get the work done, with a 6.30am start on the snow and 7-8 runs of drills through the gates before a tech session, then a well deserved lunch and warm up.
We should get another decent training session in tomorrow morning - we are expecting 80cms of new snow in the next few days so think Wednesday will be off and Thursday will be a powder day for sure!!!!
Coaches meeting next then core and vid - full on as ever out here.
In La Parva and loving it.
We are all here safe and sound!!
13th August 2011 at 10:22PM
Firstly - we are all here and all ok!
We arrived yesterday and got settled in amidst the arrivals of luggage and ski bags up to resort. The minibus was going for the slowest time recorded to get from Santiago to La Parva so it was dark and misty once we arrived. The apartments however are great for the team, pretty spacious and sociable, ski rooms are fine and the chef service has been great so far.
Today we had a long sleep this morning, followed by ski prep and some of the guys taking a few runs with me and Jutty this afternoon. It is sunny but the snow is pretty solid and the runs here are awesome, have to say i prefer it to Valle Nevado for the variety. Looking forward to some full days of skiing throughout the next 4 weeks!
Quick snap for you, i missed a beautiful one of the sky this morning so will try and capture that one tomorrow!
Canadia...
In transit....
12th August 2011 at 02:58AM
Sitting in Toronto transit lounge on the way to Chile right now..... little tired but excited for the next month...!!
Thought we'd bring you this video of last week's Ipswich Camp from Atomic sponsored skier Ross Welch...
.
ATOMIC TOUR COMPLETE!
Atomic-Ambition Camps finish for 2011....
6th August 2011 at 04:26PM
Rather than do a daily blog this week at Ipswich, we thought we'd capture some of the best shots combined with the new Atomic-Ambition Video and bring them to you here on the Ambition Racing Blog.
A huge thanks to all of the staff, athletes and of course sponsors who have been involved with the camps this summer, and a special mention goes to Dom Daley and Grace Levene, both of whom won 2012 Atomic Race Skis from the Hemel and Ipswich Camps respectively.
Until next year, Adios.....
ATOMIC VIDEO - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG0UJ_lMvyY
Benn Hall and Emily Evans hiding out of the rain......
Aaron Troung taking an early lead against Tom Hudson in the dual...
Connor Thompson taking flight...
Aaron falling over without even being on skis.... Ross laughing at him....
Ross showing Aaron how it should be done....
Olivia Ward with her fighting face on.....
Tash arcing it out......
Mason laying it over.....
Getting ready for the final prize-giving.....
Josh Penning Lambert - getting ready for action.....
Lauren Vale waving to the fans.....
The set-up at Ipswich, thanks to our sponsors, ATOMIC, LEVEL and of course BARTLETTS....
Jutty handing out the awards.....
One of the Viking's most promising young skier....
Olivia Ward and Joe Constantine in the Ambition Cup Dual Slalom event......
Josh getting a helping hand from his ski tech in the pouring rain...... Audi (of course they sponsor us) sent along their best guys to help. Hopefully next year they'll have an S3 for us to give away.
Mia, settling the argument on the need for back supports once and for all......
Ben Constantine demonstrating his own version of rail sliding....
Let's try that again Ben........
FREE SKIS FOR GRACE....!!! And a stupid smile from me.....
'GoPro or Go Home'
Atomic Camp (Hemel) round-up....
30th July 2011 at 02:21PM
What with packing up and heading home Thursday night followed by a birthday celebration, it has taken until today to get this blog post online.
Thursday was an awesome last day on the Atomic-Ambition camp, we had some great fun going through some team building games in the morning off of the slope and then saw some good improvements throughout the morning on the skis. While the 2 younger groups tried to apply their new 'team-work' skills to the slopes in a syncro competition, the Big Dog's group were out testing skis freshly tuned with the new Snowglide Tool.
Phil Gordon from Snow& Rock kindly offered his services for the day, setting the new tool to work on a variety of Atomic Test skis. Sam Stevens, the eventual runner up in the race was 0.2 seconds quicker per run on the Atomic 155 tuned with the SnowGlide than on his own skis. Food for thought for the future with this kind of technology now available for ski tuning.
So the afternoon saw the athletes compete in our traditional end of week race. We saw some great moves in the race mixed in with some wild moves, but all the kids were pushing hard at 100% and even Odi Green (Ross Green's oldest son) decided he wanted a shot. The camp supporters made sure that no-one went home empty handed but the big prizes up for grabs were eventually snapped up as below.
Nippers Group: Pair of Atomic Race Skis. (Atomic) - Winner - DOM DALEY
Coolios Group: Dianese Back Support (Snow & Rock) - Winner - RYAN MCCANN, BETH SOMAN, TOM CHAMBEY
Big Dogs Group: GoPro Camera (GoPro, through Snow & Rock) - Winner - BARNEY LEWIS
All in all, i saw a lot of smiles, a lot of improvement and a lot of hard work go into the week by everyone involved, all that's left to say is that i hope Ipswich next week goes just as well and we hope to see 'The A-Team' back again for next year's camp with Atomic and Ambition.
Many thanks to all!
Tilley collecting her most improved prize!
'The A-Team' Camp t-shirts. In need of a good wash by this point!
Dom Daley showed some brilliant moves to win himself a FREE pair of skis, courtesy of Atomic.
Barney Lewis, taking the overall win and the GoPro camera with it. Good day for him!
Atomic Camp Day 3
Atomic camp coming to an end...
27th July 2011 at 05:14PM
Day 3 complete, wow this has shot past this week.
We had some great sessions today, the timing up for the starts, some memory routines on the slope, fitness testing and of course a few sessions blasting some gates, looking at specific tactics and putting the start technique into practice. It was actually pretty interesting to see which athletes were fastest over the first 3-4 seconds compared to those who are usually quickest over a full length course. Room for improvement for a few of the bigger guys thats for sure!!!
Tomorrow we will get ready in the morning with some team-building games off of the slope, followed by our video Syncro competition, to be judged by the coaches over lunch, or some more technical work outside of the gates before tomorrow's afternoon race.
The format will be a club national style race, with the best time of the first 2 runs, plus the 3rd run time to count.
The GoPro will be awarded to the fastest time of the day and with so many athletes skiing fast, it will be great to see who will be pushing that extra bit to secure the victory!
Justin has just been going through the prizes next to me and i'm sure all of the kids will be happy with their reward for a week of hard work - Snow & Rock have made a great contribution to the camp with boots bags for every athlete, Dianese back supports and arranging the GoPro deal for us - not to mention the 20% discounts they have been giving to Ambition athletes all of this week.
Level have provided loads of headwear and gloves to give out as prizes and have supplied special prices to UK athletes on the SQ range (120€) along with the Axel Pro model (100€). So anyone needing level gloves please feel free to contact us directly or pick them up tomorrow!
Atomic of course have been supplying the staff and test skis all week and we would not be where we are on these camps without them, they have such a keen interest in the grass routes of racing and it is great to see so many young athletes benefitting from their support.
Well that's it for now, im looking forward to some great racing tomorrow afternoon!
Mt. Hemel.
Hemel Camp....
26th July 2011 at 05:17PM
Premier Inn do not offer the best bargains for internet so we missed a day on the blog yesterday!
Camp has got off to a great start yesterday, just over 30 athletes split into the 'Big Dogs' group, run by Edward Drake and Ashley Hill, the 'Coolios' run by Marc Telling and Benn Hall and the 'Nippers' run by Arron Tipping and Justin Mesut. Lots of coaches, lots of good skiers and some great sessions.
Today saw Konrad Bartelski and Graham Bell, 2 of GB's most successful skiers, come to the slope with Jason Summerfield, firstly to show some exclusive footage set to be released on ATOMIC TV (youtube channel). Then this afternoon saw the coaches and SuperStars being raffled off to the dual slalom teams.
It was no surprise that graham Bell's team took a comfortable victory in the final, before being swamped this afternoon for signatures.....
We were all having far to much fun on the slope to stop for pics, but Jason got some footage for the Atomic video and we managed to get a few snaps of this afternoons dodgeball session!
More fun lined up for tomorrow.... Keep tuned until Thursday to find out who will win the GoPro camera, Dianese back supports and Level gloves all there for the taking!
For now its goodbye from The A-Team.
GOODBYE BORMIO.
Home sweet home as we say goodbye to Bormio.
24th July 2011 at 11:10PM
I just didnt manage to get this post online before i left Bormio yesterday so it has had to wait until this evening.
With Friday coming to an end after another great day of skiing, we decided to have our final meal as a Bormio based team in the place we had our first meal back in May 2007 (Baita Dei Pini) when we did the first 'reccy' trip out to Bormio. Friday was a great slalom day for a children's team that holds a huge amount of promise for 2012, a team that seems to have a great dynamic already after just 10 days together.
Saturday saw us pack up the ski room and clear our stuff out before a bit of motor-sport on the karting track. We jumped in the vans for one final epic trip to the airport, the 3.5 hours reminding me of something i will not miss next year.
It was sad to leave Bormio, leaving the Dei Cas family who have been so helpful to us over the past 4 years, but also very exciting to look ahead to a new challenge, the start of a new era for Ambition Racing and a move that will give the whole team a whole load of new opportunities.
The very first Ambition Camp in 2007 saw Max Asquith as a first year child racer hanging 10 feet in the air from a t-bar and me wondering 'what this kid was up to?'..... And when i look at this athlete now, the only Ambition skier to have been on the very first and very last Stelvio camps, i know that the job we have done to date has been a good one. Long may it continue.
Arrivederci Bormio. THANKYOU. xxxxxxx
Water-Day
Brilliant Day in Borm...
21st July 2011 at 09:40PM
Lets start with yesterday...... all the winter layers plus a storm jacket..... and it was still cold! The Austrian C team, along with us and 2 other italian teams were the only teams up there, either we're all hardcore or all stupid.
Today, however (in a similar pattern to the rest of the week) was very very good. Clear sky but still pretty damn cold. The snow still hadn't really softened by the time we left at midday. GS gates was the focus for today with a few markers for turn initiation. Tomorrow will be the same for the 6 juniors while the kids move onto slalom.
This evening saw our standard summer camp BBQ turn into a mass water-fight, with everyone stuffed and drenched before the end of the evening.
Looking forward to a clear day again tomorrow (hopefully).
Adios.
Back in the game!
Stelvio re-opens with beautiful weather
19th July 2011 at 06:57PM
Stelvio was open again today with some brilliant weather and conditions more commonly seen in the autumn than at this time of year. We had a great day of GS training with loads and loads of runs on the flats to start off with before going into another brush corridor. The kids especially are starting to look like a strong little unit and we are already seeing some good improvements.
We have also had some more news in today on the Atomic-Ambition Camp to be held at Hemel from the 25th-28th July.
The 'SuperStars Tuesday' is set to be an awesome day, with a team dual slalom set-up that will include Atomic stars being raffled off to make up the final member of each team.
Athletes now confirmed for Tuesday are:
- Edward Drake
- Talan Skeels Piggins
- Graham Bell
- Konrad Bartelski
- Ashley Hill
- Phillip Schoerghofer
More news from some of our main sponsors too -
- Snow & Rock will be offering 20% off of non-sale items in their Hemel store for Atomic-Ambition camp athletes.
- Snow & Rock will be show-casing their new SnowGlide product, tuning up the test skis for the week. The difference this tool can make is absolutely amazing!
- LEVEL gloves will be offering their Race SQ (glove & mitten) and Svindal Pro model gloves at reduced prices for Atomic-Ambition camp athletes.
Looks set to be a great couple of weeks!!
On Yer Bike.....
Mountain Closed, time for some Downhill.... (on the bikes)
18th July 2011 at 06:46PM
So we got up to the Stelvio Cable Car this morning which is at 2700m to find fresh snow..... something we don't get to see much on the summer camps, usually that is saved for October. The wind was just too much so they decided not to open the lifts today, complete bummer!
So a 20 strong group headed to the bike shop this morning to rent out some mountain bikes for the day. We had the children out this morning for about 3 and a half hours before the juniors took to the hills this afternoon. Oga has opened a bike park this year so we thought we'd check it out. The ride up was pretty damn tough taking a lot longer than we first thought, but it was all worth it for the ride down!!! (Apart from the point where Pete ate the wall causing a Pete/Barney/Azza pile up.)
Here are the pics:
BEFORE
AFTER
ICE ICE BABY
Wicked day on Stelvio
16th July 2011 at 09:19PM
Today we woke up to a perfect day; clear, cold and solid snow.
The last 2 days have been a little soft but today made up for it with some bullet proof conditions first thing, all the moisture from yesterday setting overnight to give us great training conditions today.
We carried on where we left off yesterday with juniors doing a few plough-parallels at snail pace to try and get the right movements happening at the right time. The children meanwhile jumped into the brush course to vary balance points with a dictated turn shape. Nothing spectacular going on, just hard work and great to be training hard on a decent snow-pack in great weather.
The juniors were back in the gym this afternoon while the children went on a hike / run / expedition around Bormio. The clouds then came in so our beach volleyball game was rained off this evening unfortunately!
Anyway, tomorrow will be a day off, followed by decent overnight freezing temperatures taking us right through until we depart next Saturday. If we get more days like today, i will be more than happy!
The other thing that has been great is the way the team have all settled in and gelled. There are a fair few new athletes here and everyone seems to be getting along brilliantly - awesome to see.
Ok onto the Ambition Camps for post Stelvio:
Hemel Camp 25th - 28th July - 1 PLACE LEFT. (35/36)
Ipswich Camp - 1st - 5th August - 3 PLACES LEFT. (33/36)
At Hemel we will be holding a SuperStars Tuesday, this will see some of Atomic's biggest stars come to Hemel to race with the athletes in a the SuperStars Dual Slalom. Each SuperStar will be raffled off to make up the final member of each dual slalom team before mentoring the team through the afternoons competition. With some big names lined up, we are expecting a very exciting and fun afternoon!
