British Disabled Ski Team

 

Following on from the successes of Pitztal, the squad moved back East towards Innsbruck for the next set of IPCAS races in Kuhtai.

 

 

A well deserved rest day following the exertions in Pitztal helped a number of athletes to overcome the inevitable bouts of "cold" and "man flu" that seem to follow everyone round at this time of year. Russell Docker, Kev Alderton and Craig Wiltshire took the opportunity to get some more GS practice under their belt with a couple of days with the army in Stubai.

 

The first set of races (Slalom) took place on 20 Dec. Joe Willougby skied really well coming an impressive 2nd having been in the lead after the first slalom run but took a slight fall in the second reducing her margin to come second. She is certainly on the pace of her main Japanese and Swiss rivals.

 

Sean also had a fall on his first run but managed to finish then produced a tremendous second run pulling him back up to 16th and additional well deserved World Cup points.

 

Tim Farr was off the pace for his first run but managed to improve with his second to come in 23rd

 

Both Jane Sowerby and Talan Skeels-Piggins unfortunately fell (DNF) but both coach and athletes very pleased with their skiing all the same.

 

Russell Docker who has always found the aspects of the technical categories difficult decided that following Pitztal he would now concentrate on the speed events and therefore did not start (DNS)

  

 

The women again led the way in the technical GS with Joe and Jane again producing the goods when required to add to their tally of the previous day.

 

Falls from Sean, Talan and new three-tracker Craig Wiltshire, left Russ and Tim to deliver finishes for the men with a 23rd and 24th respectivley.

 

 

Head Coach, Jane Stevens reported this to be an extremely challenging course, very steep at the top with a number of team managers pulling their athletes from the competition due to the difficulty.

 

Not to be deterred, the two British girls showed their bottle to perform another brilliant set of races to come in 2nd and 3rd giving Joe Willoughby a great record of 3 podiums for the competition. 

 

Sean Rose continued to display the consistency we are beginning to expect from such a dedicated athlete with a very good 12th place in what is always a large field.

 

Tim and Russ again produced finishes with a 22nd and 23rd respectively.

 

The whole squad now looks forward to a well deserved Xmas break and pick-up the riggers for the next IPCAS - European Cup in RollRin, Tirol (04-06 Jan 08). Don't miss it!