Freddy, James, Louis, Robbie and myself went to the Lelex French Cup two weeks ago. The weather made things a bit difficult on day two but as usual the weekend was well organised and very well attended. It was great to have some of our Development Team members there who were able to race against many of the French, Swiss and British World Cup racers. Following these races we picked up Ben from Geneva who has written a very amusing account of our week at the Inter Services Snow Sports Championships in Meribel, to which we were very kindly invited to.

“The French Alps provided a fantastic backdrop to the most anticipated military winter sports event of the season; the Combined Services Championships. We were generously invited by the British Military to attend these races in order to compete in the ‘Open’ category. The week also offered a valuable opportunity to train on telemark race courses, most notably for the new members of the development squad in Louis ‘Panda Hatchwell, Robbie ‘Tweety’ Houstoun and Benjamin ‘Orangutan’ Atkinson. The new members needed to listen to the wise words of James French and Anna Morrissey if they were to build on the progress made in Rauris. The week got under way with the arrival of all the members at James’ flat in Mottaret, situated just above the main Meribel resort. He had very generously offered the team his dwelling for the week. We moved our kit into the flat and headed out to the start/finish for the opening ceremony in the evening. The althetes gathered for a torch lit descent from the École de Ski Francaise. With the introduction of the sponsors to the event, the organisers and competitors headed over to the sports center for refreshments and an opportunity to mingle with the representatives of Airbus and Thales, whilst also explaining the intricacies of telemark and it’s exciting future!

The first day of competitions began with the Giant slalom with the best of the Army, Navy and RAF telemarkers taking on the challenging course. Conditions were good and the GB team led the way with James French taking first with Robbie Houstoun in 3rd place. The night brought about the birthday celebrations for a Mr. Louis Hatchwell, which as a good 21st always should, involved various disgusting shots and a memorable taxi home. The rest day was a good opportunity to train on some gates set out on the race piste. The team worked hard to learn from each other and develop their technique. The development team, if I may say so myself, worked hard and listened to the valuable advice from Anna and James. As the rest day came to a close, Wednesday dawned with the Sprint race in which Team GB wiped the floor with a podium lock out in the form of James French, Louis Hatchwell and Rob Houstoun. The course was very similar to the GS, however, the course began to harden up very rapidly after the first few runners making for a difficult run for those starting later.

There was no rest for the wicked as the telemarkers woke for Thursday and the prospect of a two minute plus classic race! A course with a monster of a skate, in typical army fashion, was the order of the day, along with a side of exhausted legs. The results were similar to those of the sprint with James finishing in first with Robbie and Louis in 2nd and 3rd. That evening, the team along with all the other competitors donned their onesies for a relaxed evening in Meribel. The night followed a similar path to that of Louis’ birthday… Anna and Jas have been competing in the World Cup all the way over in the US of A where they hope to build on the success they had at the world cup in Rauris. Good luck! A big thank you to all those involved in Meribel. The Armed forces and the ESF did a great job in organizing the event and all would not be possible without the generous support of the sponsors. A special mention needs to go to Thales therefore for sponsoring the Telemark classic race!”