NEW PRIZES. More support from Snow & Rock - they have announced that they will be throwing boots bags into each and every athlete goody bag! Going to need to come up with some more prize categories soon as they will also be chucking some DIANESE back supports into the prizes pot for the end of the week.
Wow, this post is already way way too long, time for bed!
Night.
Brushing up on our skills....
J'adore la Stelvio
15th July 2011 at 10:04PM
It looked a bit grim when we arrived in the car park at 7.10 this morning to head up the glacier. The clouds seemed to be clinching onto the mountain tops,producing a mixture of rain and sleet through the first hour of this mornings session. We were not to be deterred however as Benn set off with some challenging drills for the children, while the juniors attempted to ski slalom with the weights discs that had been weighing their bags down all morning.
This all worked pretty well - we saw some decent skiing, some small improvements and while we went in for some video analysis, the sun came out. So we spent the last hour of the morning working in a brush slalom course, varying hand positions and trying to nail a decent balance point to build on through the coming months and camps.
This afternoon was awesome fun as we played Man-Hunt on the hill side of the Bagni Nuovi Spa. This lasted for about 3 hours and ended in a game of coaches VS athletes.... The coaches stopping 11 out of 14 athletes from getting in, not a bad effort from the 3 of us (plus a little help from Tom). Following that it was onto the less exciting but equally important core sessions and plyometrics.
This evening has been very positive indeed with 2 new sponsors outlining more of what they would like to do with Ambition during the 2012 winter season - CEP Compression Sportswear and Outdoor Traders both coming on board with details following shortly.
BUT..... The biggest news of the day was from SNOW & ROCK.
These guys have been supporting the Ambition SnowCentre camp for the last 2 years and this year have come up trumps with what must be THE top prize of this years camp.... Oh yes... It's a GoPro.
For anyone who has not seen what these puppies do, check out www.gopro.com. They are awesome and we have 1 and only 1 to give away on the Atomic-Ambition Camp in Hemel from the 25th - 28th July.
More news on the camps tomorrow!
Phew.....!
We avoided getting wet!
14th July 2011 at 10:15PM
We managed to dodge a down-pour this morning as the sun came out. It was warm but we managed to get some good runs in before the clouds came over. Today gave the new Ambition athletes a chance to show us what they could do on the snow, and gave us coaches a chance to start identifying strengths and weaknesses! Justin is working with a small group for a few days, getting Sarah Glasgow and Paddy Taylor up to speed as quickly as possible.
This afternoon saw the juniors getting back into the swing of things with their lifting techniques, followed by a core session. The children meanwhile, made use of the new Ambition Agility Kit, doing a range of jumps, steps, and darting around the garden. Max Asquith in particular has made a massive leap forwards with his fitness, all the hard work since April paying off!!!
On a separate note, the Atomic-Ambition Camp that starts on the 25th July running through until the 28th is now full and we have an awesome week lined up. More details of the program are set to be released over the coming week.
Until tomorrow.... Buono Notte.
Here we go.....
The Final Countdown....
13th July 2011 at 09:02PM
The team arrived back in Bormio today for the final camp before we move base to Leogang in October. And one thing we wont miss is that airport run to Milan, that is for certain!
There are a lot of the new athletes with us for this camp so today has been a case of getting into resort, getting skis prepped and setting the scene for what Ambition is all about and how the next 10 days will work. New children's coach Benn Hall has been laying down the law and getting the guys ready to work also. The standard summer Thunder storms are giving it hell outside so that either means a day of Glacier powder....... or a wash-out for tomorrow! Either way, the gym will be ready and waiting for us come the afternoon, as will the mountain bikes and various other activities here.
Meanwhile, Beth Soman has today been awarded with an 'Oustanding contribution to Skiing' award at her school awards evening so a huge well done to her from all of us out here.
Ah, and check this out - i was a little worried about snow-fall and temperatures in Chile, but it looks as though we will be fine when we head down to La Parva next month after the AtomicUK camps.
HAUS TIROL
Official Announcement.
4th July 2011 at 03:09PM
This will possibly not be 'news' to most people as the skiing world is not the largest of places, however, it is true that Ambition Racing will be delivering programs from a new home as of October 2011!
The past 10 weeks have been filled with trips back and forth to Austria to meet with the various accountants, solicitors and bank managers amongst others, all needed to make a project such as this become a reality. I am now pleased to say that on Wednesday 29th June, the contracts were all signed for Haus Tirol; a Guesthouse located in the village of Leogang on the back of Saalbach in Austria, to become the new home of the Ambition Racing Team.
The vision of creating a permanent 'home' or 'base' for Ambition is not a new idea, it is something that we have strived for since day 1. The chance to make this a reality however has been a different story. So, after the success of the team in 2010/2011, i decided that we should explore the possibilities again and invest as much as we could in the Ambition Athletes, to take a leap of faith and provide something to enhance the programs beyond belief for 2012.
Our new home will sleep 39 people and is a 5 minute drive away from the Leogang lift station. It is in a familiar area (i was based in Lofer 30 minutes away as part of the British Development Team from 2002-2005) that gives us access to a huge variety of training pistes and hills both throughout the summer and winter - 23 different resorts within an hour's drive. The close proximity of the airports will mean more snow time for each and every athlete and having a permanent home will enable us to build up a history over the years and more of a community within the various Ambition Teams and age groups.
The building of a new, large ski room is to start in September, along with an in-house weights gym, core + recovery room, athletes lounge and activity room all to be developed before we start in October.
This move will by no means guarantee success but it will take every athlete one step closer to reaching their full potential - i am sure they are all as excited as i am to move in for October!!!
Ambition Update!
News, News and more News.....
4th July 2011 at 02:15PM
A few busy weeks for the Ambition athletes it seems;
In the past few weeks i have had updates from Hemel ERSA where Kieran performed brilliantly, the Manchester Grand Prix races where Ella and Olivia Ward stood side by side on the Children1 podium and again this weekend reports of podium places up at Braehead from both Kieran Norris and Beth Soman. It is great that our athletes are keeping up the good work over the summer and with the Stelvio, Hemel, Ipswich and Chile camps coming up over the next 6 weeks, there is for sure a lot more to come.
I have returned for the 4th and final time (for the summer) from Austria where we had Charlie Raposo and Alex Buchanan over collecting new kit and having a ski on the Kitzsteinhorn. We also had a few meetings each afternoon to sort out a few bits and pieces for the coming season, these all went well and things are looking great for the new team going into 2011/2012.
The 2012 Ambition Team is pretty much full now too which is great news - Senior Men, Junior Men & Women and Children Girls are all full, with 1 place remaining in the Children Boy's group. We are really pleased with all the new athletes who have come on board, all seem ready to work and most will join us up on Stelvio from the 13th July for their first experience of Ambition!
Cant wait!
LEVEL!
New gear and prizes arrives for Ambition
21st June 2011 at 02:29PM
What absolute legends long term sponsors LEVEL are, not only have they been sponsoring the AtomicUK summer camps for the last few years, they have also helped out the Ambition athletes in Bormio immensely. This year has seen LEVEL step up their sponsorship, taking a place alongside ABC, VITAL, BARTLETTS and ATOMIC as a primary sponsor of Ambition Racing. With this new deal, Level have chosen 4 Ambition athletes to be fully sponsored with gloves, poles and accessories.
The gloves company are THE coolest on the market, and with Norweigans Svindal and Janrud leading their sponsored athletes team, it is little wonder they have some of the most unique designs on the market. To find out more about the brand visit www.levelgloves.com or if you want to the chance to win some of the cool kit seen below, get booking on either the Atomic Hemel or Ipswich Camp on www.ambitionracing.co.uk/camps - everything has to go so there's lots to play for in July!
Or, for any 2000 / 2001 births - try out for a completely free week by winning the Aldershot LSERSA race this Sunday!
Best of luck to those competing!!
Austrian World Cup Star Coming to Hemel.
Atomic Camp 25th-28th July set to be best yet with Atomic's latest edition.
18th June 2011 at 00:41AM
Been away for a few weeks since the Hemel Camp but lots going on with the new team.... Facebook messages and emails of various results from indoor races following the Atomic Camp held at Hemel in May.
Anyway, big news from Atomic today, we are told that Philipp Schoerghofer will be joining the Atomic and Ambition staff at the Hemel Camp from 25th-28th July 2011!!!!
Schoerghofer is currently ranked 7th in the world for GS, having won the Hinterstoder WC and placing 3rd in the World Champs this year. I'm looking forward to seeing if any of our indoor specialists can take him down in a dual at Hemel however!!!!!
Check him out in action:
The Grand Finale!
Races, Prizes and more....
2nd June 2011 at 11:10PM
It was the last day of the Atomic May Camp today and what a day it was.....
It all started off with some team games this morning; 3-legged races, piggy back runs, wheelbarrow races + a bit of bulldog!! With that the guys were ready for our 2 on snow technical sessions this morning - Aza, Alex White, Anna, Lizzie and Ryan taking the spoils in the syncronized skiing comp.
This afternoon saw some good skiing through our agility course before we whacked up the timing for the end of camp race runs. It was great to see all of the athletes pushing it hard against their peers over the 3 runs with Olly Krahelski being the man to beat with some sub-12 second times.
At the end of the day, we all gathered for the awards, Olly being rewarded for his on slope performances with the top prize - a 2012 Atomic Slalom helmet (pictured below). The athlete prizes and goody-bags seem to be getting bigger and better each year, with huge support coming from Atomic and Level especially.
A massive thanks to our sponsors (Atomic and Level) for making the week such a success, we hope to see more of you on the July and August camps..... check out our promo video, courtesy of Atomic:
The 'A' Team
Ambition and Atomic = The 'A' Team.
1st June 2011 at 06:24PM
Today was all about celebrities and superstars as we decided to run our very own SuperStars fitness competitions......
(Aaron showing his best dance moves)
Imi Taylor arrived this morning ready to take on the challenges from the kids in the plank, press-ups, 5 jumps, agility slalom course and step-ups. Aaron meanwhile set the pace for the men after a pretty heavy gym session last night (gotta slow him down somehow). The kids gave it their best shot and a few of them challenged Imi and Aaron for the top spots - their performances will not go un-mentioned in tomorrow's prize-giving! Ed Drake arrived mid-morning to add some celebrity to the camp, keeping an eye on the next generation of British and Atomic athletes, and towering above them as we played ultimate frisbee this afternoon.
(Toby Case - the only time he was quiet all day!)
On the slopes, we had a really productive day, some awesome improvements this morning and some very exciting skiing in the dual slalom this afternoon. New boy Nicholas Milton smashed through the first round with an awesome display of dual slalom skiing before getting tangled in the nets during round 2. There was some good thrills and spills until only Ryan McCann and Alex Madden were left to battle it out in the final - with 1 win each in the 3-round race, it all came down to the very last race where Mr Madden took it by inches.....
The Atomic crew were also on hand today, taking clips of the camp and athletes for this year's Atomic Camp promo video, keep an eye on the AtomicUKTV YouTube Channel and www.ambitionracing.co.uk to see these in due course.
Atomic Camp Day 2!
Live and learn....
31st May 2011 at 05:51PM
Day 2 of the Ambition-Atomic Camp saw sponsored athlete Talan Skeels-Piggins arrive to present his take on the sport of ski racing and the challenges that face us all.
The 15 Atomic Camp athletes, sat in silence as Talan explained his journey through the last decade which has seen him go from skiing in the way we all know it, to being given just days to live and coping with paralysis, to competing in Vancouver at the Paralympic in 2010. Truly inspirational stuff something for every athlete to think about and take away with them.
(Sarah Woodward, Yasmin Cooper and Alicja Krahelski spelling it out for us - Smartie style)
We followed on yesterday's 'speed of movement' work with some drills on 'starts', demonstrated below by Toby Case. This afternoon saw the athletes tackle some challenging courses and we rounded everything off with another question & answers session with Talan and some discussion on start routines, focus and visualisation.
All great stuff and some big improvements going on! The kids are excited to see what they can do in the SuperStars style fitness tests with Atomic athlete - Imogen Taylor tomorrow.
For now its food time + cinema!!!!
Atomic Camp Tour Part 1
Atomic Tour kicks off in Hemel.
31st May 2011 at 07:57AM
The first Atomic Camp of 2011 kicked off yesterday at Hemel with some fresh new faces!
Our 2 prize-winners; Toby Case (LSERSA) and Alicja Krahelski (British Champs) were in attendance along with 12 other athletes, with more set to join in the fun once they return from Landgraaf tomorrow. The main question from the under 10's though has been 'will they be starring in the Atomic video this year'?!!
Yesterday saw the guys work hard with coaches Marc Telling and Aaron Tipping in the morning on their agility and co-ordination skills, followed by possibly the longest 'suicide' course we have set!! Some great skiing, big improvements and impressive spills were seen throughout the day!
Massive thanks to Atomic and Hemel for making this event possible, we are all waiting the arrival of Atomic athlete, Talan Skeels-Piggins this morning, with other Atomic stars set to arrive in the coming days.
We'll keep you up to date right here!
Marc.
A day of podiums in Holland.
A quick update from the first day of BASS races in Landgraaf.
29th May 2011 at 08:41PM
Today was the first day of the English Bass Indoor Races in Landgraaf Holland. We have said before just how good the facility is so there is not much need for me to say what a great two days of on hill and dryland training we have had prior to today.
However what I do need to say is a well done to our athletes after the first day of races. Will Wheeler managed an impressive 2nd place in the children boys’ category after putting down two solid runs. On her first camp with Ambition, Anna Henderson placed and equally impressive 2nd in the children girls category. Izzy Taylor was in a strong position after the first run but some mistakes in the second run cost her the podium position she is capable of.
All in all a very positive day. Keep up the good work guys and let’s hope we have some more great results tomorrow.
Gold!
New Ambition Team skiers doing the business....
27th May 2011 at 12:18PM
So.......
