After
a busy weekend of racing in Mt Hotham, the Australian
National Ski Cross Team flew out to Queenstown, New Zealand, the very
morning
after the race.
Every
two years the New Zealand Winter Games are held in
Queenstown. The recently established global event takes place every two
years,
and attracts a large number of competitors from around the world in all
winter
sports. Unfortunately the ski cross was cancelled two years ago due to
poor
weather, so this was the very first year ski cross was held.
In
the qualifications, I layed down the fastest time of the
day by almost half a second, in front of World Cup racers Fanny Smith
from
Switzerland and Michelle Greig from New Zealand. A great start to the
race and a definite boost to my confidence! I
won my semi final heat, and went straight to the big final, where I was
up against
Smith, Greig and another young Australian girl. The start was neck and
neck
between Fanny and I, however she managed to just get in front of me
coming into
the first turn. From then I stuck on her tails the whole way down the
one-minute
track, however couldn’t manage to make a successful pass. Although I had
to settle for the silver medal, I was very happy with my performance
that day.
(The World Cup SX girls; myself, Fanny Smith and Michelle Greig at Cardrona)
(The Aussie girls before qualifications)
(Michelle Greig, Fanny
Smith and myself at the awards ceremony in Wanaka)
(New young gun SX
racer Leigh Gardener and myself after Friday's race)
To
end what was a short yet successful 4-day trip to New
Zealand, I managed to persuade one of the American Ski Cross racers to
come and
bungy jump with me on our way to the airport this morning. After all,
you only
live once! A quick bungy jump only seemed like a logical and necessary
stop on
the way to Queenstown. We jumped off the Kawarau Bridge in Kawarau
canyon, a
43-metre fall to the turquoise flowing river below. Being my fourth
bungy
jump, I am actually starting to feel reasonably comfortable with
launching
myself off huge things! The adrenaline rush was amazing… a similar
feeling to what I
get racing ski cross.
(US ski racer Joe Svenson and I getting ready to bungy)
(Bungy site at
Kawarau Bridge)
For
those who enjoy watching my video blogs, I’ve got a short
highlights video on its way from the past few weeks of training, racing,
travelling and bungying…
Enjoy!
