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21 March Skiing: Britain’s ski racers have been in action in the Alps this week, with particular success at Kope, Slovenia in the Slovenian national championships. The best results have come from Glaswegian Dougie Crawford who finished eighth and ninth in the two downhills on Tuesday, which included his own second best ever downhill result. Although he was 2.19s behind winner Andrej Sporn of Slovenia in the National championship event, he closed to 1.18s behind Thomas Graggaber of Austria in the second. Ed Drake from Kingston-on-Thames was tenth in the first event and thirteenth in the second, again with a second best ever downhill result while Jan-Michael Kochalski was 15^th in the first downhill and tenth in the second from a field of nearly 90. It was his best ever downhill result. Meanwhile Strathaven’s Pam Thorburn took part in the ladies event and finished 9^th in the first event and then sixth in the second, her second and third best results in downhill. In the Croatian national championships at Innerkrems in Austria, Alain Baxter finished 21^st and David Ryding 24^th. British men and women skiers continue to be in action throughout the rest of the month in the run-up to the British Land National championships at Meribel in France which begin on March 30.  

18 March Skiing: Britain’s top lady skier Chemmy Alcott today (Tuesday) scored her best Super G result of the season when she finished fifth in the Croatian National championships at Innerkrems, Austria. The Twickenham ski racer finished just half a second behind winner Ingrid Rumpfhuber of Austria and three Italian entrants in an entry of over 60 competitors.

17 March, Snowboarding: Dan Wakeham (Plymouth) has ended his World Cup season on a high by finishing 10th in the Half Pipe at the FIS (International Ski Federation) World Cup Finals (WCF) at Valmalenco in Italy on Sunday. It is Wakeham’s best result in the World Cup this year, and places him 28^th in the world standings. Ben Kilner finished 20^th, another top result from the Banchory snowboarder.

17 March Ski X: Competing in Ski Cross at the World Cup Finals, Valmalenco were British athletes Emily Sarsfield and Sarah Sauvey.  Both athletes did extremely well with Sarsfield finishing 11^th and Sauvey 13^th.

13 March: Skiing: Twickenham skier Chemmy Alcott scored her best slalom result of the year with 17^th at Filzmoos in Austria today (Thursday). Normally a speed skiing specialist, Alcott finished a total of 4.8s behind winner Lene Loeseth of Norway over the two slaom runs. In the second run, she was just 1.3s off the pace. There is another FIS slalom race on Friday.

12 March Skiing: Braehead skier Dougie Crawford scored an impressive result today finishing on the podium (3^rd) in the FIS (International Ski Federation) Super G races at Spital/Semmering in Austria.  Crawford finished 0.6 seconds behind winner Ben Griffin of New Zealand.  Crawford was joined in the top fifteen by his team mates Jan Kochalski (Banchory) and Ed Drake (Kingston Upon Thames) in what was a difficult race with varying weather conditions.

12 March Skiing: Leyland skier Dave Ryding added to his tally of podium results today (12.03.08) by finishing 3^rd in the FIS (International Ski Federation) slalom races at Toussuire, France.  The 21 year old skier finished less than three tenths of a second behind winner Markus Vogel of Switzerland.  This result is Ryding’s 7^th top 6 placing this season; he is proving he is an athlete to watch out for the future.

12 March Skiing: Britain’s top female skier, Chemmy Alcott, scored her best GS points for a year today (12.03.08) in the FIS (International Ski Federation) races at Bad Hofgastein, Austria.  Alcott finished on the podium in 3^rd place, only 0.39 seconds behind the winner Eva-Maria Brem of Austria.  Her team mate, Sophie Readman (19, Dunblane) was also racing, finishing 63^rd of 125 starters.

10 March: Snowboarding: Britain’s snowboarding half pipe team scored valuable World Cup points in yesterday’s (Sunday) event at Stoneham in the USA. Sam Cullum, 19, from Warfield, Berks,  was the best of the Brits with 18^th place, the best World Cup result of his career. He just beat Plymouth rider Dan Wakeham into 19^th place, while the British places were completed by Ben Kilner of Banchory with 23^rd, his second best placing this season. The winner was Gregory Bretz of the USA.

9 March: Skiing: Twickenham ski racer Chemmy Alcott today (Sunday) scored her best World Cup Super Combined result of the season when she finished 24^th to winner Anja Paerson of Sweden at Crans-Montana in Switzerland. Alcott was 19^th in the downhill leg of the competition, her preferred discipline, 2.35s behind overall World Cup leader Lindsey Vonn of the USA but then dropped to 24^th in the slalom run. Alcott, 25,  now lies 28^th in the FIS World Cup Super Combined standings.