Pretty quiet over the past few weeks, either meaning there is a lot going on that we are keeping on the 'Down Low' or that Ambition is a boring Academy where nothing goes on so we have nothing to report.....
Developing Ambition is an on-going task that will never end, the 'what do you do in the summer' questions seem to have died down recently with my spine getting increasingly annoyed at the hours spent in front of my computer.
So what have we been doing? Well most of the team are busy with exams, following fitness programs and getting equipment sorted for next year but some are having it large on the slopes still week in, week out.
I have been keeping a close eye on these 2 skiers for the last year and i am pleased to see both Olivia (pictured below winning) and Ella Ward, bringing home the silverware at both plastic and indoor races. (Ella has broken her thumb but is ok and will be back in no time we are sure).
Some of the team will be in Hemel next week for the indoor camp, while others are already in Landgraaf at the new BASS races being run there. Lets hope that Izzy, Will and Anna do the business for Ambition (Freya hurt her foot and obviously needs a stair-master so could not go).
For the staff, Benn is finishing exams, Chris is in Holland and Jutty is no doubt designing the 2012 Ambition clothing!!! For me, well im trying to clear the old inbox, update the website and work on a few little projects for the team, who will, without question have the most awesome set-up for 2011/2012. ;-)
The new team will be announced fully in due course, but we are very very pleased to see some new names and strong skiers involved with Ambition for next winter.
Enjoy!
Fitness + PaintBall!!
Ambition Fitness and Team Bonding weekend went down a treat!
15th May 2011 at 10:42PM
Saturday's fitness screening at the Surrey Sports Park saw a great turn out from Ambition athletes new and old. With the proceedings being led by Surrey Sports Parks' own Mark Garfoot and Neil Welch from NW Conditioning, the team were in great hands and they re-appeared late in the afternoon looking thoroughly worn out.
The parents meanwhile, had a more in depth presentation from Marc and the coaches about the changes that will be taking place at Ambition for next season. The factual information will be published in a press release shortly, for now all you need to know is that these are exciting times indeed for Ambition Racing and our latest developments will only add to the strong program that is already in place.
Sunday was all about the new teams (athletes / parents / coaches) coming together and getting stuck into a few games of paintball. With 23 of us, we ran riot and were not put off by the opposing team looking to fight rather than shoot us!
Aza got a few close range hits too......
Off to Austria in the morning to run some BASI courses then straight back for the May Hemel Camp, while Chris takes the lead for Landgraaf!!!!!
It's all go as usual at Ambition!
LSERSA Sponsorship - First Bursary Winners.
April Willows and Toby Case victorious in Bromley.
15th May 2011 at 10:28PM
April Willows and Toby case, both born 2002, were the winners of todays summer Bursaries given out for the Group 1 winners of the Bromley LSERSA race by Ambition Racing. Both athletes were clear of the pack as they claimed the top spots in their respective categories and we are looking forward to seeing both of them at the May half-term camp kicking off on May 30th at The SnowCentre Hemel.
'REED's' all about it...
Ambition boys; Sam, Luke and Roy win English Indoor Schools Champs...
8th May 2011 at 11:06PM
The Reed's / Ambition racers did themselves proud in Manchester today with a double victory at the English Indoor Schools Champs. First up was the team timed runs where after Sam Stevens had a little mishap, Seb had to step up to the plate and ski clean for a Reed's finish. Lying in 2nd place it was all to play for on run 2 and after a shaky but complete run from Sam, Luke Steyn showed a smooth, fast run, followed by Roy laying down a stormer with the fastest time on the course to move the team up into 1st.... The boys went on to take home the silverware for the team parallel slalom held straight after also.
All in all a successful start for the Reed's team!
'HELLO MOTO'......
New sponsorship deal and partnership secured for Ambition.
6th May 2011 at 09:50PM
Today was a good day,
Not only have we just secured an awesome sponsorship from MOTOROLA, we have also formed a formidable partnership with the one of the top private schools in the UK: REED'S SCHOOL.
MOTOROLA will be supplying Ambition with 10 of their latest radios to make sure that no matter what the weather, terrain or discipline, the Ambition athletes and coaches will be able to communicate with clear, crisp airwaves! Massive thanks to Motorola for making this happen, i've been checking out their other products on www.motorola.com and they have got some awesome kit so go take a look!!!!!!
The other exciting news of the day is our new partnership with REED'S SCHOOL. For a long time now, Ambition has been working with a variety of athletes from Reed's including the likes of Luke Steyn, Roy Steudle, James Seiber, Katie Willis, Ellie Pocock, Alex Buchanan and i expect even more moving forward into 2012.
Reed's have always been very supportive of both their students and Ambition, providing the right work at the right time and enabling their student-athletes to come through their GCSE's and A-Level's with top, top grades even with extended periods of time spent away. Today's meeting was about making the partnership a formal agreement with Ambition giving full support to the way the school operate with their elite athletes and Reed's becoming more involved with the Ambition academic program delivered in Bormio.
The other reason for my visit today was to see Ben Haining - the Elite Athlete S&C coach at Reed's. Ben works full-time with the Reed's athletes and we spent a good chunk of time going over each individual's program for the summer and beyond. The level of support that both Ambition and the athletes receive at Reed's is 2nd to none and we hope this relationship will continue long into the future.
Watch out for the Reed's boys at Manchester this weekend in the British Schools race!
Goodnight!
GO TEAM.....
National Teams 'tapping-up' the Ambition athletes....
6th May 2011 at 09:52AM
So the national junior team selections came out a few days back, in the midst of parents meetings and planning for next season, have only just got this online, here's how it looks;
It seems like everyone has noticed the results that are starting to come out of Ambition - credit to a hell of a lot of hard work from the staff and athletes together. Congratulations to Ashley Hill, Roy Steudle, Imi Taylor, Ellie Pocock and Emily Evans who together make up nearly 50% of the British Junior Team. Charlie Raposo was also selected to the British Junior Team to make up a special team for attendance to BOA prep camps for YOWG 2012.
With interest from England in a few of our other athletes, namely Luke Riddell and Kieran Norris and Scotland sniffing around Peter Glasgow, we are ready to step the game up once again at Ambition and let the results do the talking for us.
The athletes are busy presently in revision and fitness mode, looking forward to the Ambition Fitness / Team Bonding Camp planned at Surrey Sports Park on the 14th and the mass Paint-Balling war on the 15th. Cannot wait, with the athletes taking on the kids it will be a case of 'get your own back' for all involved!! Big shout out to Mark Garfoot at Surrey Sports Park and Neil Welch from NW fitness for putting the testing day together for us.
My time is being spent working with athletes and parents on programs and fitness trainers on S&C programs for the summer and on a couple of major projects for Ambition. We are looking to take Ambition to a completely new level and give our athletes an unrivalled environment to work in come 2011/2012.
Apparently this girl will be leading the proceedings where we are going.............. I guess she's not so good at paintball....
Ambition 1-2 at British Indoor Champs...
Not bad young grasshopper.....
26th April 2011 at 09:17PM
Had decided not to put this up but have given into peer pressure and here it is! The number of times i get the better of Ash are few and far between these days. 3 in the top 10 for Ambition.
Really good fun racing at Manchester, more of the Ambition team should get involved with the races up there, the snow is pretty damn good and the setting is actually quite realistic to snow - some of it at least!
Marc.
Home Sweet Home....
Bk in the UK finally...
23rd April 2011 at 07:19PM
Haven't actually got home yet but at least we are all back in the UK. Tomorrow night i will finally arrive back to my house and more importantly my bed.
Saw a few of the Ambition guys racing in Manchester today (i wasn't one of them as my first run cannot really be described as 'racing') anyhow, good to see the guys keeping everything up in a competitive environment.
The next few weeks will see a lot of developments with Ambition; new athletes, new kit, UK camp organisations and promotion, kit collection. Basically all the admin kind of work that i love. I'll put anything exciting up on the blog but will try to avoid the 'today i bought some new stationary' type posts.
Have worked out a few things for the summer and the provisional South American Cup calendar looks great for Ambition with 5x SG's, 2x DH's and 2x SC's planned during the period we will be there. There will also be 4 tech races chucked in, so time to get in the gym and make sure we take advantage of the awesome training and racing opportunities down there.
Lots to do and plan, keep your eyes peeled to the blog for news and developments.
Marc.
All good things come to an end......
Season finishes as Junior/Seniors finish racing at Belgium NC races in Val Thorens....
15th April 2011 at 06:29PM
All good things come to an end.... To me Ambition was not a 'good' thing this season, it was a great thing. No-one knows more than me the struggles that went on through 2010 but to be here in April 2011, looking back on it all, i am happy, relieved, proud and content with what we have all achieved together at Ambition. Not only were there many individual results, but as a team we have come away from this season as both BARSC and BRITISH Champions.
The last of the races were finished this week in Val Thorens and i felt pretty sad saying goodbye to more and more of the athletes and staff as the days went on. It is hard to describe how it feels but we all work so hard and so intense that when it all finishes in the space of a few days, you are left with an empty feeling. I remember the feeling as a racer and it is no different as a coach.
For me now, it is time to write the reports, reflect on what needs to change for next season and speak to everyone individually before the first team weekend in May. I'll be back soon to unload the container, return items and meet with you all but for now here are a few of my favourite memories from 2010/2011;
- Lucy Kahve - The first year with the team, making her mark, ripping Aaron at Tapas restaurant.
- Beth Soman - The cheeky Christmas card prank to me and Chris!
- Alice Taylor - The moving up the ranking to sit 3rd after first run of British Champs.
- Izzy Taylor - The use of her face as a piste basher!
- Luke Riddell - The Aiglon Cup Champion.
- Oli Chalkley - The SG timing sessions in February - killing it!
- Luke Maynard - The Super-G crashes (and getting back up)!
- Will Wheeler - The turning it all around after BARSC.
- Max Asquith - The first Podium at the Welsh Champs.
- Ellie Pocock - The British Super-Combined Champ.
- Imogen Taylor - THAT slalom run in Caspoggio.
- Emily Evans - The racing Super-G in Hemsedal after the biggest crash.
- Emily Pocock - The coming so close to that sub 100 in Les Crosets.
- Violet Miller - The grin after the first sub 100 score in Bormio.
- Alex Buchanan - The working, working, working, no matter what.
- Amy Young - The winning BARSC jn1 slalom.
- Luke Steyn - The launch of G-safe / Captain safety.
- Ash Hill - The british junior slalom race, the untold stories of stupidity!
- Roy Steudle - The biggest jump i have ever seen!
- Barney Lewis - The changes since July 2010.
- Peter Glasgow - The podium at the British Champs junior slalom.
- Kieran Norris - The gritting the teeth and digging deep when the legs were saying 'no'.
- Thomas White - The first sub 100 in slalom - that was a proud moment!
- Brad Morgan - The Scottish Champs GS 1st run.
- Aaron Tipping - The change of tactics for the last day of the season.
- James Foster - The highs and the lows, through sickness and in health!!
- Joe Webb - The grin on the good days.
- Justin Mesut - The hair-cuts and shopping trips.
- Chris Pyle - The listener.... and what a job he does.
- Andrea Adorno - The pirate.
- Melody McCague - The... 'this one time' stories.
- Monika Kimmich - The hours and hours and hours of work.
Glasgow nails it at Scottish Champs...
Pete Glasgow hit the podium again in Courchevel...
7th April 2011 at 01:29PM
Another good day today for Peter Glasgow, after winning the British Jn1 Slalom title last week, Peter followed it up today with 2 solid runs to finish 6th overall, score a 2nd best results and end up 2nd on the Scottish Podium.
The mens slalom was chaos today, with tough conditions taking out most of the field, however we were pleased with the younger skiers from Ambition especially as they skied tactically and got something out of the day.
Pics to follow...
The final countdown.....
British Champs complete for Ambition Juniors...
4th April 2011 at 03:55PM
Today marked the last day of the NC and NJC races in Meribel where under a cloud of fog and a few mm's of rain, the National Junior Champs Mens Slalom went ahead after the womens GS event was cancelled due to poor visibility.
The Ambition team dug deep to claim top spots on the podium one last time at this event, with Ashley Hill claiming the British Junior Slalom Champion title, while Peter Glasgow made use of his early start number in the 2nd run to claim the British Junior1 Slalom Champion title. Peter skied a blinder of a second run as did Kieran Norris before straddling, brilliant to see the younger members of the boys junior team claim some of the limelight for a change!!!! Peter made his PB points results in the process and should be very proud of his achievement today.
So shortly after came the overall combined awards which looked like this:
Overall Junior Combined Champion: Imogen Taylor
Overall Junior1 Combined Champion: Imogen Taylor
Best Junior Club Team: Ambition Racing.
We will focus on the Scottish Champs followed by the some FIS races in Pila now but what a season and what a British Champs we have had from the Ambition athletes. It has been great to see the teams' hard work be rewarded so well over the past 10 days.
Few more pics from today's podium......
Off to a good start!
The Children's team start as they mean to go on.
3rd April 2011 at 07:29PM
With a busy week of races ahead of them the Children’s team are off to a good start. Despite high temperatures and soft snow, today’s boy’s GS and girls Slalom resulted in a number of podium places.
The boys GS saw Charlie Raposo taking second place in race 1, followed by Luke Riddell in third. Race 2 saw Charlie in second place again with Luke Riddell unfortunately having an error at the top of the pitch costing him a second podium place of the day.
In the first girls Slalom Alice Taylor showed that she is capable of transferring her good form from training into a race performance and claimed second in CH2. Beth Soman also impressed with a fifth place in CH2. For the second race Alice found herself on the podium again with a third place in CH2 despite being last down a tough, cut up course.
The rest of the team all showed glimmers of what they are capable of but were unable to hold it together for a whole run. All in all it’s looking like a good start to the week. Keep up the good work guys!!
check this out.....
Couldn't have done a better PR job myself....
