Monthly Race December 2009

The first three runs of the Winter Series race last Sunday were used to create the results for the December Monthly Race. In the final reckoning fastest overall was James Greenwood with James Sieber the fastest boy and Ellen Hathway the fastest girl. Fastest new racer was Adam Bannister, most improved boy was Ed Taylor and most improved girl Annie Usher. Congratulations to all for your performances in such attrocious conditions.

Snowsports South Winter Series Race at Aldershot 6th December 2009

Firstly a big thankyou to all those who stepped up to help at the winter series race last Sunday. Unfortunately the attrocious weather conditions at the start of the morning led to most racers cutting short the number of runs they did but Aldershot racers still turned in a number of excellent performances. With the number of racers we had at the event compared to other clubs it was inevitable that we would get a large number of top three placings in the various groups but it was great to see Aldershot racers complete the top 3 overall in both the male and female races. In the males race congratulations to James Greenwood who finished first, James Sieber who finished second and Peter Davies who was third. For the girls it was Ellen Hathway in first, Hannah Bozier in second and Boo Pickup in third.

Items for Sale and Wanted

It's that time of year when we have a number of new racers joining the club who are looking for equipment so if you have any skis, poles, boots, leg guards or handguards lying around that you do not need any more let me know and I will let everyone know. Similarly if there is anything you need, let me know.

If you want anything on the list either make contact directly or feel free to use me as the middle man.

For Sale

145cm Elan Race Skis - £80 (contact Ann Crane)

141cm Salomon Kitten Twin Tips Brand New and Unused - £100 (contact Ann Crane)

115cm Elan Poles with Scott Guards - £15 (contact Ann Crane)

130cm Atomic Race Skis - £40.00 (contact Mo Bradford-Smith)

137cm Atomic Race Skis - £50.00 (contact Mo Bradford-Smith)

132cm Salomon 3Vs ex Demo - £140 (contact Kevin Butler or Nicola Cunningham)

138cm Salomon 3Vs ex Demo - £140 (contact Kevin Butler or Nicola Cunningham)

Wanted

GS Skis for Jack and George Bradford-Smith (contact Mo Bradford-Smith)

150cm race skis (Oliver Cassidy)

Winter Series Race on 6th December

The next round of the Snowports South Winter Series is to be held at Aldershot on the 6th December. For the Aldershot racers the first three runs will also count for the monthly race. There will be no charge for any ASRC  members and Associate members  but for everyone else the entry will cost £6 (correct money needed please!). To help with sorting things out I must have confirmation and date of birth from everyone who wants to race by 18:30 on Wednesday the 2nd December. This includes racers who just want to take part in the monthly race as you will also need to be allocated bibs.

We only have our standard session time in which to hold this event and could have more than 70 racers with a good Aldershot turnout. We will therefore be looking to start bib issue at 07:30 and racing at 08:00. The Winter Series format is to allow racers as many runs as they can manage in the time available so if people want to get there early and do two qualifying runs (one for the monthly race) then that's fine as it is for those that want to race to the last block. The one stipulation is that at 08:00 the lowest number bib will race (youngest first) and if you miss your number you will need to wait until it comes round again.

Annual Prize Giving

Many of you may have been wondering when we are planning to hold the prize giving. It had been planned for the 5th December but unfortunately this date was given to Snow sports South for the freestyle night at Heel and as we are keen to see as many Alder shot racers there as possible we thought it best to postpone. We are now looking at the middle to end of January and are just closing the dates with the slope so should be able to confirm in the next week or so.

Car Parking Arrangements

As the centre is starting to get busier on a Sunday morning I would like to pre-empt any requests from the slope management by reminding everyone that we have been requested to park towards the far end of the car park if possible. If you are parking on the road by slope 3 then please park downhill from the car park exit. We have a common interest with the slope to make sure the general public  attending the slope enjoy themselves and want to come back so while a small thing, having hassle parking sets a bad tone for the rest of the visit.