7 March: Skiing: Aviemore skier Alain Baxter has put his extensive racing experience to good use in Switzerland over the last couple of days, with good finishes in two FIS slaloms at Hoch-Ybrig. Yesterday (Thursday), he finished third just 0.83s behind winner Alexander Koll of Austria after the two runs. However, it was a case of surviving the race; there were only 26 finishes from over 130 starters. Today (Friday) Baxter was again in action at Hoch-Ybrig, this time finishing fifth of the 37 finishers. He was second quickest in the second run, eventually finishing  exactly a second behind winner Dominik Stehle of Germany. Baxter, who has recently come back to racing after experiencing some back pain , scored his best FIS points this year in Thursday’s race.

7 March: Skiing: Kingston-on-Thames ski racer Ed Drake has this morning (Friday) scored his best ever Europa Cup downhill result with 23^rd at Bansko, Bulgaria from 54 starters. It beats his best previous Europa Cup downhill result by nearly 30 places, and also gives him his best ever Europa Cup downhill FIS points. Drake finished just 2.53s behind winner Stefan Thanei of Italy. Drake and non-finishing compatriot Dougie Crawford were the only two ‘lowland’ competitors from nine mainly Alpine nations. The Europa Cup is second only to the FIS World Cup in terms of competition. FIS points is the system by which all racers are seeded.

7 March Skiing: After scoring her best ever downhill FIS points in a Europa Cup two days ago, Strathaven ski racer Pam Thorburn almost did the same thing in Super G yesterday (Thursday). The Europa Cup skiers tackled two Super Gs on Thursday at Haus im Ennstal in Austria.  Pam was disqualified from the first one, but from a start number of 66, she finished 46^th of the 73 competitors, 3.05s behind winner Lara Gut, Switzerland’s new 16-year old skiing star. At the same time, Pam scored her second best FIS points ever in Super G.

5 March Skiing: Strathaven skier Pam Thorburn continues to go from strength to strength, today (Wednesday) scoring her best ever downhill FIS points in a Europa Cup race at Haus im Ennstal in Austria. Starting 49^th, Pam, just 22, finished 35^th of the 60 competitors from mainly Alpine nations and finished 2.2s behind winner Monika Springl of Germany, an improvement of a full second over her two training runs. It was her second best downhill placing in the Europa Cup, but her best points by over 20. The Europa Cup is second only to the FIS World Cup in terms of competition. FIS points is the system by which all racers are seeded.

 28 Feb: Skiing: Scotland’s skiing girls, Pam Thorburn and Sophie Readman against excelled today (Thursday) in the Citizens’ Super G at Haus im Ennstal in Austria. After finishing eighth in a GS race yesterday, Pam, on her 22^nd birthday, finished a fine 11^th of the 80 competitors, while 19-year old Sophie scored her best ever Super G FIS points with 19^th place, as did 23^rd placed Rebecca O’Neill. For Pam, it was her third best FIS points score, finishing 2.33s behind winner Keely Kelleher of the USA. FIS points are  the performance standard awarded by the International Ski Federation by which all competitors are measured and which determine their starting position in races.

25 Feb: Skiing: World Cup skier Chemmy Alcott of  Twickenham scored her best FIS World Cup Super G placing this year on the way to 22^nd in the Super Combined event at Whistler near Vancouver, Canada, yesterday (Sunday). Recovering from a gastric bug which prevented her from eating for two days, Chemmy finished 22nd in the Super G event before sealing that position with 24^th in the slalom. The winner was Maria Riesch of Germany.

22 Feb: Skiing: Skier David Ryding went one better than yesterday’s sixth place at Annaberg in Austria today (Friday). The 21-year old from Leyland, Lancashire, finished fifth in today’s second slalom, although slightly further behind winner Hannes Brenner of Austria than he was on Thursday. Having finished seventh from a start position of 17^th on the first run of today’s slalom, Ryding excelled himself on the second run with the second fastest time of the 100 plus competitors. Once again, however, the FIS points earned in Austria will improve his seeding for future races.

21 Feb: Skiing: Leyland’s ace skier, David Ryding, has again showed his talent on snow, this time with a sixth place in a slalom at Annaberg in Austria. He was third in the field of over 100 competitors from 16 nations in today’s (Thursday) first run, but fell back in the second run to finish just 1.67s behind winner Hannes Brenner of Austria. Although not a World or Europa Cup event, the standard of competition was high so that Ryding has again gained good FIS points which will help his starting position in future races. The first of those is tomorrow: another slalom at Annaberg where Ryding will be aiming for a top three finish.

17 Feb: Skiing: Aviemore’s slalom racing specialist Alain Baxter today (Sunday) finished 14^th in the European Cup race at Garmisch in Germany. Baxter was just 3.8s behind winner Markus Vogel of Switzerland in the 70-plus field from 18 nationalities.

11 Feb: Skiing: Aviemore skier Alain Baxter has had a busy three days in the Alps with three slalom races in three days, culminating this morning (Monday) in a sixth place at Gaal in Austria. The weekend began at Garmisch in Germany where Baxter skied in a World Cup slalom but failed to qualify for a second run. Last night (Sunday), Baxter tackled the first of the two Gaal races but failed to finish the first run. However, this morning he set third fastest time in the first run but slipped to sixth in the second in a field of 128 skiers from 17 nations. Even so, he was still only 0.67s behind winner Christian Wanninger of Germany and 0.29s behind fourth placed fellow Briton David Ryding.