2nd April 2011 at 02:50PM
Not sure who wrote this but i promise it wasn't me....!!! Seems some other people have noticed the success from this week!!!! Check out the link!!
http://www.britishalpinechamps.com/news/newsview.aspx?id=16
British Champs NC over!
onto the NJC's and Scottish now......
2nd April 2011 at 02:39PM
So the National Champs finished today, girls slalom and boys GS.
Yesterday we had an ok day, Roy Steudle made the top 30 and had a pretty good 2nd run with just one error that sadly proved a bit costly, anyway, good skiing. Imi and Vi had good runs in GS and while they were not as fast as they would have liked it will still another race where their tactics/inspection and line were pretty much spot on. Ellie Pocock had a crash meaning she missed today and will likely miss the next few too, after some great performances earlier in the week, it was sad us not to be able to see what Ellie could have done with such momentum!!
Today was a mixed day, the GS was tough and most of the boys crashed and burned first run, Kieran and Peter fought down but struggled to nail the line they would have liked on the pitch.
In the womens slalom, Emily Evans made her 2nd best result coming 2nd on run 2 and ending up 6th overall.
So Ambition were well represented on the 'overall combined' podium today with Ellie Pocock taking 3rd and Imi in 2nd just behind Niki Sole. Imi also took the overall under-18 title!!
A great senior champs for Ambition, lets hope the junior champs in the next few days goes just as well!!!
Back in Business.......
BLog is working again and British Champs are going sooooooo well for Ambition...
31st March 2011 at 03:44PM
Got the race meeting in a moment so i'll try and make this quick..... basically today we had one of the best days that i can remember since Ambition Racing started. After yesterday's slalom leg of the Super-Combined, the girls and boys had good starting bibs within the top 30 and a slight overnight freeze meant we could get the NJC Super-G underway this morning.
The day belonged to the girls as Ellie Pocock won the Overall Super-Combined title (just ahead of Imogen Taylor), taking the under-18 and best non-team titles in the process. Emily Evans claimed 3rd spot in the Super-Combined event to complete an Ambition 1-2-3 in the British competition. Meanwhile Imi Taylor just pipped Ellie on the Super-G leg by .07 to claim the National Junior Super-G Champion title to make up another podium 1-2 for Ambition. Violet Miller was not far behind and with a blistering run from bib 1, managed to take 2nd place behind Imi in the Junior1 Category.
The boys were also fast this morning with some great skiing from Tom White up top before a mistake lower down, Brad Morgan claimed the male British Junior Super-G title, with Roy Steudle close behind in 3rd.
The results from the Downhill a few days ago are online too.... Imi took the under 18 title in that coming in as 3rd Brit, while Brad took 3rd Brit in the mens race.
What a start!!!!! Unbelievable days here in Meribel, not the best weather as usual but i am very very proud and very very happy right now.... A massive thanks to all the athletes, parents and staff from Ambition who have helped us to get to this stage.
Here are the pics:
GS for (Great skiing)
Last day for the Ambition Children in the Borm
30th March 2011 at 07:44PM
Once again the pistes were solid and the weather was with us, so we jumped onto the GS decks. “Perfect timing” to get the timing out. It seemed everything went our way as the guys were conquering their faults. So all in all everyone had a positive day.
Here are the best times of the day to give you a idea of how the guys did.
Boys
Luke Riddell 00:31:00
Will Wheeler 00:31:67
Luke Maynard 00:32:65
Max Asquith 00:32:95
Oli Chalkley 00:33:11
Girls
Alice Taylor 00:33.29
Beth Soman 00:33.76
Izzy Taylor 00:34.68
Lucy Kahve 00:37:86
Rain coats packed, bring on the British champs
British NC Super-G
Great start for Ambition!
28th March 2011 at 03:23PM
Todays Dh training was cancelled which was a little annoying but yesterday was an awesome day for Ambition.
The NC Super-G started off with Ellie Pocock taking 3rd with Imi Taylor close behind in 4th overall. Ellie also took the Under-18 title. In the mens event, Brad Morgan took 2nd Brit, just ahead of James Foster in 3rd. Roy Steudle took the Under-18 title in the mens event - a title held by Ashley Hill from 2010.
Lets hope for more results in the coming days..... if it stops raining and gets a little colder!!!!
Grand tour.... Oga, Bormio, Santa Caterina...
Children girls train GS
24th March 2011 at 08:27PM
Following on from 3 great days of slalom tech work in Oga and Bormio, the children girls moved on to Santa Caterina to start on the GS training. With clear blue sky, perfect snow and quiet pistes we couldn’t have asked for anything more. Straight away the girls were feeling right at home on the GS skis and were tearing up the pistes, showing that they can transfer this weeks good work from slalom into GS.
Tomorrow we move onto Bormio for more GS and some super-g.
You’re got your Crazy Canucks, but here’s the Ballsie Brits!!
SG Freeski
22nd March 2011 at 10:13PM
So today we took the super fast decks up Santa Caterina. Once again the weather was perfect and the snow was sweeter than sweet, and the best thing we had the resort pretty much to our selfs. Could we ask for anymore?
Maybe awesome skiing from the Children boy’s! “CHECK”
snow way,, this is awesome
awesome
21st March 2011 at 08:03PM
After an awesome Sunday skiing in Livigno, the children boys started the week by knuckling down and nailing the GS tech. Snow was perfect, snow was sweet and the team was in good spirits. The whole team benefitted from this and all made huge improvements.
well done boys, keep this up for the British!!
Tomorrow, SG in Santa Caterina.
Loving Livigno!
Free ski day
20th March 2011 at 09:55PM
So the rest of Europe is struggling for snow with resorts under rain clouds. This is not the case in Italy, certainly not in Livigno, which is where the whole team spent the day skiing.
With 3 very busy weeks ahead of us we took the opportunity to have a free ski day and just enjoy ourselves. This involved hitting the park, the piste and the off piste. The highlight of the day being the huge airbag jump in the park. The children girls put in a good effort with Lucy hiking back up time again to have ‘one more go’. As a sideline there was the one-piece competition (who could get the most photos taken with random skiers in one-piece ski suits). The competition was won by the team of Ellie Pocock and Emily Evans with almost 30, taking the win by a narrow margin ahead of Emily Pocock, Imi Taylor and Violet Miller.
What an excellent start to this training block. Keep up the good work guys!
Would you Adam and Eve it
Aiglon GS race
18th March 2011 at 08:54PM
So, a totally different day to the one before (No rain). Arrive at Villars expecting to water ski, but no, the piste was solid as a rock. You could feel the air was pretty warm even before the sun had came out. However, we didn't let this bother us as we were simply happy the race was going ahead.
One run down: Freya 2nd CH1, Alice 2nd CH2, Riddell 1st, Will and Oli copying each others times putting them into 4th CH2 with Aza not far behind. Second run goes ahead: Freya securing 2nd position, Alice unfortunately dropping two places putting her in 4th, Riddell killing it to make sure he took away the win, followed by Olly Eaton with 2nd fastest time, Oli and Aza hung in there too and weren't far off the pace.
Back home to Bormio where there's plenty of fresh snow...
Boom Boom Pow....
Living it up in Bormio....
18th March 2011 at 03:40PM
Love that Jutty and Chris have started blogging about what the kids are up to..... as you can now all see, the children's team does exist, it is not just made up!
As mentioned yesterday, we had a big dump of snow in Bormio.... yes a big one... so today's powder day was pretty sweet. I was worried when the 4-man from Bormio 200 started off closed due to ''high winds'' (piste patrol getting 1st tracks more like) but it soon opened and the hill was ours to play with.
I'll say no more, pics tell a 1000 words and all that....
Enjoy!
(p.s news in that Riddell won in Aiglon today and Chaz Raposo came 11th in Topolino GS.... awesome news and results, congrats boys).
Aiglon race or no Aiglon race that is the question
wet, wet and more being wet
17th March 2011 at 09:51PM
Yet another early morning start for the Ambition children, this time to race in Villars for the Aiglon College Cup.
It may sound like I'm complaining but it seemed to be even warmer, perhaps this had something to do with the fact we drove through a lot of rain to get there. We then pulled up (in the rain) to be told 'race cancelled'. This left us with the dilemma of what to do on such a miserable day. Dressed in ski gear and not knowing Villars too well didn't help so we decided to jump in the van back to les Houches, leaving us spoilt for choice on what we could do. Climbing was the first choice, but with Chamonix being the 'mecca' for climbers we found this was jam packed. So we had the choice of ice skating or bowling, these options sounded too good to miss out on, so we did both. The ice skating arena was the coldest I've been for the last week, but the kids really enjoyed it. Once we were done at the rink we headed down with the troops to go bowling. Some very strange techniques going on but points built up. One thing that I am glad about was that I managed to beat all the kids, wahhoo.
Lets just hope they are able to run the GS tomorrow.
'Softly softly catchy monkey'
Shame to race on a day like this....
17th March 2011 at 03:29PM
What's with the title you may ask.... well..... i was thinking about saying something really smart and sophisticated as to why it applies today but i've mainly been saying it because the snow is soft and i like the way the phrase sounds.
We woke up to some fresh snow down in Bormio today, which usually means a LOAD of snow higher up. And today was no different, a foot of new snow, ready to make fresh tracks in but instead we had to slide the hell out of the course, get the piste basher up and get the slalom going.
It took about 3 slips (from about 150 people) and a lot of shovels but we got down to something slightly harder before the 1st run, with girls and guys on the same course though it got a little bit bumpy. As for our guys, Brad was going well and was so close to the finish on the 2nd run before he took a fall, Ellie suffered the same fate and Luke took quite a bit of air which is never a good thing for slalom!
Emily Evans had another awesome day, smashing her previous PB slalom result with an awesome 2nd run in the bumps. After skiing into 8th on the first run, it was not an easy ride and Emily did well to finish with the 4th fastest time on run 2.
Anyway, races done for this week, plan was to train slalom tomorrow, however, we will be enjoying some serious powder instead on the fat boys and twin tips. Cant wait.
i'sn't skiing supposed to be cold?
interschool day 2
16th March 2011 at 08:32PM
The 2nd day of the Interschool’s races saw the races flipped with boys running Slalom and girls competing in GS.
The Girls had the same luck as the boys by only having the one run, but this turned out to suit us well as Freya Eaton came 2nd and Alice Taylor came 4th! The boys, meanwhile were looking good after the 1st run with Luke Riddell laying in 1st, Olly Eaton 4th, William Wheeler 6th, Luke Maynard 6th and Oli Chalkley 12th. 1 hour later, the second run came around and the baked snow had turned to porridge, the boys stayed focused though, skiing very well in sections with Riddell ending up 3rd, Luke Maynard 4th, Wheeler 5th and Oliver Chalkley bumping up into 9th. Aza redeemed him self by completing second run but Olly was cursed with a DNF.
Next stop Villars, (Aiglon Cup)
Boom!
Better day on Stella Alpina....
16th March 2011 at 03:01PM
Not sure what the weather here is doing, Monday was like summer with perfect clear sky, yesterday was overcast and today it was back to the storm jacket with new snow and a bit of wind to go with it on Bormio 2000.
Finally we looked like a race team again today, not everyone was in the finish but the skiing that went on and the approach was so much better than yesterday. Emily Evans came away with an awesome GS result, skiing a solid 1st run and then great 2nd run on the Stella Alpina piste. Alex Buchanan also looked much more aggressive and although the times were not as good as we would like, it was still a positive day for her.
In the boys race we had 3 DNF's and then Peter Glasgow who had to endure a course that only partially resembled the one he inspected.... a very tough day for the boys but good training if nothing else for the younger athletes especially.
Onto slalom tomorrow, here's hoping for a clear afternoon, sub-zero temps and a good freeze...........
Whatever!!!!!
Oh, and here is a clip of Tipping showing his gymnastics skills..... (he's fine)
The one that got away......
Damn it.
15th March 2011 at 07:02PM
Damn it. What an understatement. Writing this for the sake of writing today, not much to report from Bormio, we stumbled across the best race of the season for girls in today's UNI Super-G but sadly we have very little to show for it.
Praying for a better day tomorrow!
Back 2 Work
Intershcools 2011 CH
14th March 2011 at 09:18PM
Sunday Training; made our way up to Grand Bois (les Houches) to set Slalom. lift passes "check", equipment "check", snow "umm it's not so bad, bit thin in places but ok (check)". So up went the course, 10 runs before lunch, brilliant morning but it was getting warmer all the time! Not good! After lunch Giant Slalom. The course was tough, bumpy and tracked to the max and this definitely set them up for todays race. Another 7 runs down completing an awesome first day of training............. "check".
Monday Race Day; Boys GS, Girls SL. We woke up to a beautiful day and everything seemed perfect except the temperature. Yes even warmer - especially when the sun came out. At the boys race we managed to get the first run down with Luke Riddell taking 2nd, Will Wheeler 3rd Olly Eaton taking away 5th place - Oli Chalkley and Luke Maynard copied each other and came in joint 6th with Aza not far behind. Not a bad start from the boys! By the time the second run came around the snow had turned to porridge..... deep porridge and we had to abandon the 2nd run. In the girls race Alice Taylor had a bit of an error half way down the first run and DNF'd sadly, but Freya Eaton managed to take away 2nd which was awesome. Hopefully tomorrow will be just as good maybe better.
We believe in Santa?
Santa Caterina in great condition still as Europe warms up.....
14th March 2011 at 12:19PM
What a morning - loading up the van at 7 i wondered if the fog would clear and by the time we got to Santa Caterina it was blazing sunshine! The guys set of for a few Super-G runs before slalom training while myself, Mel, Chris Hillier (here this week with Jack), and a Alta Valtelina coach got to work on the setting.
The conditions were great with a bit of new snow again overnight, as we left it was getting a little soft but the slope held up well for the training session with some of the fastest runs coming in the last 2 or 3.
The guys were ok today, one or 2 good runs but overall we should be doing a lot better.....
