Feed: Impulse Racing - Alpine and Indoor Ski Race Camps - AggScore: 47.5
Summary: Aosta Race Academy and Impulse Racing
All the news from the Aosta Race Academy, in association with Impulse Racing Founded by Phil Brown, former British Children's Ski Team Head Coach, including race training in The Snow Centre Hemel Hempstead, Landgraaf, Tignes, British National and International FIS race circuit.
A good day for Impulse and ARA
well, that's the last day of the champs here in Meribel as far as
the Juniors are concerned and a great couple of great
results for us here today and overall in the Juniors. Matt
Thompson came 2nd Jun 2 and overall in the Slalom but then was on
the second step of the podium for the jun 2 and overall combined
junior prize. It was a close call for the overall!
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Matt Thompson 2nd in the slalom |
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| And 2nd in the overall! |
In the Junior one category, Richard Goldsworthy made third place in the slalom, just dropping a place after the first run.
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| Richard Goldsworthy on the 3rd step of podium in todays slalom |
So, a great day with points scores for most of our guys. An unfortunate niggling knee issue resurfacing for our Jamaican team athlete, Chelcie Bird, resulting in a trip to the med centre and a day out tomorrow. She scored her first points of the season yesterday to break her duck and install some confidence.
In Courchevel, our children's racers were in action at the Scottish children's champs with conditions being a little soft. They now move over to Meribel whilst the Juniors head to Courchevel for the next four days.
ONLY FOUR MORE EARLY STARTS!!! - I would say sunrises but, with the predicted rain/snow, it's likely to be cloudy for at least a couple of them.
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| Checking out the first course under floodlight this morning |
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| Another bloody sunrise!!! |
Date Published: Apr 02, 2012 - 8:38 am
8 Early starts to go!!
With our 5th of 13 early starts, we got off to a good start in the Super G leg but were subject to a few delays during the race making the SL delayed in starting.
Impulse and British team racer Matt Thompson was lying in 3rd place in the juniors after the super g but was unable to capitalise and improve on this as he got caught on the first steep pitch and straddled in the slalom.
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Matt Thompson collects 3rd place for the super G |
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| Matt in the slalom leg of the super combi |
Good news for the BSA group racing with us this week, Laurie Taylor picked up 3rd place J1 in the super combo with a great slalom run helping him on the way.
That's the speed races finished here now and they've been some of the best that we've had here in my memory. Tomorrow we switch to the tech races with the mens national champs GS and a womens national champs SL. We should be seeing British team member Dave Ryding in action, recently scoring a win in the Slovenian champs and another result with a sub 10 point score.
Date Published: Mar 29, 2012 - 8:54 am
Back to business for Matt Thompson
It's been a while since I've blogged. what with poor internet etc. but we've had a good few weeks training since the Interschools.
On the third day here in Meribel, we saw the Junior Champs Downhill race. For the first time in several years, we were able to watch a full length DH with the finish at the bottom of the Stade. Great for the spectators with three huge turns from the ridge to the finish.
It was great to see Impulse member Matt Thompson, in his first DH this season, take the junior title and close the gap on TJ Baldwin from when they've raced here in previous years. Matt was closely followed by Roy Steudle, who was faster in yesterdays training run.
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| Impulse's Matt Thompson on the top step of the podium |
The course proved tough for many of the less experienced trainees but most of them performed well with Impulse racer Ed Fenton-Fowler completing his third ever (and toughest) downhill with a decent time.
Unfortunately, with TJ being so far ahead of most of the field and the high penalty, the points were't the best but the guys are just going to have to get faster!
In the spirit of cooperation that many of the clubs need to survive and attend these events, we've had a couple of juniors from BSA staying with us and it was good to see one of them, Laurie Taylor, picking up 3rd J1 in only his second DH!
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| Laurie Taylor on the podium in 3rd |
Well, that's 3 days done of this 13 day programme for the British and Scottish champs. That means another 10 sunrises to view over the three valleys as we need to have early starts in order to make the most of the best racing conditions of the day.
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| Watching the sun rise over the three valleys......again! |
Date Published: Mar 27, 2012 - 6:28 am
Back to Base
After nearly a week in Les Crosets for the Welsh Alpine Champs, it was back to our base in Aosta late on Saturday.
