Monday, August 20, 2012

From 65cm of fresh to blue skies and sunshine...

What a weekend it has been! I've really had the best of both worlds at Mt Hotham this weekend. 65cm of fresh light powder on Friday and Saturday, then blue skis, firm snow and a great day of ski cross racing on Sunday. I honestly couldn't ask for anything more from a weekend of skiing.

Saturday's race was pushed back to Sunday due to excessive snow (damn... another day of powder skiing!) On Saturday night, the clouds finally cleared and the stars came out, freezing the snow for a great race. Considering the difficult conditions, Hotham managed to build a fast and fun ski cross course overnight. The aim was to hold both races on the Sunday, however we only managed to get one complete race off, and another qualification run (counting for race number two.)

Being the first ski cross race of the season, I was quite nervous to see where I was sitting against the competition (my teammates on the National Team). Back came the good nerves and race butterflies, and I switched my competitive edge back on. I won both qualification runs by over a second, so I was extremely happy with the result. In finals I couldn't quite grab the lead out of the start gate, and finished in second place behind Jenny Owens.

So all in all, I finished the National Championships with a 1st and a 2nd place. Not a bad start to the World Cup racing season to come!


(Not a bad view from the race course!)

(Loving the support from fans!)

(First place, race 2, Australian Ski Cross Championships)





 (Mum and I enjoying the sun at Hotham)