Found this pic in Photo Sosio yesterday too, thought it was worth the purchase for Roy 'i dream of angles' Steudle
'You better check yourself before you wreck yourself' ;-)
Juniors kick off first day of the last training block for 2010/2011 winter...... where did this one go?!!!
13th March 2011 at 04:28PM
Great day of free-skiing in Livigno today, been here 4 years and never skied that side of Livigno....!
We headed over this morning to have a fun day before the tough 4-5 weeks that lie ahead, a bit of fresh snow and some warmer temperatures made for an awesome morning of free skiing with the team... we found an awesome little snow tunnel half-way down a skier-x, played 'touch the one piece' and realised that we all need a bit more work in the moguls.
Anyway after lunch we moved onto a bit of motor sport at the Ice Quad Biking and then had a bit of time spare for a shop (where Mouse and Ellie took to the streets to get ahead on the search for one piece retro ski suits).
Off to Santa Caterina for slalom training first thing tomorrow!
Drift and Punch.....
Making some shapes.....
Battling it out.....
The quick get-away......
Unken + Goetschen
Austria trip starts off well for the girlies!
3rd March 2011 at 04:34PM
Had 2 awesome days of Super-G training and 2 Super-G races since the last post!
We started off in Heutal, (Unken) for some full length training days along with the British Jnr Team girls, with a quick turn-around we were managing 6 runs on the 55 second SG before 10.30! The Ambition girls made some good runs but were a little off the pace set by Alex Tilley and Harriet Steggles. Ellie Pocock also had a bit of a crash, taking her out of training for a few days before coming back strong in todays races.
The girls raced 2 Super-G's back to back in Goetschen today with both Imi and Ellie making second results. With some awesome skiers competing, the girls did well not to be too far off the pace - it was more like a Super-G sprint at less than a minute long.
Onto Innerkrems CIT Super-G tomorrow where the boys have been racing for the past few days, lets hope for more top performances throughout tomorrow and the weekend as this training block comes to a close!
Marc.
Caspoggio... Take 3.
Straight back on it......
28th February 2011 at 11:25AM
Quick one following the english, straight onto the DH and SG races on our favourite hill.... Caspoggio...!
DH training started well on Friday with Ellie Pocock laying down a good run to take 4th on the first run, followed by Imi taking 3rd on the second training. Violet also made her first DH turns on the Caspoggio slopes, getting used to the lines and positions.
Saturday's DH race saw all 3 girls make their best DH results with Violet Miller going 7 seconds faster than the 2nd training!! Imi had a particularly good 2nd race only 0.43 off of the pace. Tom White meanwhile managed to tip a DH gate and was lucky to escape with only a broken ski - wood core everywhere leaving us with the task of finding some new ones in time for Innerkrems this week!
Yesterday's Super-G saw Ellie Pocock put the disappointment of the Bormio SG behind her, skiing a clean run and making her best result of 90 in the process. Tom White also took advantage of bib 2, finishing just 1.3 off of the leaders to make his first sub-70 result in Super-G, great skiing considering his scare from the previous day.
No pics, was rushing to get to Austria!!!!!!!
English Champs and More.....
What a week.... finally stopped....
28th February 2011 at 11:14AM
So here we are finally in Maria Alm, Austria, taking a well deserved day off! We have had 8 full days of racing, meeting, crying, shouting, crashing, driving, setting and celebrating so it is nice to sit here and...................................... do emails.
What to say....? We had a pretty damn good week in Bormio, i was trying to keep up with all the results on my note-pad but i think the pics below give a better idea of what it was all like there, lots of podiums, lots of results, lots of 'oh so close' runs and certainly lots of gossip.
Overall i am really really pleased with all the athletes at Ambition, the new ones as much as the seasoned pros, i think they have all proved to themselves what is possible now and how good they can be - we are certainly motivated to do better and better.
Most importantly though, we need to wish Amy Young all the best after her injury at the English, she is a huge part of the team at Ambition and we really hope her knee injury heals quickly and that she will be back with us as soon as possible.
(if some of the prize-giving pics look dark that because it was about 5pm!)
Marc.
We love Bormio!!!
Great team performance from Ambition Juniors....
20th February 2011 at 09:48PM
The Ambition Junior Team had a great day in the first NJR event of the 2011 English Championships with Emily Evans and Imogen Taylor making the Jnr1 podium in 1st and 3rd position (2nd and 4th overall). Amy, Ellie and Vi also made their 2nd best results in slalom so far this season on the Stella Alpina piste at Bormio 2000.
In the mens event, Ashley Hill laid down a storming first run in only his 3rd week of skiing since last April to stay within 0.5 of the leader and although he had a few mistakes on run 2, still finished 0.7 off to finally get a result more in line with his skills. Joseph Webb also made use of another good 2nd run start position to make a P.B result, and Peter Glasgow finished 2 clean runs to get his best result of the winter so far. Barney, Tom and Kieran made 2nd best results too.
All in all a good start to the week, tomorrow the juniors will move down to the Stelvio piste for GS while the kids kick off their championships with Slalom on Stella Alpina.
Best of luck to everyone for tomorrow!
Pista Stelvio
2nd Super-G training follows suit as weather stays warm in the Borm.....
17th February 2011 at 12:42PM
Another tough day on the Stelvio piste in Bormio as the weather stayed warm overnight. While there was not so much new snow last night, the clouds that hung over Bormio meant the snow stayed wet for a 2nd day. If it clears as per the forecast on Friday night, we should be in for some solid slopes next week!!
Anyway, we got another couple of runs in before the fog came with some good improvements from yesterday.
The juniors will now have 2 days off before the next races, while the children move to train GS on the Stella Alpina piste tomorrow....
run 1 results:
run 2 results:
Fresh Tracks!!
New snow in Bormio....
16th February 2011 at 01:49PM
Lots going on since the last post -
Had an awesome day of SG training after the Caspoggio CIT races last week, whole of Stelvio piste closed off for us to work with 4 guys (Imi Taylor, Peter Glasgow, Joe Webb and Luke Steyn), you don't get much better than that....! At 10am after 6 awesome runs we were ready to pull the plug and have a day off before the next training block..............
So...... over the weekend Caspoggio NJR races ended a little better with Joseph Webb and Peter Glasgow scoring PB results in slalom, while Kieran Norris and Luke Steyn picked up 2nd results in the Slalom and GS respectively. Imi Taylor skied an absolute blinder on the slalom day, ranked 14th at the start and blitzed into 5th on the first run. Sadly the 2nd run did not go to plan but it was great for Imi to see what she is capable of going forward.
Emily Evans has also been competing in Czech this week at EYOF, where she has finished both races just outside of the top 30 (with some mistakes by the sounds of it), anyway she seems to be happy over there and enjoying the experience, congratulations to Emily.
On saturday the new guys arrived and have been training hard since, GS on Oga followed by 2 days on the Stella Alpina slalom piste, before changing to Super-G this morning. It was a tough start as we had to slip off the 30cms of new snow to get to the harder base but once we got going the guys looked confident and there was a good buzz at the bottom after the last jump (Luke Maynard showing his 'big air' skills on the way). Some very impressive times and skiing from Oli Chalkley and Peter Glasgow in particular.
1st Run results:
2nd run results:
You're not out until you're on your butt!!!!
I must have said this 1000 times to the guys at Ambition.... this is what i am talking about...!
11th February 2011 at 03:11PM
Ye-haaaaaaa!
Sweet day on the speed skis....
10th February 2011 at 07:44PM
What an awesome training day, clear, cold, closed slope and 4 guys training...... say what you like but i don't think you get these kind of training options as a club team anywhere else in the world.....
We managed 6 runs today in SG before we had to re-open the Stelvio hill for the public and the guys were hammering it from run 1. We saw some awesome improvement from Peter Glasgow and Luke Steyn - great feeling on the skis today with Luke being fastest in timing. Imi also made a massive step forward and looked a hell of a lot more comfortable today than at the start of the week, last but not least Joe looked more comfortable too as the session went on - and was taking the biggest air off of the last jump without question.
Chris got a great snap of Bormio from the Cuik jump before setting this morning - he had time on his hands as i had ragged it off from the car park, straight down Cuik to the GS start with the timing only to realise what i had done and that we were training SG...... anyone that's been to Bormio will know its a long walk back up. Complete idiot. Enjoy.
Caspoggio... Take 2.
Better day...
9th February 2011 at 08:35PM
Seems something went in last night..... Roy struggled a little with the timing and movement on the 1st run but had a very strong and attacking 2nd run ending up with a sweet time. 2 of the boys here are looking seriously good, with yesterdays winner putting 1.2 on 2nd place after the 1st run. Aaron, Joe and Luke all suffered the same fate at the bottom of the first pitch and DNF'd, while Peter Glasgow battled down but was taken out on the 2nd run.
Imi meanwhile blasted down her first run, moving from bib 17 into 10th, 2 seconds closer than in the first run yesterday, second run looked to be on similar form with only a few mistakes but the time was just not there as we thought it would be.
Much better skiing but work to be done over the next few days before we return to the same piste for Saturday's NJR GS.
Buono Notte.....
The Ambition Favourite....
Caspoggio it is.....
8th February 2011 at 03:41PM
Not much to say about today really, except we could have done so much better.......!!
Haven't seen full results yet but with the exception of a 2nd run charge from Imi, we just weren't up to scratch..... not all bad but every athlete knows they can achieve much more.
From here we'll take a look at the vid and make a new plan for tomorrow, if they learn from today there are good results to be had tomorrow and over the weekend, bibs and conditions are great there right now.
Put that one in a box and move on!
Super-G = Super-Fun
Ambition Team get to grips with the speed!
7th February 2011 at 12:50PM
What a day! Started off setting in the dark at 6.50 this morning down the Stelvio piste with the netting already in place and half of the mountain shut for us! It was the first SG day that we've run down the Stelvio piste this year, starting at Cuik and finishing just shy of the finish area in Bormio town - the guys worked hard and made some big improvements especially Kieran Norris and Peter Glasgow.
(view from the last rise at 8am)
We managed to get 6 runs in, best times as below:
- Roy Steudle - 1.02.18
- Luke Steyn - 1.02.70
- Peter Glasgow - 1.05.37
- Imi Taylor - 1.05.86
- Kieran Norris - 1.05.92
Oh and yesterday's climbing session was awesome - a little dark towards the end but great cross-training and good to see Kieran conquer his fear of heights and scramble up the wall! (Here's a good shot of Andrea).
Max Asquith.... Pathway to Podium.
Its been a long and often tough journey for Aza to get his first podium a few weeks back...
6th February 2011 at 08:50PM
Max Asquith nailed his first podium of his ski racing career a few weeks back at the Welsh Champs in Champery.... he has improved steadily over the start of this season, however we thought it would be good to show a few pics and vids of the tough times Aza has endured along the way.....!
Enjoy...!
Welsh training day......
Few of Max from the BARSC this January......
February here we go....
February training begins!
6th February 2011 at 02:52PM
So, after a week of Ambition shut-down (kinda) the guys are back and raring to go in Bormio......
Today we settled back into GS with some easy skiing on the La Rocca piste in Bormio, the timing was up and it was interesting to see the improvements made over the morning especially for Peter and Kieran. We made the most of no-school today with the guys getting 12-13 runs of GS in, before climbing this afternoon..... it is quite warm so we are able to use the outdoor walls - should be fun!
We have a pretty busy schedule this week which we finally see us get some speed days in. Tomorrow we will be setting Super-G down Stelvio at 7am as the lifts are opening early at 7.30, the same program goes for Thursday with 2x GS CIT races sandwiched in for Tuesday and Wednesday.
The team this week consists of Roy, Luke, Joe, Peter, Kieran and Imi - with no children here we also have Chris and Jutty helping so it should be a very productive week.
Podium Shots.....
Shots from last week's Welsh Champs.
1st February 2011 at 11:49PM
So got a few of the podium shots in from last week - i think Aza will still be smiling for weeks yet! Good on him!
I'm also currently still in Flaine where i have been working for Surbiton at the British Schoolgirls races. Just my scene - have never seen so many prizes given away for 2 races!!!!! Anyway luckily most of the Silverware went to Emily Evans as she dominated the Flaine race piste, winning the overall Slalom, Giant Slalom and Parallel slalom titles.
Great job to 'The Mouse' who has also just been selected to represent Great Britain at the EYOF (Youth Olympics) in Czech next month. Check out our news section for more details.
We love the Welsh (races).
Ambition Team nail it at Welsh Champs.....
29th January 2011 at 03:39PM
So.... a successful week for the Ambition Race Team at the Welsh Champs in Les Crosets last week - i would have loved to get the blog up daily but our connection simply didn't allow!!!!
After the final GS training, Roy Steudle carried on the form that has seen him take one FIS win already this season with a blistering 1st run in Tuesday's FIS GS. After the 2nd run the standings stayed the same for Roy to take his 2nd win of the season by 1.15 over 2nd place and a PB points score of 63. Emily Pocock (125), Violet Miller (106) and Barney Lewis (129) also secured PB results on the same day, finally getting some of their training form into the races.
Wednesday's FIS Slalom followed a similar pattern with Tom White (88), Barney Lewis (99), Imogen Taylor (74), Emily Evans (62), Ellie Pocock (80) and Kieran Norris (128) all scoring best results. The girls especially laid it down on the first run, Emily Evans finally turning things around after some tough training days earlier in the week.
Having for-run on the Wednesday, Will Wheeler and Max Asquith were more than prepared and ready to rumble for Thursday's BASS Slalom, with Will nailing the 2nd run moving up from 6th to edge his way onto the podium. Alex Buchanan also laid down 2 clean runs to take 2nd in the female junior category.
On Friday, it was a fitting ending to a great week, with the Ambition Boys (Will and Aza) finishing the GS in 1st and 2nd respectively. This was the first podium of Max Asquith's racing career and we are very proud and excited for him after all his hard work over the past 3 years.