Sunday saw a days rest for both athletes and coaches with today being business as usual on the hill in Pila.
Getting up this morning, it was cloudy at our place and in the valley but, as we headed up in the gondola for a days slalom freeskiing, we moved above the clouds to a very cold but clear day.
We've had some new snow over the last day or so which has refreshed the pistes and, with the cold temperatures, we had great conditions for training today.
With the cloud moving up the hill and more snow coming in just after lunch, we headed down. It's snowing lightly now at our base at 1250m, so hopefully there'll be some more up at Pila.
Meanwhile, we still have coaches working with the group of Aussie servicemen and women racing at the Combined services in Meribel and with Lambrook and Halliford schools competing at the schoolboys races in Meiringen. Further info and reports on these events in the next few days.
Date Published: Jan 30, 2012 - 12:57 pm
Mixed fortunes in a week of racing
This week has been pretty busy starting with two races at home in PILA on Saturday and Sunday.
The Slalom on Saturday saw some good skiing but none of our guys able to make both runs. That, unfortunately, is ski racing.
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| Cormac during course inspection for the slalom in Pila |
We then headed over to Champery/Les Crosets for the Welsh Alpine Champs. With a great days slalom training on Monday, we then had the FIS GS race on Tuesday. Unfortunately, with a big delay for timing issues, we lost the second run for the boys as the TD believed that the light wasn't sufficient. This was very disappointing as several coaches believed that the light was good enough to run the boys down the second run.
The FIS Slalom was a better event but, again, our boys failed to finish! So we got our FIS racers to take some experience from forerunning the BASS races on Thursday (Sl) and today (GS). This gave them valuable experience in a race scenario which, hopefully, will help with our next races.
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| Les Crosets a couple of days ago |
It's now back to base in Aosta for training whilst Finlay heads off to Meiringen for the Schoolboys races where Harri will be coaching Halliford School and Lambrook school teams.
Meanwhile, the Australian Defence team did well in Tignes at the RN champs with several podiums for both the men and women, including two golds for one of the male racers, Dan. They are currently training in Meribel ahead of the combined services champs next week.
Date Published: Jan 27, 2012 - 7:42 am
Aussies, Jamaicans, Irish and some Brit trainees!!
This is a long overdue update, mainly due to a very busy start to the season with huge snowfalls, broken vehicles, delayed opening of resorts etc.
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| View from the top of Pila today with Mont Blanc on the left and the Matterhorn on the right |
The first two weeks of the season, up to and including BARSC, were absolutely hectic, with huge snowfalls (leading to some amazing powder days), one of our vehicles breaking down (now sorted) and almost being snowed into our accommodation.
The BARSC champs saw us pick up several podiums with Max Wheatman, Alex Fitzpatrick, Ed Fenton-Fowler and Two of our Irish Contingent, Erin Flynn and Emily Ainsworth and our Jamaican representative, Chelcie Bird.
The Anglo Scottish races saw one of our Children, Finlay Davies pick up 2nd place in the GS.
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| The bottom of our road a couple of weeks ago |
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| Sometimes it can go a bit wrong in the powder! |
This last two weeks saw us hosting training for the Australian Defence Alpine Snowsports Association. A group of 20 Aussie servicemen and women over here for 5 weeks, including the Royal Navy and Combined Services Champs. A great two weeks was had by this group, working with ski coach Brian Byrne and Boarding coach Donnie Macleod. Donnie has taken weeks out of his own Business in Davos - Synergy Snowsports. They've now gone on to race in Tignes, then Meribel, so good luck to those guys.
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| Some of the Aussie Defence Team with coaches Donnie and Brian (Centre) |
Date Published: Jan 15, 2012 - 8:09 am
Overdue update and a trip to Italy.
I've not put a post up since the end of our first week in Tignes, with one group just finished and we were waiting for another.
Well, the second weeks group arrived and were mainly made up of
Irish trainees (19 of them!) out on a selection camp for the
World Schools Champs (being held in Gressoney, Aosta, In March).