Snowsports South Freestyle Training at Hemel

Dont forget that the Snowsports South freestyle event at the Hemel Hempstead Snow Centre will be held on the 5th December. The event will run from 19:00 to 23:00 and will cost £35 for the evening (normally £45). Rails and kickers will be laid out and there will be some of the best freestyle coaches in the south of England on hand to help out. Entry is open to all standards and all ages and if you just want to ski without using any of the appartus that should be fine. I am very keen that this event be a success as it will open the way to future sessions at Hemel both freestyle and race training so while I know the timing is bad with the winter series race the following day, please get along if you can.

Southern Region now Snowsports South

At the Southern Region AGM the decision was taken to change the name of the regional body from Southern Region Snowsports Association to Snowsports South. Over the coming weeks these changes will roll out through the website and other communications but for the moment all we need to do is remember not to talk about SRSA or Southern Region.

Southern Region Freestyle Training - Price Reduced

We now have the details for the Southern Region Freestyle session on Sunday the 15th November. Unfortunately it is being run in the morning from 10:00 until 13:30 so even for the first group it will be a bit of a rush to make it. The session will cost £10 and this is payable on the day. The schedule is as follows:-

09:30 arrive to ride at 10:00
12:00 Lunch
12:45 Meeting
13:30 Finish

The following details on the day have been provided by Paul Webb:-

10:00 2hrs riding on a range of kickers, boxes & kickers with coaches for BEGINNER AND EXPERT alike. We will also be looking at general sliding techniques including switch riding.

This is open to skiers & boarders alike & any standard, provided they have good solid intermediate sliding skills; slope rules are that helmets are worn for all freestyle activities as well as the normal recommendation for gloves & long sleeves to protect skin from grazes.

We do have a small range of club owned freestyle skis, helmets, back protectors available for session hire at £5 for skis, £2.50 protection per item. Sorry no boards available & no John Nike hire boards or skis can be used for freestyle. The hire kit will be allocated on a first come first served basis – it you need to hire please let us know your requirements in advance so we can try to reserve something suitable.

The slope is quite abrasive so we advise skis to be pre-waxed, we can offer a limited amount of on site waxing at £2 per pair of skis.

We will also have small sticks of rub on/iron wax to buy at £1.50 per stick.

There are green mats around the slope that are coated in silicon which helps protect skis and boards too.

12:00 Lunch, voucher will be issued to be exchanged in site café for burger/hotdog & a drink.

12:45 Meeting to explain how the Southern Region Squad will be formed , its purpose, how to be selected , club membership , insurance , pathway to success.

13:30 Finish.

If you have any questions it would be best to contact Paul on 07766 339803.

World Cup Racing Starts This Sunday 25th October.

The first World Cup races of the 2009/2010 season are this coming weekend.
Both races are in Solden, Austria with the women's GS on the Saturday and
the men's GS on the Sunday. Both legs of each race are covered live on
Eurosport.

Racer Ready Top Golf Fundraising Event

Racer Ready Magazine are running a fundraising golf event for a number of our best young UK skiers (including our own Nick Robinson). The date is the evening of 3rd November with the venue being the Top Golf driving range in Addlestone.

This is not a normal Golf driving range and participants do not need to be keen golfers. It is more like 10 pin bowling in the way it is scored. The website for Top Golf is http://www.topgolf.co.uk/Locations/UK/Surrey/Default.aspx

The idea is that people pay £20 to play either on their own or as part of a team (£75 for a team of four), to compete for the Top Golf / Racer Ready Golf Challenge Trophy. There will also be a raffle on the night as well to help swell the money raised.All profit from the night (the only cost is the price charged by Top Golf for the lanes and a few nibbles) is then divided out between the skiers to try and raise some money for their training costs.I suggest we try and submit a few Aldershot teams (adults & children welcome) and therefore please let Ali Hardaway (our own resident golf pro) or Kevin Wheeler know if you are interested either individually or if you have a suitable team alistair.hardaway121@hotmail.co.uk.