I don't say it enough as i am always looking to the next race or next training but i am both happy and incredibly proud of the Ambition athletes and what they have achieved already this winter. Long may it continue.
Marc.
(P.S - we also got some free-skiing time in finally)
Home sweet home for the Welsh....
Ambition Team settle in at Welsh Champs.
24th January 2011 at 01:03PM
Been pretty slack at getting the pics and blog up this last week - travelling and working makes it hard but i have been busy and there are lots of exciting projects in the pipe-line for Ambition in the future!!!
Anyway the end of last week saw the team train a fair bit down the Stelvio race piste before heading off on Saturday for Les Crosets/Champery. Since arriving we have had brilliant conditions; clear, cold and the snow is actually pretty solid for once. Considering the rumours going around last week about the races being cancelled we have been pleasantly surprised.
Yesterday saw the team get another slalom day in which they were very pleased about - Imi Taylor and Roy Steudle, standing out during 2nd the timing session as the ones to beat - with some of the best skiing i have seen from them in slalom.
Today we ran a GS timing session and it was one of the best days i have had coaching this group - with almost everyone looking confident and getting faster throughout the day. Ellie laid down some awesome runs as the girl to beat today and Roy and Tom battled it out for the top spot with Barney right on their heels.
GS race tomorrow, Mel is setting 1st run...... and I think we are ready!!!!!! (if not Chris is certainly ready to dish out the punishments - see below).
Vai Vai Vai Vai.......!
GS timing on La Rocca......
18th January 2011 at 06:03PM
'You Go' translated to Italian comes out as 'Vai' (pronounced v-eye). 'Vai Vai Vai' is what we hear every day here on race and training hills - no problem for us but for Violet Miller it becomes a bit tough trying to work out if someone is actually calling your name or just encouraging their athletes!!
Anyway, today it was as if someone was shouting at Vi as she laid down a few awesome runs and seems to have re-gained the form that made her English and British Super-G Champion in 2010. There were lots of good performances and fast runs today but for Vi this was real progress and deserves a special mention.
William Wheeler also had a great day, improving run on run, working his butt off to make the changes needed to challenge for the podium this winter.
We'll be moving to the steeper Stelvio piste for the next 2 days of full-length GS with the Senior team joining us, for now here are the fastest times from each course today:
Course 1 (25-26m distances)
- Roy Steudle: 31.94
- Barney Lewis: 33.72
- Imi Taylor: 34.62
- Violet Miller: 34.66
- Ellie Pocock: 35.23
- Will Wheeler: 35.45
- Max Asquith: 36.02
- Emily Pocock: 36.44
Course 2 (27-29m distances)
- Roy Steudle: 31.28
- Ellie Pocock: 33.13
- Barney Lewis: 33.23
- Imi Taylor: 33.28
- Violet Miller: 33.61
- Will Wheeler: 34.21
- Max Asquith: 34.96
- Emily Pocock: 35.19
I feel the need...... the need for speed!!
SG training underway in the Borm...
17th January 2011 at 11:30PM
1st day of Super-G training for a while today, weather has not given us much of a chance so far but was good to get the long boards back out today.....
Training went ok, full length with timing and plenty of terrain so lots for the guys to think about. Brad and James joined us today for a few runs on their day off, hopefully we will get a few more SG days in before the end of this period.
Will spend the rest of this week hitting GS down the 'La Rocca' and 'Stelvio' pistes before shipping out for Les Crosets on Saturday. I am confident we will see the benefits of this last training block at the next races and through the start of Feb.
Slalom!!
Stella Alpina Training and Santa.....
17th January 2011 at 06:30AM
Massive gap since the last post, been strangely busy with only a few athletes here this week. Plans have changed again and again, we were originally going to go to Austria for some UNI races but the forecast looked pretty rough over there and with clear nights here we decided to stay for training instead.
On friday we had a great timing session on the Stella Alpina piste with the senior boys, some of the guys putting in some impressive times in training now which is great to see.
On saturday we had a day off and awaited the arrival of Aza, Will, Roy and Ellie (Ellie has sadly been sick so will now come today), and yesterday we had a great GS session working in groups of 2 athletes: 1 coach, Chris taking the lead for the younger boys with Vi and Emily P with me. Barney and Imi meanwhile travelled with Melody to the local CIT races in Santa Caterina.
Imi, fresh off of 1 slalom training day since August, scored an equal best result in slalom even with a huge error in the 1st run. A great first result back and proof that the hard work she did in the summer has still had benefits even after missing the autumn.
Off to set Super-G now, catch you later.
Pics!
Few snaps for you....
11th January 2011 at 03:36PM
On a more serious note, just got the pics through from the BARSC prize-giving with Ambition on the top step.....
Also, i thought this pic looked pretty damn good....... hardly recognisable from the skier we met in October!
Marvin.
Ambition announce exciting new addition to the team.....
11th January 2011 at 03:26PM
New snow and warm weather made GS training pretty intense down the Stelvio race piste in Bormio today, hard at times but we were getting somewhere after a few runs. Will be rock hard if we get the freeze that is due tonight!
Anyway more importantly we need to welcome a new member to the Ambition Team, we've made an amazing signing, sponsored by VW, Audi, Adidas, Cheddar Cheese and all the rest of it.....
Its.......
MARVIN!
Just waiting for his kit to arrive any day.....
Good job Marvin.
Garmisch.....
Senior Team hard at work in Garmisch...
9th January 2011 at 10:29PM
Just a quick one tonight... Seniors have been racing GS in Garmisch and more PB results have been scored:
Aaron Tipping 50 points, close to winning the 2nd run!
Joe Webb made two high 80's (think 87 and 88)....
Good job lads!!!
Wash Out!!!
Wet wet wet........
7th January 2011 at 03:29PM
Just a quick one about the juniors from today........
I'm at the Caspoggio SG's now..... (best laid plans), arrived last night, skis done, bibs collected, looking good to go with sweet numbers in a small field, with 2 super-g's scheduled 1 after the other.....
Then it had to go and rain!!! So we just managed to get 1 SG off before the 2nd was vito'd. Doesn't look promising for tomorrow just yet, little bit wet out there right now...... Sucks!!!
Guys did ok - Violet found out what a FIS Sg is like, bit different to last year, Tom made a huge mistake up top but was good down town and by the time Barney went it was hard not to look like the churchill dog!!!
(Was going to write some glorified nonsense story about how amazing it was.... but it just wasn't - gotta be realistic sometimes)
BARSC GS (Children)
Went up to take a look for myself.....
7th January 2011 at 03:10PM
I watched the Ambition Children skiing GS yesterday on the 1st run and they are doing a good job on the whole, we have a long term approach at Ambition and the understanding and skiing has moved on massively since the new team got together in October. I thought you'd be interested in my notes - (i wish someone could plug into my brain to see what goes on, it doesn't stop thinking for a second, good and bad i guess.)
Izzy Taylor: great impression of her sister! 100% racing with no hesitation. Needs to use the outside ski!!!!!!
Lucy Kahve: Holding the turn too long, looks little worried still. Smooth skiing but needs more speed and aggression.
Oli Chalkley: some sweet turns, completely different to October, needs to be cleaner.
Aza: Finally!!!!! Carrying some speed, some rhythm, better!
Fin Davies: Moving well with tempo, line still off, needs more separation + line drills.
Beth Soman: Good movement, more angles needed. Better attacking skiing.
Luke Maynard: Going after it, little scrappy though. More technique work needed!
Luke Riddell: Laying it over - no power! More aggression needed. Good line.
Wheeler: Looks worried, grinding top of turn. Not racing yet.
Raposo: Great rhythm and movement. No power.
I had to shoot off and haven't seen the final results, i know Raposo won which is awesome for him and for Ambition - we are very proud of Charlie and having him with the team in Champoluc has been awesome as i know he has been missed hugely by everyone at Ambition.
Just heard from Charlie as i'm writing to say he won the Slalom too......... more on that later....!
Good job..... victory dance it is:
Tight tight tight....
junior team try something new in Champoluc
5th January 2011 at 09:12PM
Not much to say for today, we had a nice lie-in this morning and headed up at 11 to get ready for Slalom training in the afternoon. Set something completely different for the guys today, it was a tough day but they will get to grips with the tactics over the coming weeks.
Justin and Chris had a full on day with the kids, finally getting down the mountain at half 4! Charlie Raposo stayed true to recent form on the first run, destroying the field again with a margin of nearly 2 seconds over 2nd place. Sadly Charlie did not convert this into a win on the 2nd run, taking too much risk towards the end and missing the last gate.
There were some big improvements from the children today - we had a talk this morning about 'racing' rather than 'skiing' and it seems they took something in! I like to see what is going on with the kids and having seen the video this evening i can say the team have made huge improvements since October, I'll be up on the Children's race hill tomorrow morning before taking the juniors down to Caspoggio in the afternoon for the Super-G races on Friday and Saturday.
MT.
Gold-Diggers.......
Quick round up of Anglo Scots and BARSC NJR Slalom.....
4th January 2011 at 09:41PM
Another great day for the Ambition girls in Champoluc today with Ellie Pocock claiming the Jnr 2 title and Amy Young claiming the Jnr 1 title. Violet Miller had some good sections to claim 3rd spot in Jnr 1 while Emily Pocock took runner-up spot in Jnr 2.
The boys were a mixed bag today, with only Luke Steyn completing both runs - ending up on the International Jnr 2 podium. Roy Steudle made some rapid turns on the first run but couldn't keep it up the whole way and Peter Glasgow pulled some great skiing out of the bag but sadly made a few costly errors. Tom White was lying 4th after the first run but was unlucky to straddle on the 2nd.
One thing we missed yesterday was Charlie Raposo's blinding performance in Les Houches at the Anglo-Scottish, taking the GS title and killing the race with a margin of over 4 seconds over 2nd place. The other nippers had some good runs and parts of runs too with Alice Taylor getting some reasonable positions and Finlay Davies getting used to racing slalom as a first year child! There is a lot more to come from the children and we fully expect them all to up their game this week in Champoluc!
The day ended with a team free ski, testing the limits of our free passes... luckily for us they kept working!
MT.
Victory!!
Steudle claims his first FIS victory as Ambition Athletes bring home the silverware......
3rd January 2011 at 04:43PM
After a late arrival last night and over 600 kms of driving, Roy Steudle held off the italians challengers to claim an overall victory in today's BARSC GS, putting a smile back on the face of the guy who won back-to-back Super-G titles as a child in this race series.
Roy was however not the only one to claim a podium spot today as the Ambition Racing boys and girls nailed the short GS sprint here in Champoluc -
Violet Miller claimed the girls Junior 1 title while Barney Lewis bagged his first podium of the season (3rd) demonstrating the leaps forward he has made in GS since the summer. Alex Buchanan showed what is possible when she races well, claiming 2nd spot of the Junior 1 girls podium and in the Junior 2 category, Pocock sisters Ellie and Emily claimed 2nd and 3rd spots respectively.
Kieran Norris, while not on the podium today, looked like a different skier to pre-christmas with some brilliant turns on the first run in particular.
Not a bad start from the guys, they know they can all do better and will be looking to do so in tomorrow's slalom race.
School's Out!
Short message from Rose and the Ambition Tutors
23rd December 2010 at 10:01PM
The tutors at Ambition would just like to say a huge thank you to the children for working extremely hard during their time in school. Despite their tiredness and the fact that a number of their schools at home have been closed for a number of days now, they have continue to stay focussed and soldier on. They are due a well-deserved break!
We would also like to thank their schools and their parents for their communications and support.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Ambition tutors
xx
Rolling Out!
Action packed last few days as Ambition Race Team shut it down.....
23rd December 2010 at 09:46PM
Its sometimes a tall order to squeeze all the action from Bormio into a daily blog, however hard we try!! In the past few days we have had the big team meal, Beth's birthday (plus cake), Christmas presents for the whole Ambition Team, plus the mother of all powder days. With Will Wheeler putting Moustache Monday firmly on the map here, the girls decided they weren't happy about growing their facial hair, so upped the game yesterday with Whiskers Wednesday's, then after skiing came the mass snowball fight (actually more like a war), where i was reminded yet again that the juniors are now bigger and stronger than me! Getting dump tackled by 100 kilos of Ashley really hurts!
Yesterday we were forced to re-schedule our SG training as the new snow fell and instead spent the morning training some slalom..... not bad from some of the guys but really, seeing the new snow we all had one thing in minds for today..... Pow Pow.
So this morning out came the twin tips and everyone got involved in the fun and games, Ashley Hill giving us all some laughs as he flew out of the trees clearing a path and disappearing into oblivion - the mood on the last day has been great and after 3 weeks of hard work from all the staff and athletes, it was great to just go free-skiing and remind ourselves why we all love this sport so much.
Its been a brilliant start to the winter for the New Ambition, lots of fun, lots of results and lots of snow! So well done to everyone and lets hope it continues right through the winter.
Merry Christmas, hopefully Heathrow will be clear tomorrow and you will all get your kids back!
See you in the new year,
MT.
'Oh no, Luke are you ok......?!' Will to the rescue!
The worst rescue attempt ever..... Head crushed by Will's boot.
Girls sporting their new look......
Lunch turns into yet another snow war......
Talking down a radio gets boring sometimes...... still got a few tricks in me!
Then Roy had to go one better!!!
Microgate!
Good to finally have some reliable timing gear.....
21st December 2010 at 04:24PM
So after the last few years of the Brower Timing System playing havoc with our training (pretty sure it has a brain and just decides not to work some days!), we have invested this year in a brand new MicroGate system - What a relief!! Every run accounted for and a great way to get the guys in 'race' mode - something that every member of the Ambition Team needs to work on.
