L a t e s t  n e w s ..... Rachel Adcock and Gerard Flahive win both races at Scottish Dry Slope Championships ...

'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams' (Eleanor Roosevelt).

December 2006

Roller coaster rides are addictive because they throw you up into oblivion, your endorphins exploding inside you making you feel so happy. But the rush can never stay forever… you either get used to the surge of giddiness and greed takes over and you want more or you reach a peak and the only way to keep going is to go down. Further more they are never as good the second time around – the surprise element is gone forever and because you know what to is going to happen it is never as good ... in short expectation dulls reality.

I use this as a metaphor for my season so far. In interviews, I seem to always be saying;

“My skiing is like a roller coaster….one week I am on a high the next week disappointed.”

For me the key thing is to find out why this happens so I can build in some consistence. I mean it is definitely improving. I have never had such a great start to the season as I had in Lake Louise this year. I have had odd scatterings of top 15 places but never bang, bang, bang...three races three, great results. In some ways I knew I could do it – I just had to replicate my training into the races. But bearing in mind I could count the number of speed training days I had going into the races on my two hands in the last 6 months, there was not too much confidence to be taken from experience. My first jump with my ‘new’ feet was in the race – as an area I have struggled with before; it was a relief to still be jumping as confidently as I had last year. So three awesome results, (two 13ths in DH and 11^th in SG) in three very different conditions. The first DH I started 48 and had to fight against worsening visibility; the second saw a quick jump in the start rankings and a start number of 2 and a head wind! Both really satisfy skiing of which I am very proud. The SG was important to me and post great DH results I was slightly worried that my previous strengths in SG had been overtaken by my new DH prowess.

So I left Canada rather surprised but very content. Annoyingly with poor snow conditions in Europe we were sent home to overcome jet lag because our races were being cancelled left, right and centre. The last thing I wanted to do was rest – the ball of my skiing was rolling; I had no desire to stop it!  Except sometimes bigger things out there (like global warming) take things out of our control and we just have to ‘roll with it.’ So I went back to London and lived my alter-ego, domesticated life for a while but when I got the call from my coach that FIS (the international ski federation and our race organisers) had found somewhere for us to race I was raring to go. The fact that our first European event would be a Super Combined – an event that my coach thought would either be dropped from our race schedule or if need be merely used for training, didn’t bother me. I just wanted to race, to get in that start gate with a race bib on again.

Still suffering from a dodgy fish sandwich from a service station in Switzerland on the way to training, I didn’t expect anything from the race. I mean half of the race would consist of a lengthened slalom run… of which I never train and rarely race (although I am still the proud holder of the British SL Champion title.) We would use the SG as training for the individual SG event to be held the following day. I don’t normally get to watch the girls before me skiing the course before I go as normally I start in the first few. This has massive advantage in SG as prior to racing the course we only get to inspect and you can never exactly visualise the speed nor if your inspected line was exactly right. But in the combined events, because less girls race I started 14 and so had time to see the first girls ski and see where the fastest ones went. I skied confidently although not entirely clean to come down into 1^st, eventually ending up 8^th. This meant I started 23 in the SL (they reverse the 30 fastest girls.) a great position but rather nerve wracking as I was starting amongst all the strongest contenders in SL. Watching them powering out the start I was somehow confident. The 4 SL runs I had done in preparation had left my coaches dumbfounded at how I could create so much speed without any practise. A three minute wait in the start made my coach worried – he thought I might psyche myself out by staring at the ruts (the grooves next to the gate left by previous races) and difficult top section. But I was relaxed and the other coaches’ mocking of my absence from slaloms the last few years only gave me the drive I needed to prove them that I could still be strong. So I ended up gaining a position in my weakest event finishing in a career best (previously Cortina 2004 DH 9^th) 7^th!!

Another big surprise! No one could erase my goofy grin in the finish. I love the camaraderie you feel from the other racers when you ski well. I swear this is unique to skiing… it doesn’t matter what country you race for, everyone offers congratulations.

With no time to dwell on my great result I went back to the hotel and refocused for the important SG the next day. But a combination of trying too hard to prove the previous days’ result hadn’t been a fluke and the wrong choice of ski I ended up a slightly disappointing 22^nd but some more World Cup points nevertheless. I was now an amazing 11^th in the overall points for the season despite missing the first races because of my feet recovery!