Once we know the numbers interested we can then try & put teams together, etc.

Missing Coat

Do you have a small orange and blue ski coat lying around that you do not recognise. If so it may well be Jake Shemman's so please have a word with Maddy.

Pontypool Videos Now on You Tube

All the Pontypool Welsh Cup and British Championship videos have now been posted on You Tube.

To view all ASRC videos just search for “ASRC2009”.
To view all Pontypool videos search “ASRC2009 Pontypool”
To view particular runs add run number, ie: “ASRC2009 Pontypool run 1”
To view individual racers search by adding initials to above, ie: “ASRC2009 Pontypool WW”

ASRC Racers on You Tube

We intend to do more video recording of our racers at both the races and at training so that our coaches can provide more video feedback. It may also help resolve any marshalling controversies at important races (see the Welsh Cup Report).

One of the problems with this is finding sufficient/suitable time for the coaches to watch the videos and provide the feedback. To help resolve this issue Kevin Wheeler has kindly set up an ASRC “Youtube “ account where the individual videos can be posted and then the coaches and racers can view them in their own time. The proposal is to mark all videos with the title “ASRC2009”, the date of the event and the initials of the racer, this means that they are not easily found by anybody simply browsing but can be easily found by our racers and coaches.

So that we don’t have to spend considerable time logging permissions to do this, can you simply send me an email if you don’t give permission or object to you/your childrens videos being posted to the “youtube” account.

SRSA Winter Race Series

For those who remember the Southampton Winter Series which ran last winter, this has now been expanded to include the slopes at Christchurch and Aldershot. For the Aldershot races we will run the race in conjunction with the monthly race. More details on race format will follow but as the first race is quite close, if you want to take part then please let me know as I will need all names in by the Wednesday before each race. For the moment though, the race dates are as follows:-

25th Oct - Southampton Alpine Club
14th November - Christchurch
6th December - Aldershot
7th Feb - Aldershot
7th March - Southampton Alpine Club
27th March - Christchurch

Free Tickets for the NEC Ski Show

Another reminder that the club have been offered complimentary tickets to attend the Daily Telegraph British Ski + Board Show at the NEC on 30th Oct - 1st November 2009. The tickets entitle the holder to fast track entrance and access to The Ski Club Lounge, an area set-a-side exclusively for accredited club members where there is seating, light - refreshments, entertainment, film reviews and exclusive competitions. Along with the usual stacks of resort and equipment stands the show features the Big Air Show with the world's biggest mobile ramp along with a test slope, boot clinic, workshop seminars and a technical camp sponsored by Atomic, Head, Blizzard, Dynastar & Lange. If you are interested please let me know so we can forward on a list of names to the organisers and your free tickets will be on the way.

Welsh Cup Pontypool 26/09/09

A significant number of racers from Aldershot made the reasonably short journey down the M4 to Pontypool for this year's British Championship weekend. The weekend consists of a warm up race on the Saturday known as the Welsh Cup and the British Championships themselves on the Sunday. The entry fee covers both days so most of the championship contenders compete on the Saturday so placings on either day are a real achievement. Particularly impressive therefore was Hannah Bozier's performance as she not only won the girls children 2 race but also finished 2nd overall in the female race. An incorrect judgement on a gate robbed Will Wheeler of a well deserved second place in the boys children 1 race. While a major shock and disappointment, two lessons came from the experience; we must always check protocol for disqualifications even if we believe all our runs were clean and we must always video every seeded race (which Kevin did). As a result, the only other Aldershot medal was won by Graham Nayler who finished third in the Masters category.

After the individual racing an International Team Dual Slalom event was held. Ellen Hathway was selected for the England B Girls Team which finished second after an excellent series of races.

British Championships Pontypool 27/09/09

There was more success for Aldershot racers at the British Championship race on the Sunday. In the girls race Ellen Hathway finished third while in the boys race Will Wheeler partially made up for the previous days disappointment by finishing third. Graham Nayler also finished third in the Masters race to make it two thirds in two days.

