Rising talent of British skiing, Charlie Raposo, got the benefit of racing in the high class field at Copper Mountain this week. This was all about the experience and all about gauging how he was doing. The results were not the main priority yet the rising talent explained that i"It definitely could of gone better but it was a fun two days of speed. Now let's get some quick feet and ski slalom!" Raposo is not the biggest physically but what he loses out on physically he makes up in determination. The 16 year old knows what he wants and is determined to get to the top.
This year he is back training in the US and is using the contacts that he has gained in his short career to date to the best of his advantage. Rather than sitting on his laurels and waiting for things to happen, Raposo aged 15 looked at what equipment he needed to assist his way to the top and wrote to the companies. This was a bold step and something that reaped the benefit as he managed to secure deals with some of the major players in the sport. To back the letters up Raposo got the results that proved that he has the talent to go far.
This week in Copper Mountain Raposo was racing alongside some of the big names in the sport: World Cup race winners, top fifteen ranked starters in the speed races and those looking to qualify for  a starting spot in the races in Lake Louise the following weekend. The first downhill was not his bets performance, just escaping the ignomy of being last; the second went better as he improved his deficit to the winner, again Peter Fill from Italy. Raposo crashed out of the first of the two Super G's yet scored a respectable 90 point result in the second of the two races.
Dougie Crawford and TJ Baldwin were also in Copper for the races. Why Crawford struggled on the two opening Giant Slalom races, crashing out of both, he managed to put together a respectable second downhill race to score a respectable 24th spot in the race. The Super G did not go as well as hoped despite finishing higher than his start number in the first race, he crashed out on the second.
For TJ Baldwin, now looking to back up his hard fought Number 1 in the GB Team ranking with race results, the first Super G was the pick of his results in the four speed races, taking 28th spot.