We had a good few days of GS training with some improvements
being made by the guys, once we'd sorted out some of the kit. We
had 50kg guys turning up with 140 flex boots! At least we had
Jules from the Boot Room (Chamonix) up here and on hand to help
with the boot issues.
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| Coaches Harri, Euan and Brian with Trainee George |
The planned slalom training didn't happen due to the glacier
being stormbound on that day so the guys left on November 6th
having done some worthwhile GS.
The storms that shut the glacier brought us some fresh, and very
welcome, snow for a few days off and a bit of R & R for me.
So after a few days relaxing and free skiing, we headed off to
Aosta to check out our base for the winter and to have a sneaky
trip to the Milan International Motorcycle show which is the
biggest of it's kind with a lot of new models on display and some
great displays outside the halls.
Firstly though, we stayed in the centre of Aosta in the Hotel
Europe which was very nice.
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| Aosta town hall - taken with Photsynth |
After a nice meal we were set for the trip to Milan, via our base
which is looking good for the winter, sitting up above Aosta town
with some amazing views (below) and still only 10 minutes from
the main Pila Gondola!
So today was back to business as usual with some SG training on
the glacier in preparation for the 2 mens SG races this week and
a DH on Friday. We've got one athlete out so he's pretty spoilt
as far as training and feedback are concerned.
At the end of the week it's off to Ireland for a few days to
shadow a coaching course for me, then back out here to Tignes
where, hopefully, we may see snow start to fall in the villages.
Date Published: Nov 13, 2011 - 10:55 am
Great Conditions and training in Tignes!
This last week has seen the first block of training for us up on the Grand Motte in Tignes.
With a reasonably small group for week one of 14 and 3 coaches, we had an awesome weeks training with only one day lost due to high winds on the glacier. The rest of the week saw mainly sunny skies and great snow with only one morning starting in the cloud.
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| One morning starting in the cloud |
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| One or two courses!! |
Yesterday saw the departure of the first group and arrival of a small number who are training over the weekend. This morning, we headed up to set slalom for just two trainees and were asked to team up with another club. It turns out they only have two trainees but they're some of the best in their region. The Comite Du Mont Blanc. This gave our guys something to aim for!
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| Looking down on this mornings course |
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| Panorama of the course using Photosynth |
Next group arrive tomorrow with 19 trainees from Ireland and two more coaches so it's going to be a busy week, with more snow forecast for mid week to refresh the glacier we're looking forward to it!
Date Published: Oct 30, 2011 - 5:55 am
New Kit Arrivals
In the last few days we've had a load of new kit arrive for the season.
On Saturday, we picked up a load of brushgrip bases to replace the screw in's on most of our gates. This will make our coaches job easier this winter, and make setting much quicker with no keying in. Thanks to Ski Bitz for these and the discount they're offering for Impulse club members.
Then yesterday, a few boxes of Skis and boots for the coaching staff arrived making us a happy bunch.
A BIG thanks to the guys at Head UK for this lot. Not just race skis in there either. There's a few 'toys'.
Still lots to do before we travel out to the mountains later in the month, including setting up for the London SKi and Board Show at Earls Court next week - Come and visit us on Stand J1 (The Valle D'Aosta Stand), just as you walk into the exhibition hall. We'll also be in Birmingham, the following week at the British Ski + Board Show!
Date Published: Oct 11, 2011 - 11:08 am
Irish Champs Bursary Winners.
We've just come back from Kilternan, near Dublin, where we attended the Irish Champs.
We've been at these races for a number of years now and this
time, we gave away two bursaries to Irish racers, 1 male and one
female.
In order to give all the Irish racers a chance, these prizes were
drawn, rather than given to winners of categories.
The two lucky winners were:
Emily Ainsworth and Alex Doogan. These guys won a weeks training
package with us over the winter.
There was some great racing at the weekend, despite the weather!
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| We struggled to see the top of the slope through the fog and rain for the dual on Saturday! |
With rain ALL day on Saturday and even some fog later in the day,
the Dual slalom was interesting as you couldn't se the top of the
slope from the bottom!
The rain eased off overnight and it was reasonably dry on Sunday,
with low cloud visible over Dublin bay from the top of the hill.