ASRC September Monthly Race

Race report to follow

LSERSA End of Series Prizegiving

Series report to follow

LSERSA Race at Bromley 13/09/09

Race report to follow

SRSA End of Series Prizegiving

Series report to follow

SRSA Aldershot 12/09/09

Race report to follow

All England Championships

Another excellent effort on behalf of the Aldershot club in that 19 Aldershot racers competed in this year's All England Championship. The weekend consists of the All England race itself on the Saturday and the Inter Club Dual Slalom race on the Sunday. For the Saturday race just qualifying is an achievement so it is only right that we recognise everyone who took part. In the minis race Aldershot were represented by Harry Deighton and Toby Deighton while in the main race we were represented by Hannah Bozier, George Bradford-Smith, Jack Bradford-Smith, Peter Calvert, Euan Chapman, Jenny Davies, Peter Davies, Oliver Deighton, Chris Evans, Chelsea Hardaway, Bella Hathway, Ellen Hathway, Chris Reader, Will Reader, Ella Slater, George Weller and Will Wheeler.

Congratulations to the medal winners in the race namely Will Wheeler who was second in the Children 1 males race, Ellen Hathway who was second in the Junior 1 females race and Harry Deighton who finished third in the minis race.

14 racers stayed on to race in the team events on the Sunday. In the Inter-Club competition the Aldershot team (Peter Davies, Ellen Hathway, George Weller and Peter Calvert) had one of the tougher groups and skiied superbly to win 3 of their 4 races and thereby qualify for the quarter finals. Unfortunately, as last year they were then drawn against the eventual winners (in this case Pendle A) so their run came to an end. The two Aldershot teams competing in the open competition also managed to qualify for the quarter finals and unfortunately were both drawn against eventual winners and medallists. Congratulations to all those in the Open A team (Hannah Bozier, Ella Slater, Chelsea Hardaway and Will Wheeler), to those in the Open B team (Chris Evans, Jenny Davies, Bella Hathway and Will Reader) and also to Euan Chapman and Chris Reader for upholding Aldershot honour in their respective teams.

In all a really enjoyable couple of days racing so thanks to the racers for their efforts over the two days and to their parents for slogging up the motorway to Sunderland and back.

ASRC August Monthly Race

Race Report to Follow

Southampton Club National 02/08/09

Race Report to Follow

SRSA Southampton 01/08/09

Race Report to Follow

Rossendale GP 19/07/09

Race Report to Follow

Midlands Club National 18/07/09

Race Report to Follow

Celtic Cup Round 6 Gloucester 12/07/09

Race Report to Follow

LSERSA Race at Welwyn 12/07/09

Race Report to Follow

SRSA Race at Christchurch 11/07/09

Race Report to Follow

ASRC July Monthly Race

Race Report to Follow

Ipswich Grand Prix 05/07/09

Race report to follow

Ipswich Club National 04/07/09

The Ipswich slope is one of the longest and most challenging slopes in the country and when coupled with baking hot weather, conditions were quite tough for the Aldershot racers who competed. Congratulations to our medal winners; Bella Hathway who won gold in the Children 1 group, Will Wheeler who won gold in the boy's children 1 group and Ellen Hathway who won bronze in the girls junior 1 group.

Tri-Regional Race 18th October

Everyone on the SRSA distribution list should have been sent details of this year,s tri-region race and the selection process. If you have not received anything and are interested, please let me know.

Gloucester Club National 28/06/09

The Stoke 5 were joined in Gloucester by a more sizeable contingent of Aldershot racers at the biggest Club National of the year. There were 200+ racers present in all and each of the groups was closely contested. While medals were thinner on the ground a lot of our racers improved their seed points with some excellent skiing, most notably Chris Evans who finally held it all together on his last run to register a more representative seed point ranking. Upholding club honour in terms of medals were Bella Hathway who placed third in the girls Children 1 group and William Wheeler who finished second in the boys children 1 group. 