So the guys suited up and this is how they faired on the 1st run:
- Aaron Tipping - 32.07
- Brad Morgan - 32.90
- Roy Steudle - 33.50
- James Foster - 33.53
- Ash Hill - 33.91
- Luke Steyn - 34.04
- Ellie Pocock - 34.89
- Emily Evans - 34.97
- Barney Lewis - 35.01
- Peter Glasgow - 35.01
- Kieran Norris - 36.44
- Amy Young - 36.56
- Vi Miller - 36.64
- Emily Pocock - 36.72
- Joe Webb - DNF
2nd run:
- Aaron Tipping - 31.92
- Brad Morgan - 32.60
- James Foster - 33.00
- Ash Hill - 33.13
- Roy Steudle - 33.15
- Joe Webb - 34.10
- Barney Lewis - 35.12
- Peter Glasgow - 35.23
- Emily Evans - 35.76
- Kieran Norris - 36.18
- Violet Miller - 36.39
- Emily Pocock - 36.56
- Ellie Pocock - DNF
- Amy Young - DNF
- Luke Steyn - DNF
There were some good improvements from the younger athletes today, many of whom got better and better as the session went on - the more we can replicate a race situation with race pressures the better!
On to Super-G tomorrow!
Eye of the Tiger.....
Race program finishes as Junior and Senior athletes get back to GS training in Bormio...
20th December 2010 at 05:05PM
A few more days of racing and travelling have gone by since the last blog from me..... the 95's plus Pedro (Peter Glasgow) went down to Madesimo for the weekend to race in a couple of GS NJR's, while the juniors and seniors finished the series with some slaloms in Speikboden.
The 95's are getting better with each race.... there is so much to learn as a 1st year junior and the guys are starting to realize that they really have to 'race' if they want to be anywhere near the leaders. That means pushing the limits at all times.
The slalom's in Speikboden did not go so much to plan, we had some great runs, notably Aaron Tipping again moving from 16th to 6th in the 2nd slalom, however these performances did not quite make it to the results page. The girls meanwhile struggled a little more with the terrain than in the GS's. It was great for them to see U.S Team skier; Sarah Schleper in action and get an idea of where they are in relation to some of the world's best.
Anyway onto today in Bormio - bearable weather, rock solid piste and a brilliant GS session. Pedro and Barney Lewis put in some great runs, and a few technical points seem to have clicked for Violet Miller too - this was great for me to see after a few days away. Emily Evans, looked back on form after missing the slaloms last week with a bug and Ashley Hill got his first few GS turns under his belt after his extended leave!!
Lets hope tomorrow brings similar conditions and even better skiing before we head to Caspoggio for SG training on Wednesday and Thursday!
How we rise and how we fall
CH GS training
20th December 2010 at 02:39PM
Last Sunday the Ambition children kicked off a week of Giant Slalom training , the quiet slopes also allowed them the opportunity run their Super G skis in. I’d love to say it’s all been great fun but with temperatures plummeting to -42C at Bormio 3000..... Burrrrrrr. Despite these crazy temperatures and having to use the café to thaw out the kids, performance and attitudes have been fantastic. All members of the Ambition Children’s team have really knuckled down and made improvements to their technique. Although these good results do not come without some spectacular crashes, as Will Wheeler can confirm. For some strange reason Will wanted to check the snow temp using his face, he then declared his love for the snow by kissing it... HARD! However every cloud has a silver lining. These Baltic temperatures have brought us a brilliant base for the season so we can't complain. I just want it to warm up a little before my toes and fingers fall off.
Bosscchh!
Ambition Team nail it in Mt. Spicco....
16th December 2010 at 03:40PM
So maybe i was selling the team a little short yesterday, turns out that 5 of the 10 athletes we brought here made their best results in yesterday's GS... here's how they faired:
- Luke Steyn - 80 points. First GS result under 100 - massive jump from his current 135, skied 2 runs cleanly with only a few errors.
- Roy Steudle - 67 points. Scrappy 2nd run but carried speed really well on the flats.
- Emily Pocock - 145 points. A little bit tentative in places but came away with her first sub 150 result in GS, a good step forward.
- Ellie Pocock - 83 points. First result under 100 in any discipline!! Congrats!! Skied well in places but a lot more to come yet.
- Emily Evans - 91 points. Not the best skiing we've seen but ground out a result none the less.
Today saw a few DNF's from the team, however there were still some great performances with personal best results yet again;
- Emily Evans - 66 points. 2 consistent runs, 2nd run looked confident like in training.
- Alex Buchanan - 145 points. Really good skiing on the steep 2nd run, more work needed on flats!
I should also mention Ellie Pocock who was set for another PB today without question but sadly caught an edge and straddled over a rise on the 2nd run! A little sore and annoyed but great skiing until that point for Ellie.....
It seems there have been a lot of very strong performances from the Ambition Racing Junior and Senior group in the short space of time that we have been racing this winter. It is great for the whole team, including all of the children, to see that they are part of a program that is working and delivering.... for the coaches, house-mums, teachers and parents too, it is great to see that the hard work we all do is paying off.
Looking forward to tomorrow already!
Ciao for now,
Marc.
RACE DAY!!
Ambition Team head up the Ahrntal Valley to race Mt. Spicco FIS.
15th December 2010 at 06:01PM
Just a quick blog in between dinner and race meetings.....
Myself and Andrea are now up the Ahrntal valley by Austria where it is soooooooo cold.....! Minus 20 today with no sign of sun or it ever getting warmer!
The race was delayed until 11 while they worked out how to set up the timing but once we got going it was all over pretty fast. The hill here is quite technical for GS, lots of terrain and rolls with no 2 turns being the same, made for some interesting viewing with a lot of DNF's throughout the field.
As a group we help it together reasonably well, there are definitely some results to be had here if 2 clean runs are laid down. No results as of yet though Luke and Ellie Pocock we believe will have scored their best ever GS results. Keep your eyes on fisski.com!
As for photos.......? Well lets say frostbite is not worth it!!
Fingers crossed for tomorrow.
Great end to a great series.
Ambition athletes nail the final day of racing in Bormio.
12th December 2010 at 08:50PM
So, today went pretty well again with some good results from the Ambition athletes. Aaron Tipping who was fast in the first GS, laid down a sweet first run to place 6th from bib 25. James Foster followed suit, placing 18th from bib 43 and then Emily Evans jumping from bib 28 into 11th.
The 2nd run was equally as exciting with Aaron Tipping firing down on his Atomic single-decks, taking and holding the lead until the last 2, securing both a podium position and a P.B result in the process (42). Emily Evans also held her own on the 2nd run and ended up with an 11th position overall and her best points score to date in any discipline (72).
It was great to see so many of the team skiing well this week and making results, the athletes all know they have more in the tank but none the less it has been a great start on our home hill.
A special mention must go to Aaron Tipping, who is starting to look seriously good again. Today was by no means perfect from Aaron and there is without doubt room for improvement, however he has showed that even at 90% he can contend with the best skiers his age. Anyone that knows Aaron, knows of the tough times he has been through over the last 4 years and it is an absolute credit to him and his family that he is still on skis and starting to show what he is capable of.
Smiles All Round......
More P.B results as Ambition Race Team go from strength to strength in Bormio.
11th December 2010 at 09:36PM
Todays slalom proved to be a success for many of the Ambition team as they negotiated the Stella Alpina Piste once more. We have been blessed with some great conditions here - the rain followed by cold overnight temperatures have made for a very grippy, solid piste - showing few ruts even after 140 skiers.
The first Bormio CIT slalom saw a number of Ambition athletes score personal best results; Joseph Webb (82), James Foster (53), Emily Evans (81), Ellie Pocock (100). Other athletes put in some good runs also, with Roy Steudle scoring a 2nd result and Alex Buchanan getting better each day. Violet Miller put some points on the board with her first slalom result too. The younger boys had a few issues today but after some stern words i think tomorrow will be a different story.
Today was a day off for the Children athletes while new athletes arrived and we would like to say a very warm welcome to Beth Soman, Oliver Chalkley, Finlay Davies, Max Asquith, Amy Young, Luke Steyn and Peter Glasgow.
Tomorrow is the last race of the CIT series and the coaches are confident that the guys can pull some more results out of the bag before taking a well deserved day-off on Monday.
Bormio CIT GS - Take 2!
Another successful day on the Stella Alpina piste.......
10th December 2010 at 08:30PM
Just a short one today as i am knackered!!!!
The guys competed in the 2nd GS on the Stella Alpina piste today and notched up a few more P.B results.
Emily Evans made her best result in GS to date - another step in the right direction, while Ellie Pocock put in another solid performance to get her best result to date in any discipline.
Onto Slalom tomorrow, for now here's a pic from today:
Barney riding the ruts!
Italiano!
Athletes get to grips with the lingo.....
9th December 2010 at 09:22PM
The Ambition athletes have been getting to grips with the Italian language this week thanks to an introductory lesson from teacher Amy Doonan. Amy, who is the new languages tutor at Ambition, is fluent in both French and Italian and is helping the whole team (staff included) pick up some new words and phrases.
The athletes seem to love the lessons and are looking forward to their next ones!
For now it's 'Sogni Dora' to all our friends out there.
Arrivederci!!
Tip'd for success.......
Bormio CIT race report and more......
9th December 2010 at 08:52PM
Not a bad start in Bormio, the rain from yesterday did us a favour as the cold temperatures overnight turned the slope to concrete and we had a day with minimal ruts and very very fast snow!
Stand out performance goes to Aaron Tipping from the Ambition Senior Team who came from bib 28 to finish 7th overall, a performance that included some big mistakes in the 2nd run.
The girls also made a promising start with Ellie Pocock completing two consistent runs to confirm a GS P.B result. Violet Miller, Kieran Norris and Barney Lewis - the youngest members of the Ambition Junior Team, continue to gain experience and knowledge with every start.
Everyone has their own game plan for tomorrow and we are expecting another step forward on the Stella Alpine Piste.
Violet Miller in Action.
Ellie laying it over.
Numbers for tomorrow:
Emily Evans: 43
Ellie Pocock: 55
Alex Buchanan: 57
Violet Miller: 58
Emily Pocock: 60
Brad Morgan: 4
James Foster: 20
Aaron Tipping: 26
Roy Steudle: 39
Joe Webb: 82
Barney Lewis: 107
Kieran Norris: 131
Wet, Wet, Wet.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
8th December 2010 at 03:17PM
And it all started so beautifully......
Little bit (understatement) of rain fell here today - GS training off but we managed to make use of the time with some technical drills that we have been in need of anyway, so storm jackets were out (Alex Buchanan sporting her new military style one) and by the time we left the hill we were well and truely soaked through!
Lets hope it clears overnight and freezes like concrete for the races.
Ruts + Slackers!!
Team train GS on La Rocca followed by co-ordination and balance so session.
7th December 2010 at 08:38PM
Good training day today for the juniors, some tough condition on La Rocca piste as the ruts developed throughout the morning getting everyone ready for the races ahead. They are set to be pretty packed so it will take a lot of commitment and some agile skiing to be successful this weekend. After the snow session we decided the athletes could do with some fine tuning on their balance skills.
Todays fitness session saw the team negotiate the slack-line (tight-rope) with Roy Steudle showing how it should be done - not content with going forwards has decided to try and learn to walk along it backwards. The girls got to grips with standing on the fit-balls in the snow while improving their juggling skills at the same time!
Quick pic of the view first thing this morning!
Don't be a fool..... Stay in School
Ambition Education Program Underway on 'Moustache Monday'
6th December 2010 at 09:37PM
The Ambition tutors got down to work today on the first day back at school. After a few tears from the kids, wondering if they would make new friends and who they would sit next to, classes started and the work began at Bormio College.
It is great that students at Ambition can carry out their studies in classrooms at the Bormio College as it provides athletes with a real educational atmosphere in a setting that is conducive to learning.
On the hill today, the Juniors and Children pumped out the slalom runs on the top section of the Bormio WC downhill piste, while the Senior athletes were tested in GS on the same hill. With the snow still falling, the slopes quickly rutted up, making for some tough training but more importantly a realistic session for the up-coming races here at the end of the week.
On a lighter note, Mr Wheeler has raised the bar for 'Moustache Mondays' once again with a full collection of styles now available (we think Ali just got annoyed with scrubbing marker pen off of his face).
Ambition FIS Coach Melody McCague sporting the new style....
GS tomorrow - time to sleep!
Funday Sunday!!!
Free skiing day in Bormio - a great start!
5th December 2010 at 09:21PM
After a long travel day yesterday, the team laid down their first runs on the Bormio slopes today. Since we arrived it seems to have been snowing every other day, setting the resort up well for the winter and providing some great conditions and pow for free-skiing today.
We have welcomed 2 new additions to the Ambition Race Team this camp; FIS coach Melody McCague who is already proving a hit with the Juniors and Kieran Norris who completes the junior boys set up for 2010/2011 winter season.
This is the first of many optional weeks this season and the set-up is just perfect. Will and Luke are getting 1:1 training with the 2 children's coaches - an amazing opportunity for them to make some real progress, while the Junior and Senior Teams are working on a 1:4 basis.
The FIS team are getting geared up and ready to start their first races of this camp from Thursday through to Sunday on the Stella Alpina slope at Bormio 2000.
Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it Snow!!!
Bormio set up and ready to go for the winter....
3rd December 2010 at 06:43PM
It's been a few days since i've managed to get on here but after an epic journey out to Bormio which started early on Tuesday morning we have arrived safe and sound in Bormio with everything set-up and ready to go for tomorrow when the athletes arrive tomorrow....
Our travel day looked something like this:
11.45pm Monday - Depart
02.00 Tuesday - Ferry Dover - Dunkerque
19.00 Tuesday - Collect New Transporter from Germany (Friedrichshafen)
21.05 Tuesday - Arrive at Davos Tunnel (closed at 20.50)
21.20 Tuesday - Find Garage selling chains to go over pass.
21.22 Tuesday - Realise no chains on sale to fit our tyres.
21.23 Tuesday - Curse a lot.
21.30 Tuesday - Give up and search for hotel.
22.45 Tuesday - Find hotel (closed but beg for a room).
23.30 Tuesday - Realise staying in massive hotel as the only guests is pretty scary.
00.00 Tuesday - Sleep! Aaaaah!
08.00 Wednesday - Wake up to even more new snow...... get excited..... curse again at lack of chains.
8.30 Wednesday - Back to Davos tunnel and informed of new 'winter price scheme and late night opening hours'. Curse again.