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| Cloudy over Dublin Bay |
The Mens race on Sunday saw what was probably the tights finish
we've seen this summer with only 5 hundredths of a second
seperating the top 3.
Tom Hales, 1 hundredth ahead of Gerard Flahive who was 4
hundredths ahead of Andrew Watson.
The slope itself is set in some great countryside and, even with
the wet weather, it was a great weekend.
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| Views from around the slope |
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| Some of the Irish lads modelling the events t shirts |
Date Published: Oct 04, 2011 - 5:33 am
New Training Kit Designs
Today we received the designs for our new catsuits, training jackets and shorts. It was great to se our designs on the new kit just ahead of our trip over to Ireland for their Champs this weekend.
We think they look great. They're now available to order so contact us if you're interested. We will be organising an evening at Hemel to try sizing.
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| Catsuit back |
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| Catsuit front |
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| Softshell Front |
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| Softshell Back |
Date Published: Sep 30, 2011 - 2:50 am
Looking Forward to the Irish Champs Weekend
This weekend is the last big race of the artificial slope season at Kilternan, Ireland.
We're joint sponsors of the event with The Great Outdoors who have been sponsoring the event since forever! We're giving away 2 training bursaries to Irish racers. This is a continuation of the long association we have with Irish racing, in fact, this will be the 17th year that Phil has attended the event!
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| T shirts for all competitors |
Good luck to all of our racers in Ireland this weekend and those racing at the Ersa Champs at Hemel.
Date Published: Sep 28, 2011 - 12:16 pm
Congratulations to our Bursary winners!
This weekend was the All England Championships, held at Norfolk ski club.
Aosta Race Academy Sponsored the event, giving away four bursaries as prizes.
It was a great day with a really good turnout making for some great racing. The first course was set by Sally Bartlett which saw quite a few of the field have problems. The second course was set by Impulse and ARA head coach, Phil Brown. This course initially looked easier than the first but proved to be as tricky for several athletes.
The ARA bursaries were presented after the main prize giving. Phil presented the main awards followed by these. The prizes were drawn from start numbers. We think this gives the racers an equal chance of winning and opens the chance up to more athletes.
Our winners were:
Mini Girls - Megan Skipper from Norfolk
Mini Boys - Thomas Reidy from Norfolk
Ch and Jnr Girls - Ella Ward from Chill Factore
Ch and Jnr Boys - Simon Wilkins from Telford
The above athletes can look forward to a weeks training out at our base in Aosta this season!
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| Phil Presenting the main prizes |
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| L-R: Ella Ward, Megan Skipper with their award, Phil Brown |
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| A nice touch! The ARA logo on all of the trophies in recognition of our sponsorship |
Date Published: Sep 05, 2011 - 5:51 am
Landgraaf day 2
Today we got into some gates, albeit stubbies. I've not seen so many teams here at one time before. There were six lanes in use for most of the day with a new start ramp servicing one of the lanes. This was above the snow start ramp that is there for the rest of the summer.
So, we had a tech session first thing followed by a couple of hours in the stubby course on the medium injected part of the hill. This was great training after the tech sessions we've been running over the last day and a bit with some interesting changes to the trainees skiing from previously.
We finished with a short tech session to build on what we'd seen in the gates.
Tomorrow will see a a get session in the morning, a short tech session then we'll be on our way back to the UK.
We've got another Landgraaf camp next month for a couple of days and there are a few places left on it.
Date Published: Aug 28, 2011 - 2:14 pm
Back Into The Big Freezer
Today was the first day of our Bank Holiday camp at Landgraaf. It's our second trip here this season but there are no races this time.
There are a shed load of teams here though, including the Savoie girls team and the Swiss EC mens team - great to watch for our guys.
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| Loads of team vans and extra containers for ski tuning! |
So, we worked on about 5.5 hours of tech over the day with some good improvements for all athletes. Tomorrow sees a short tech session to build on this, followed by a gate session with stubbies to take the improvements into the course.
All in all, a good day today and we're looking forward to tomorrow to see how the guys fare in the stubbies. The training side of the hill looks good with 2 rollers now set on it to give the guys a little extra challenge. Should be great fun!
Date Published: Aug 27, 2011 - 2:52 pm
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