Stoke Club National 27/06/09

Five  Aldershot racers subjected themselves to a brutally early start  so they could race at the stoke Club National last Saturday. They were rewarded with a challenging but raceable course and four returned home with trophies. Bella Hathway and Ellen Hathway both won their respective groups (children 1 and junior 1) while Jenny Davies and Graham Nayler finished third in the children 2 and masters categories. 

LSERSA Race at Brentwood Park 20/06/09

Another large contingent of Aldershot racers circumnavigated the M25 to the gentle slopes of Brentwood. Unfortunately the course set for the timed event was more like a navigation exercise than a test of skiing skills which is not really very good for a regional race. The only good thing to come from it was watching one of the faster racers, who had arrogantly not bothered with course inspection, ski out on the second gate of the first run when he got lost! Just goes to prove that course inspection is important no matter how good you are and that course inspection skills are to be learned and developed just like skiing technique!

By the second run all of our racers had the measure of the course and along with the usual haul of medals we resumed our place at the top of the club team competition. In the individual results there were medals at both ends of the age groups. Starting in 1F, Sarah Woodward won the bronze medal and in the boy's equivalent Harry Deighton won the silver medal. Onto 2F where Phoebe Long won her first gold medal and Lucy Woodward equalled her sisters achievement by winning the bronze. The 3F group was once again dominated by Aldershot with 5 of our racers in the top 6. Hannah Bozier again won the gold medal with Boo pickup winning the silver medal and Jenny Davies the bronze. In the next girls group (4F) Ellen Hathway won the silver medal and finally in the 9M group Graham Nayler held it all together on the last run to claim a well deserved gold medal.

In the scratch team races Adam Baker's team won the bronze medal while Toby Deighton's team won the gold medal. Then came the club team races.......

Once again the Aldershot power team were the victims of an awful decision from the officials which soured the event for many of us. We ran two teams in the team race with the A team being Peter Davies, Ellen Hathway, Hannah Bozier, Will Wheeler and Charley Lewis and the B team being Boo Pickup, Chelsea Hardaway, Jenny Davies, Oliver Deighton and Graham Nayler. For some reason the LSERSA team races have changed to a knockout format for the last couple of races and the B team were unfortunate to be drawn against Chatham in the first round and did not progress. Meanwhile the A team easily progressed to the semi final where they comfortably beat a stunned Bromley A team to make it to the final where they faced the strong Chatham team. Unfortunately they were then the victims of firstly a gate that did not want to stay in place followed by an overzealous marshall who thought he could replace it before Charley reached him. Given that he was only three gates from the start this was optimistic to say the least and Charley quite rightly refused to start with someone standing in the course. This was not the way the "referee" saw it who relied on the rules about a pole being displaced to instantly award the win to Chatham, thereby disregarding the bit in the rules about the racer having the right of protest if they are obstructed on the course!. On a positive note the team did win the silver medal and are clearly now seen as a serious threat to the previously dominant club teams in both SRSA and LSERSA.

LSERSA Race at Aldershot 14/06/09

Race Report to Follow

SRSA Race at Bromley 13/06/09

Race Report to Follow

Inter-Region Race at Welwyn 07/06/09

Hannah Bozier, Peter Davies, Ellen Hathway and Will Wheeler were missing from the monthly race because they were instead racing at the Inter-Regional event at Welwyn having been selected to race for the SRSA team. This is one of the premier events on the race calendar where the best racers from across the country race for their regions in a series of dual parallel slalom races. The Aldershot four were joined by Sam Fairbairn and Frances Bryon from Southampton and Giacomo Ghislanzoni from SASA to make the team of seven. In all there were 14 teams at the event and every Snowsport England was represented except for Yorkshire. The teams were split into two leagues of 7 with the first 4 teams from each league to qualify for the quarter finals. Thankfully the torrential rain that greeted us when we arrived in Welwyn had abated by the time the racing started and the teams first race was a baptism of fire against the LSERSA A team. After losing this race the team won the next two races but unfortunately the next two races were very close but a couple of straddles left the team with two wins going into the last race. This last race was a must win race which the team duly did to qualify for the knockout stages. They they were then pitted against the very strong Eastern Region A team and despite a brave effort they lost the race. Eastern Region A then went on to win the event overall against North West A.