11.00 Wednesday - Arrive in Livigno...... CHAINS at last.
13.00 Wednesday - Arrive in Bormio.
Moral of the story......... FLY!
Anyway all's well that end's well arrived to about 3 foot of fresh powder in town, unpacked, set-up and ready to go!
Here's a few snaps - Senior boys are busy building a kicker out the back!
The defender cannot be stopped..... even with this much snow....
Trying to hide behind an twig....
Joe doing a weights session......
From Dusk Until Dawn!
Ambition boys rip it up in Hemsedal Super-G's
23rd November 2010 at 07:43PM
Having started the day at 6am, we finally finished both Super-g runs under floodlight at 5pm this evening. With over 600 runs of Super-G started between the men and women, all credit has to go to the race organizers in Norway!
The Ambition boys finally pulled themselves together and produced some awesome race runs, demonstrating what they can do. Most of them scored career best results and the mood amongst them is absolutely brilliant right now!
A big shout out also has to go to Emily Evans, who after a massive smash yesterday, showed brilliant mental strength to even get out of the gate this morning. Ellie Pocock also showed what she is made of in the 2nd race, though sadly her run was cut short on the 4th last gate when her ski came off, sending her into the nets.
All in all a good day and we are looking forward to a lie in tomorrow followed by the slalom leg of the Super-Combined in the evening (even Tom!).
Speed Demonds!
Heading out for the first European Super-G's of 2010/2011.....
23rd November 2010 at 05:59AM
Just a quick one this morning as we are about to hit the slopes for the 1st of 2 Super-G's running today in Hemsedal.
The guys had great preparation for this race, running Super-G gates with the Norwegians yesterday, followed by some agility fun and games with the Scottish Ski Team.
The guys will finally get a lie-in tomorrow morning with the slalom part of the Super-Combined starting at 3.30pm!
.
Re-Light my fire!
Ambition Team reunite in Hemsedal.....
21st November 2010 at 10:17PM
The team was re-untied this evening in Hemsedal as the boys finished their 5 hour journey from Bjorli. Unfortunately Ellie and Mouse were DNF's in the Geilo slalom today so we left early and have settled in at Hemsedal, ready for Super-G training from 7-9am tomorrow with the Norges.
The apartment we have here is sweet - sleeps 12 comfortably with 3 bathrooms and 2 chilling areas and a warm ski room! The location is perfect (apart from being across the hall from the Scots!!!) so everything is set up for the guys to perform well over the next 3 days.
Rumour has it that Tuesday will be 2x Super-G's on the same slope, followed by the slalom leg of the Super-Combined race on Wednesday night! Sure we'll find out more on that tomorrow!
Night everyone!
You can run but you can't hide!
Bit of everything!
21st November 2010 at 05:26AM
The race yesterday in Geilo went pretty well, 'Mouse' laid down a brilliant 1st run, and had it not been for the awesome Thea Grosevold winning the run by 1.4 seconds over 2nd place would have been set for a very nice result indeed! Anyway as it happens there were too many mistakes on the 2nd run but very promising racing from Emily and we seem to have taken care of the pre-race nerves too. Bodes well for the slalom this morning.
Gotta love the Norwegian Schedule: 7.45-8.00 am inspection, 8.30 start. At least we get half an hour between inspection and the start this morning - yesterday it was 15 mins!
All the girls are looking strong in slalom, so with Ellie starting as-well today, i believe both girls will do the business in the race. Good luck to them and to the boys who will be starting their last race in Bjorli this morning. Tonight we will all meet up in Hemsedal to get ready for the SG/SC races!!
Pics!
Yesterday's shots....
20th November 2010 at 06:03AM
Just about to head out to the race hill with Emily.... its still pitch black!!!
''The Riddler''
Snaps of GB's answer to Bode Miller...
19th November 2010 at 08:47PM
Been getting my hands on a fair few action shots for the website recently, courtesy of www.skipics.co.uk
As i keep getting sent pics of Mr. Riddell, i thought it only fair that we make a little blog-shrine in honor of the wee man. With moves like these, it wont be long until he claims top spot. Here's to the dark horse of children's racing, we love your style.
Freeeezing!
Van temperature reads -21 this morning!!!
19th November 2010 at 08:47PM
So, jumped in the van this morning and was greeted by a -21 temperature reading!!! Great!!! My god it was cold today here in Geilo. Anyway the girls got their act together on the sunny-side World Cup hill this morning during our GS session and produced some of the better GS turns i have seen this camp. Emily Evans got her first race of the season under her belt and although she was slightly tentative on the 1st run, she nailed some sweet turns on the 2nd before making a slight error on the pitch which cost her a result sadly.
This evening saw Ambition team up with the Scots for a bit of Agility/Balance/Ultimate frisbee action in the snow - great fun and a nice change from the standard recovery runs.
The girls are set to run 1st tomorrow with a start time of 08.15 and with some of the World's best skiers in town, Emily (Mouse) will be starting at bib 100.
Still struggling with the photo uploads with the internet in this cabin, will get some up bright and early tomorrow!
Race goes All-White in Bjorli
Tom White seals second GS result in Bjorli
18th November 2010 at 10:34PM
A tough day for the boys over in Bjorli, ''too many costly mistakes'' was the report back from coach Olly Robinson this morning. Tom White managed to grind out a 2nd result to go with his 73 point score from Valle Nevado this summer, however there is masses of room for improvement there for all three boys and they will get another chance to go again on the same hill in the 2nd GS race tomorrow.
Ski Racing is a tough sport as we all know and while this blog is about promoting the skiers at Ambition, we want to give an insight into the sport as a whole - getting to the top is about having good, average and bad days and learning from each day no matter what the outcome is. The boys will have analyzed the day, and will benefit from todays experience in tomorrows race. Good luck to all 3 boys for tomorrow.
The girls meanwhile hit it hard this morning with some slalom skiing in Geilo while suffering the -15 conditions. All 3 girls have looked strong in slalom over the past few days which bodes well for the season ahead. The GS skiing needs more work and we will start tomorrow morning running a GS session with Emily and Ellie, before heading across to the first of our races here, with Emily (Mouse) Evans starting at bib 93.
The Battle of Bjorli.....
Boys preparations go well on last training day.
17th November 2010 at 09:26PM
Wow, the internet sucks here! The last hour has been spent trying to download one picture.... knowing ski teams well, i'm sure there is a lot of downloading going on in the surrounding cabins! Anyway onto today.......
The boys completed their last GS training sessions in Bjorli today before they start the first of their races tomorrow. Olly Robinson - mens tech coach for this camp commented ''The boys took a run or 2 to adjust to the rollers on the race piste but after a few runs they looked pretty good, we were training full race length so it gives us a realistic idea of how things will run tomorrow.''
The training in Bjorli, like Geilo has provided the Ambition Race Team with excellent opportunities to train on some tough terrain and in difficult conditions. Today, the girls ran a slalom session in the morning and GS on the race hill this afternoon, with the same plan scheduled for tomorrow before the races start on Friday.
Keep an eye out for the results of tomorrow race on www.fisski.com and best of luck to Roy, Tom and Luke!!!!!
'Hey everybody...... Come see how good i look!'
Ambition Race Team Clothing; Signed, Sealed, Delivered.
17th November 2010 at 00:03AM
The countdown to the winter season is upon us and sponsors, supporters and suppliers of the Ambition Race Team seem keener than ever to tie down deals, exclusive contracts and plans for the winter and beyond. With Atomic, Reed's School, Level Gloves, Ski Bartlett, Sidecut Tuning and Surrey Sports Park bringing new ideas and offers to the table in recent weeks we are set to enjoy a quality season with some of the sports biggest names behind us.
The upcoming 'NEWS' section will keep you up to date with all the official stories in the near future, however for now, take a look at the visuals for the new Limited-Edition Ambition Casual Clothing range.
With market leaders Adidas upping their sponsorship of the Ambition Race Team and Snow & Rock delivering the new team luggage well ahead of schedule, the athletes will be hitting the slopes, gym and podium with style in 2011.
Land of the Vikings.....
Ambition Race Team gets back to work in Scandinavia
16th November 2010 at 11:08PM
The Ambition Race Team touched down in Oslo, Norway yesterday, ready to embark on the next camp, the next races and the next chapter of an already successful 2010. The Ambition boys traveled straight to Bjorli to prepare for the FIS series being held there from the 18th-21st November, while the girls headed off to Geilo where they will be competing from the 19th-21st November.
The conditions in Norway at this time of year suck for punters, but we at Ambition love it - cold weather, clear skies and rock solid artificial snow with a dusting of 'fresh' on top. Today provided the boys with some full-on slalom training in Bjorli alongside the 'Norges', while the girls free-skied Slalom, GS and Super-G in Geilo. This evening gave way to the mother of all ski prep sessions - tough work, but when you have your sights set on the top spots, you cant let anything get in your way.
Tomorrow we'll be hitting another double session, slalom with the Scots in the morning, GS on the race piste in the afternoon.
Wish we had one of those in England!!!
Landgraaf Weekend proves huge success for Ambition Race Team.
16th November 2010 at 11:53AM
Wow..... its taken a few days to finally get the time to get back online! Saturday proved to be a huge success in Holland, the facility is just awesome and you can get so much work done in a short space of time at Landgraaf. We stuck to our schedule and finished the day off, cutting up the slopes on our boards with Justin taking Beth and Izzy through their first turns and falls!!
We traveled back on Sunday after an intense morning, just in time to unpack, re-pack and jet off to Oslo for the FIS camp with the juniors. More blogging from Norway to follow, for now, here are some shots from Landgraaf.
Windmills and Clogs......
Ambition Race Team Arrive in Landgraaf, Holland
12th November 2010 at 09:47PM
On any usual trip, the weather presented to us on arrival would be cause for concern, however with the weekend ahead being spent indoors at Landgraaf, we can look forward to great visibility, low winds and hard snow!!!!
The program for tomorrow is as follows:
7.30am Breakfast
8.30am - 10.30am Session 1 snow (technical)
11am - 12noon Session 2 snow (technical)
12noon - 1pm - Lunch
1.45pm - 2.15pm - Video
2.30 - 4.30 - Gates / Courses / Tactics
5pm - 6pm - Gym Session
7pm - Dinner
8pm - 9pm - Snowboarding!!!!
Thats how we roll at Ambition, don't get it twisted, skis are prepped and ready to go, thanks ATOMIC - wwwatomicsnow.com
The Grand Finale.
Ambition Team say a fond farewell to the Stelvio Glacier.
29th October 2010 at 10:16PM
The temperature rose and the clouds stayed away for the team's final day on the Stelvio Glacier. After an exhausting week in which the athletes have trained for around 8 hours per day, the sunshine and warm weather was a welcomed gesture as our camp came to a close today. The GS hill was in perfect condition and the slopes held up well for the children to finish with a great day of slalom.
The athletes gave one last push to finish the camp with some great skiing and we are confident that they have not only improved technically, but also developed a far deeper understanding of the tactics involved in the sport. At the start of the camp we talked about attitude and application, to improve across every area of the sport. This ethos has been adopted by all the athletes, and i can say that we are now heading in the right direction and i hope this continues throughout the whole winter.
For now, a massive thanks goes out to Monika Kimmich and Dawn Asquith who have looked after the athletes spectacularly over the course of the 2 weeks and also to the coaches who have worked every hour given in order to provide the best possible opportunities for the athletes. Tomorrow morning will see the Ambition Team load up and head out, with many of the athletes eagerly awaiting their next trips whether it be Landgraaf, Norway or indeed returning here for the start of the season proper.
Clear and Calm!
GS training well underway as wind dies down.
28th October 2010 at 08:33PM
Finally the wind died down today to allow for a great day's training on Stelvio. The calm weather gave us the chance to get the runs in without any disruption and there were some good turns on show from many of the team during the morning session.
The morning saw a few of the juniors join the senior team for some GS on the steeper back side, while the others continued to work on the front side flats. Meanwhile, the children split off into groups, Justin leading the way with tactics for the flats, while Chris continued to nail the basic technique with the newer athletes.
We are set for another perfect day tomorrow; GS for the juniors while the children switch to finish on slalom. With weather like this, we will be hammering out the runs until the lifts stop at 4pm!!
Ambition Team kicks off the 2010/2011 season in style
The Ambition Team has been getting down to business on the Stelvio glacier.
26th October 2010 at 05:58PM
The Ambition Team has been getting down to business and working hard on the Stelvio glacier, preparing the new team for the season ahead. Last week saw most of the new team out with a few exceptions for those who missed school time at the tail end of our Chile trip in September. The Team have gelled together and are working in a manner that we like to see at Ambition, with athletes returning from the glacier at 5pm some days after smashing out the runs. The days have been as full and tough as ever and the athletes have responded well so far, some of them getting their first taste of what it really means to follow a focused program, others (in the form of our new Ambition Development Team) getting closer to race pace as the days go by.
The weekend saw the team take a day off and as the snow fell we were forced to stay off of the mountain on Monday also, however not a minute was wasted and after putting our heads together, we decided to crack on with our agility session; in the form of a mass game of Man Hunt in the Bormio woods. The day proved to be very tiring with afternoon sessions in the sports hall, weights gym and finally the Bormio Terme to cap it off.
Tuesday saw the sky's clear with perfect sunshine and although we had a late start, the Stelvio Pass was eventually opened for us to get up the hill. However, the wind soon put a spanner in the works and we were forced to come down after only a few runs - frustrating but not altogether uncommon for this time of year.
On a plus side the day saw the coaches get the first fresh tracks of the winter and with snow all the way down to Bormio town, we are looking at the best start to the season in over 50 years with Bormio set to open on 6th November.