Cara Brown has spent the last few seasons in the shadow of Charlie Guest and Alex Tilley. Just off the pace of the two girls, Brown decided that rather than spend another season having to follow their programme, ... she would branch out and look for a programme that suited her needs. With many other racers in this situation, the twenty year old ended up in the International programme that Jai Geyer is also part of with Orsatus based in Meribel.
The decision is now starting to pay dividends as Brown has scored a career best, she sent this to Racer Ready: "My skiing has been very up and down so far this season. Yesterday (13 Jan) though I had a minor break through and managed to score a best GS result of 52 and get my first ever podium in a non british run race. I was competing in the European cup university races in Les Menuires, France. I had a disappointing day in slalom as I didn't make it past the fifth gate on the first run so I was determined to make the best of the giant slalom. After a good first run I was in 4th place and just over a second off. As I reached the bottom of second run I was so disappointed as I got very late on the last flat and I saw that I was in 2nd place. As the last few competitors came down I held my second place. Unfortunately my fellow team mates in who were in first and second place both came out on the last gates! However it meant I had kept my podium place and I ended the day very happy but as usual wishing I had gone just a few hundredths faster...!"
And the results have not stopped there: Another 52 point result and a 54 in Slalom giving the talented Scottish team racer (but lives in Varese in Italy) more encouragement for the rest of the season.
Follow Cara's progress through her FIS pages