ASRC June Monthly Race

I missed the June monthly race so can only report on the results. Having skiied out twice Mark Weller nipped in to win the boys race ahead of Chris Evans while in the girls race it was Ella Slater who put in a great last run to take the win. Fastest newcomer was Oliver Deighton and the most improved racers will be revealed at the next training session. At the information session after the race Chris Evans won the racer of the month on the strength of his improved performance over the past few months.

Wycombe Club National at Welwyn 06/06/09

With the inter-regional race being held the next day the field in the Welwyn Club National was the stiffest faced by our racers in Club Nationals this year. In addition the course was certainly set at the hard end of the spectrum for Club Nationals so it was great experience for the Aldershot racers. The Aldershot medal winners were thinner on the ground than in recent races but well done to Toby Deighton who won the silver medal in the boys minis race, Bella Hathway who won the bronze medal in children 1 girlsand William Wheeler who also won bronze in the children 1 boys.

SASA Club National at Southampton 31/05/09

The following day was the first of the two Club Nationals to be held at Southampton this year and it has to be said that it was one of the most pleasant races we have had at Southampton for a long time. For once there was a sensible approach to health and safety which made the whole day seem much more relaxed. The course went down the increasingly bumpy middle slope and with a very straight section from the big left hand turn there were some very fast times recorded. Starting with the minis and in the boys groupHarry Deighton won the bronze medal. Starting with the females race, in the Children 1 age group Bella Hathway won the silver medal while in the children 2 group, Hannah Bozier won the gold medal, Chelsea Hardaway the silver medal and Boo Pickup the bronze medal. Hannah also finished third in the overall race. In the males race, William Wheeler won the gold medal in children 1, Peter Davies the bronze medal in Junior 1, Brian Davies the gold medal in the masters with Graham Nayler winning the bronze medal in the same race.

LSERSA Race at Welwyn 30/05/09

A much smaller Aldershot contingent made the trip up the A1M to Welwyn for the first LSERSA race of the year. For those who have not been before, the slope at Welwyn is very sticky when dry, very fast when wet and has two big bumps which set an interesting challenge when the poles are set out. First of the medals to be awarded was a silver medal for Toby Deighton in the 2M group. The 3f group was won by Hannah Bozier with Jenny Davies finishing third while in the next girls age group (4F) Ellen Hathway won the silver medal. In the boys equivalent Ed Taylor won the bronze medal and finally in the 9M group Brian Davies also won a bronze medal.

On to the team races and the Aldershot team of Hannah Bozier, Ellen Hathway, Graham Nayler, Peter Davies and Charley Lewis battled to an excellent silver medal on a very tricky dual slalom course. In the fun teams competition Chris Reader's team won the gold medal, Bella Hathway and Harry Deighton's team won the silver medal and Euan Chapman's team won the bronze medal.

One highlight that came out after the event was in terms of the club championship. I was unaware that this was taking place in the LSERSA series but apparently a competition is being run along the same lines as the Club National competition (as invented by the Calverts) and the times of the five fastest racers from each of the clubs in various categories are added together to give a time for each club. With Toby Deightons last minute transfer to Aldershot we were able to score points in this competition and in fact are now leading it! The racers whose times were included are Toby Deighton, Ellen Hathway, Hannah Bozier, Peter Davies and Charley Lewis.