11 Feb Skiing: Leyland skier David Ryding has just scored two personal bests – all in the space of 18 hours. The 21-year old has tackled two slalom races at Gaal in Austria, the first last night (Sunday) and the second this morning (Monday). Starting 24^th in both races in a field of nearly 130 competitors of 17 nationalities, Ryding raced to second place last night, just 0.54s behind winner Christian Wanninger. For the first time in his career, Ryding scored FIS points – the standard by which all skiers are marked – of under 20. The German skier won the second race today (Monday) and this time Ryding was placed fourth, again, with FIS points of under 20. He was 0.5s quicker than the rest of the field on his second run, only let down by a slightly slower first run.

11 Feb Skiing: Britain’s top downhill ski racer Finlay Mickel has been back in action over the last couple of days as he comes back from injury which had sidelined him since Christmas. The Edinburgh skier has taken two top ten finishes at Whistler in Canada against top local competition. Both Saturday’s downhill and Sunday’s Super G were won by Mickel’s Canadian World Cup rival John Kucera, but Mickel finished tenth to him in the downhill and seventh in the Super G, both times in a field of just under 60. Mickel is focusing his training in preparation for World Cup races at Whistler in a week’s time.

3 Feb Skiing: Leyland skier David Ryding scored his best slalom result of the season so far today (Sunday) with eighth in a FIS slalom at Thusis in Switzerland. Ryding was sixth fastest from over 130 starters from seven nations in the first run, eventually finishing eighth of the 68 finishers. He was 2.28s behind winner Jan Seiler of Switzerland. The slalom was neither a World nor Europa Cup event, but the standard of competition was such that Ryding’s FIS points -  by which all competitors are measured at each event – were his best since a slalom event in South America this summer. Ryding is expected to resume his Europa Cup campaign later this week.

29 Jan: Skiing: Aviemore skier Alain Baxter has had two strong runs in slaloms in Italy over the last couple of days. Skiing in a competitive multi-national field of over 100, Baxter was tenth overall on Monday and 13^th today (Tuesday). He set fourth fastest time in Monday’s first run, ending up 1.49s behind winner Marco Verdecchia of Italy after the second run. Baxter was 1.8s behind today’s winner, Lucas Senoner of Italy.

27 Jan: Snowboarding: Britain’s snowboarders have proved to be World class this weekend in events in the United States and Italy. Britain’s number one snowboarder, Zoe Gillings, finished an impressive sixth in the snowboard cross at the prestigious Winter X-Games in Aspen, Colorado on Saturday night. She made an excellent start in the final but had her legs taken from under her by another competitor while negotiating the first banked turn, effectively ending her challenge for victory.  Olympic silver medalist and world ranked number one, Lindsay Jacobellis went on to take the title. Afterwards, Gillings, from Arbory on the Isle of Man said “even though this is my best result this season, I should have done better, I can’t wait to go to Leysin on Wednesday for the next round of World Cup.” In the Superpipe final, 23-year old Emma Lonsdale became the first British snowboarder to qualify for the Halfpipe at the X-games. She eventually finished ninth. Her run of grabs and spins was put down with consistency and style and would have taken 5th place in 2007's X Games competition. Emma said “I’m superstoked with the result and really looking forward to the rest of the season.  Entry to the Games [ESPNS X-Games] is strictly by invitation and includes the best riders in their featured disciplines so I am really excited to be here and with my result!” The event was won by Sarah Burke of Canada. Meanwhile in Italy, Aviemore’s Lesley McKenna finished an excellent fourth in the Women’s World Cup event on the Olympic half-pipe at Bardonecchia , behind winner Anne Sophie Pellissier of France. Kate Foster finished 14^th in the same event. In the men’s World Cup event, Dan Wakeham of Plymouth finished 14^th behind winner Manuel Petropoli of Italy. Ben Kilner was 27^th and Sam Cullum 31st of the 46 competitors.

25 Jan: Snowboarding:  Zoe Gillings, Britain’s top snowboard-cross competitor, has qualified a superb third for one of the world’s most prestigious events, Saturday’s X-Games at Aspen, Colorado. Gillings, 22, from Arbory on the Isle of Man, is guaranteed at worst 12^th place in the invitation event, one of the high spots in snowboard cross.

25 Jan: Skiing: Kingston-on-Thames ski racer Ed Drake has scored his best ever ski result in today’s (Friday) Europa Cup Super G race at Sarntal/Reinswald in Italy. In spite of starting almost last of the multi-national field of nearly 100 competitors, Drake finished 34^th in an incredibly tight and competitive field. Even finishing 34^th, he was only 0.82s behind winner Christopher Beckmann of the United States. It was only Drake’s third Europa Cup Super G, but by far his best result. The Europa Cup is second only to the top flight World Cup and Drake was up against competitors from 13 Alpine, Nordic and North America countries.