Strong showing by Brits in the first races of the season with a hat-trick of medals for Rose...

The first IPC Alpine Skiing event of the winter season took place in Pitztal, Austria, with strong performances evident from the British squad.

A total of 103 athletes took part in the Giant Slalom, an IPC Alpine Skiing Level Race, on Wednesday as a preamble to the European Cup Races due later in the week and already the GB men are delivering with a fantastic silver from Britain's No1 adaptive racer Sean Rose.

In close contention with veteran Paralympic Gold Medal Winner, Martin Braxenthaler, Rose was just edged into second place having beaten the German on his second run.

Other great performances came from both Tim Farr who achieved a top 10 finishing the race in 8th place with Tala Skeels-Piggins close behind in 12th. Two members of the Development squad, who are also members of the Combined Services Disabled Ski Team, Mick Brennan and Martin Hewitt also put in sterling performances in the open entry GS race. 

The first IPC Alpine Skiing European Cup race (GS1) was unfortunately cancelled due to conditions but Saturdays second GS race saw GB achieve three more top 10s including Rose delivering a further podium Bronze to add to his silver from Wednesday's GS. With role reversals, Skeels-Piigins grabbed a magnificent 7th whilst Farr, only 900th's of a second behind, was again consistent in the strong competition with a 9th.

In the speed event of Super G Rose again capitalised on his start of season form with a further bronze to add to his existing silver and bronze in the technical events. Docker also more comfortable with the speed events delivered a well deserved 14th with Farr coming over the line in 24th.

An excellent first outing for the team and very useful points towards their Vancouver 2010 qualification. 

Atomic supports BDST with raffle prize towards calendar...

Atomic kindly donated a pair of skis to go towards a raffle prize in support of the team's new 2010 calendar available at the Metro Ski and Board Show this year. The lucky winner was Ms Janet Cope - congratulations! 

The Team are looking to send 7 athletes to the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver and are preparing hard to ensure a big impact for GB.  The athletes are largely self-funded, with the biggest fundraiser this year to helping them reach their goals being the 2010 British Disabled Ski Team calendar.  This contains avariety of incredible glossy photos giving you an insight into the world of disabled ski racing.

The team have returned from a successful summer competition with the Winter Games in New Zealand and shortly head-off for their first races of the season in both Europe and the United States. They start off the season in Pitztal, Austria, competing against some of the best in the world at the Europe.  2010 begins with the first of the World Cup races, before athletes are united for final training and competition over in the US, leading up to the Paralympics in Vancouver, March 2010.

All that training costs a lot of money!  The calendar costs just £6 + P&P.  Your purchase will directly contribute to the team’s success.

Thank you!

To purchase your personal copy please complete a "contact us" email to Administration on the DisabilitySnowsport website by following the attached link or call 01479 861272 

If you would like to make an additional donation to the team, please go to www.justgiving.co.uk/britishdisabledskiteam2010

Hintertux Training Camp kicks off the teams most important season to date...

Pictures: Copyright © Sally Lee Duffy

The Start of another season is upon us, with the fresh snow comes the buzz from the excitement of being back in the mountains and starting to train and the anticipation of races and the forthcoming season.

This year is a big one with the 2010 Winter Paralympics, Vancouver, in March (12th-22nd) A few of the team have a little work to do to guarantee their selection on the 23rd Jan but everybody is putting in the hard graft to make sure that we send out strongest and largest team.

With this in mind the majority of the team drove out to Hintertux a week early to get in some free skiing and work on the basics so they were ready to go for the team camp. Some fresh powder gave them plenty to play in before the hard work began.

 The camp consisted of two weeks of solid training on and off snow. With all the support staff that will hopefully oil a successful Paralympic campaign. A big thank you to The team management and support staff who made the camp run so smoothly, especially the much in use team physio Laura from puresportmed, and a big thumbs up to her stand in Emma from Pilates Art Physiotherapy.

The New team ski tech also made a massive difference for the athletes both on and off the snow. With his expertise working on making the guys skis go faster and giving them the time to rest up properly to concentrate on training.

"The two weeks were a massive success and I think I can safely say that I have never felt quite this excited at the start of a season. Everybody is skiing well not just in GS but in Slalom. Everybody is pushing each other to improve and go faster and it is clear how much a difference the summer training in New Zealand has made and the hard work everybody has made on their fitness. Its going to be a big season (as they always are!!) and there is still a lot of work to do to make sure everybody is peaking at the Paralympics." said Tim Farr 

The trip had being going so smoothly with even the weather and snow conditions being kind to us for the majority of the camp (which isn’t often the case in Tux!) Unfortunately there was one incident, with Jane Sowerby the current leading British Lady having a bad fall and getting a hairline fracture to her collar bone. This is likely to put her out for a month but hopefully she will make a speedy recovery and be back training and competing just after Christmas and be back on track for the Paralympics.

The team have now gone their separate ways Jane has sadly had to go home to rest. While Anna Turney and Kelly Gallagher with her guide Claire Robb have gone to take on The United States, Leaving the boys Sean Rose, Russell Docker, Talan Skeels-Piggins and Tim Farr to head to the first Europa cups on the 11th-13th Dec. As well as the returning Joe Willoughby after a year off.

Its a big year but we have done everything to prepare ourselves and with everybody skiing well its now time to see what happens bring it on!!