SRSA Southampton 23/05/09

The course at Southampton saw a feature not often included in Southern Region race namely a banana gate but the Aldershot racers took this in their stride. As a result we came away with another big haul of medals. In the boys 7 to 8 group Harry Deighton won the gold medal while in the girl's equivalent Katie Standen won her first medal, taking home the bronze. Toby Deighton also won bronze in the boys 9 to 10 group while Phoebe Long won the silver medal in the race for girls of the same age. Moving on to the 11 to 12 group, William Wheeler won the bronze medal while in the girls group it was an Aldershot 1,2,3,4,5 with Hannah Bozier taking the gold medal, Boo Pickup the silver medal and Bella Hathway the bronze medal. Still with the girls, in the 13 to 14 group Ellen Hathway won the gold medal with Chelsea Hardaway winning the silver medal, in the 17 to 19 group Ella Slater won the silver medal and in the 30+ group Janet Long won the gold medal in her first ever race. Last but by no means least John Calvert won the silver medal in the final male group.

In the club team races the Under 11 team fought through to the final where they were narrowly beaten by the home team while the Over 11s team felt robbed of a place in the final by some dubious decisions. In a very close race the final racer on the opposing team false started anyway but to add insult to injury one of the last poles on our course was stuck in the matting and where it would have been reasonable to at least have called a re-run this was not done.

In the scratch team there was a gold medal for the team including Toby Deighton and Annie Usher and a silver medal for the team including Jack Bradford-Smith, Oliver Cassidy and Brian Davies.

Club Communications

I have played around with a few different ways of delivering the newsletter content and last weekend settled on using a blog. This will allow me to provide information almost as soon as it becomes available. The address for the blog is http://asrcnewsletter.blogspot.com. The email newsletter will continue but will just be a cut and paste of the blog entries.

While on the subject it is worth going through the various communications for the club. There are now three web based environments as follows:-

The club website at http://www.aldershotskiraceclub.org which is effectively the "corporate" face of the club hosting key information about the club including photos and videos and providing joining information.

My blog at http://asrcnewsletter.blogspot.com.

The clubs facebook group Aldershot ski race club where you can do the sort of things people do in facebook!

If anyone has other ideas then please let me know. As an example I have managed to come up with a practical use for twitter so if there are users in the club we could use it as one way of providing urgent updates.

Urgent communication is one area of communication I still want to sort out to cover situations like sudden cancellation of training or as last Saturday an accident on the M25 stopping people getting to the race on time. I do have the latest list of mobile phone numbers but unless you have kept it up to date this is not much use. Phoning 50 different people is also time consuming and not necessarily the best method so I would like to compile an urgent contact list which includes the best method of communication for each family. Can you all please let me know the best method for communicating with you urgently whether it be mobile phone, sms, email, IM, twitter, whatever so that I can pull this list together. For the record, my preference is email but on race day the best way to get hold of me is on 07921399368.

Waterproofs and Drinks

A couple of weeks ago we had a massive downpour during training and a large number of racers were caught out either by not having waterproofs out on the slope or worse by not having waterproofs at all. Similarly there are still a large number of racers who do not have a ready supply of water or other fluids in the training area. Please make sure you are always properly equipped for optimum training in whatever weather conditions nature throws at us.

Racer Ready

For those of you who do not know, Racer Ready is a magazine focussed entirely on ski racing and its editor Neil McQuoid attends many of the local dry slope races taking photos of the racers. Neil is a keen supporter of the Southern Region and has circulated the following description of both the photo service and magazine to clubs in the Southern Region.

Racer Ready were at the Southampton SRSA race last weekend and have lots of pictures of all the racers. If you would like to see the pictures all you need to do is email pictures@racer-ready.co.uk and they will send you back the thumbnails. The cost of the pictures start at £7 for email and CD versions (jpg’s) and you can also get printed versions (these vary according to size required).

If you are really interested in ski racing, from the grass roots all the way up to the Olympics, Racer Ready is the only magazine in the UK that focuses entirely on the competitive side of winter sport. Available through subscription only, you can subscribe either through the attached subscription form on online at http://www.racer-ready.co.uk/magazine.htm. Subscriptions start at £20 for 6 issues and the magazine comes out quarterly. The next issue is due out shortly!
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the editor, Neil McQuoid at the following address neil@racer-ready.co.uk.