Post race road trip 10 hours across Europe to Val D’Isere. I have fond memories of this hill. I am not always fast there but it’s really fun, apart from a long flat at the top there is lots of active terrain. Maybe I wanted ‘it’ too much (the same ‘it’ I found in the DHs in Lake Louise), maybe I just tried too hard, maybe I was caught up in the success of the Super Combined in Reiteralm – most likely a combination of all, but I had 2 poor races. The first went wrong right from the start when I got my pole caught in the start – hut – threw me off balance for a while but some good turns and fast splits followed so although angry at myself, technically all was sound. The last race before Christmas, the second DH in Val was my first ‘bad’ race of the season – I went back to the ‘old’ Chemmy – the one who tries to be extra fast in the race – pulling out all the stops… I am only irritated because I know from experience that this is NOT a fast way for me to ski. I ski best when I am relaxed, having fun and just skiing like I do in training. Bringing this back in the conscious was important for me – I was on a roll and at some point my old mentalities were going to come back to haunt me. So I should be thankful that this has happened already and I can move forward from it and learn.

With 100 points already on the World Cup tour I took a very satisfied 4 day break at home for Christmas. (I say 4 days but with the Heathrow fog causing havoc to flights I was almost robbed of one!) Whilst home I fitted in some touristy ice skating at Hampton court palace where absurdly I got a taste of the rather close knit ski fan community when I was recognized a few times! It’s quite a bizarre feeling when some people in a group talk to you as if they know you whilst the rest have no clue who you are! I also went and supported my local rugby team – Harlequins and was very honoured when they branded up one of their team shirts ‘ALCOTT 9’ and presented it to me in the middle of the pitch with 10,000 fans cheering me! And to complete a busy stay I took 15 family and friends to the indoor snow dome, Xscape at Milton Keynes. I am so proud of my (step) nephews who, despite it being their first time on snow were absolutely fearless – couldn’t comment too much on their technique though as they straight ran it from top to bottom every run! Down hillers in the making definitely! In notorious Alcott style we had a massive feast of a Christmas dinner, sang atrocious karaoke and opened our mountain of gifts! (although this was all celebrated a day early because I had to travel Xmas day for a couple of days training before Semmering GS – my first Giant Slalom of the year, one I looked forward to with much expectation as I am almost unbeaten in GS in training this year despite having trained with all the big names.) I know it’s different in a race environment and with a later start number but I know that if I just ski ‘normally’ then I will be well in there!

When snow is sparse, race organisers often decide to inject the piste – this consists of a bulky metal rod being submerged into the ground and spraying chemicals under the surface to try and harden up the minimal amount of base snow that there is. So when we rocked up today to Semmering you could just see millions of holes in the slope! It was bullet proof and bumpy with it – unlike anything I have ever skied before. It definitely was not going to feel very nice – we have something we call ‘hero’ snow – conditions that make you feel like you are ‘ripping’ – skiing like a champion. Well this was on the other extreme – it was a flight, a battle from start to finish. The first run, starting number 40 caught me by surprise. It was rugged and rough. My technique went completely out the window whilst I struggled to make all the gates. After twisting on a road in the mid section I believed my race to be over. Thankfully I gritted my teeth and persevered because I ended up a credible 23^rd place. Which meant I had qualified for my first giant slalom second run since 2004! What a long time waiting that was!

The second run in GS is a different ball game. Those who have qualified are brimming with confidence and ready to put the hammer down. I was definitely feeling that determination. I skied much better apart from the same mistake as first run – I think I am going to sneak to the hill next summer and take a bull-dozer to that difficult road! Posting the 12^th fastest time second run only irritatingly moved me up to 21^st place but all the same I am happy that even with far-from-best skiing I can still comfortably qualify and score some more WC points.

I am now on a tiny, shaky plane flying down to Monaco, where my ‘team-mate’, Alex Coletti – the girl with whom I share coaching staff and programme – lives and invited me for a New Year break. Normally I would go home but I always end up rushing around in London and as these are my last, precious few days off until March, I thought some serious R and R was more important!

A big MERRY XMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR to all…

May 2007 bring you lots of happiness, giggles and fun times (and hopefully some more top 10 results for me!)