The 2014 - 2015 FIS Alpine season has started! The first victory of the season has gone to ... Charlie Guest of the Delancey British Alpine Ski Team. Guest won the Slalom in Cardrona in convincing fashion in a race that had many of the up and coming young Austrians competing as well as a number of other rising stars.
For Guest, talking after the race, she said: "Its a great feeling to have the first race in the bag. My skiing today was not exactly ideal in the first run. I made a couple of mistakes and didnt really find much of a rhythm in the course. I was lucky with an early bib so wasn't so much affected by the soft snow conditions." Race conditions were not great but in true Scottish pride, Guest put in the hard work to get the result that was required.
While it seems that it was only recently that that the British Championships were finishing in Meribel, Guest and many of the other British girls racing, have been hard at work doing fitness training and testing skis out ready for the new season. Guest explains: "Summer prep has been going really well with the Scottish Institute, and I've made some real improvements with my cardio work whilst learning a lot about myself on the strength side of things. I'm really looking forward to the rest of our camp down here in New Zealand and of course final preparations back home before the Northern Hemisphere season."
Guest won the Yellow Bib in the Australian New Zealand Cup for winning the Giant Slalom series last year and this resulted in her starting just outside the top 30 in Europa Cup Giant Slaloms last season. This was a great experience for her and Guest scored Europa Cup points for the first time in Kirchberg in January. With all roads geared to making criteria for the World Championships in Vail - Beaver Creek in February 2015, Guest has started the season in great form.
After the race Rachelle Rogers commented: "Today's course tested all elements of athletic performance including strength, cardio, balance and mental toughness. It was long for a slalom and the snow type made it even more demanding. I was not so lucky on the bib draw, getting number 15 and I think an early bib helped on the first run. However, I didn't mind as I was excited about skiing in challenging conditions. I made quite a few mistakes and didn't ski as well as in training. But I'm pleased as I got down and it's a good starting point to build on. All I need to do now is build consistency of the fast runs and transfer them from training to races."
Rachelle Rogers made it two British racers on the podium as she took third while Darcie Mead did not start. With Alex Tilley winning the first race of last season, Guest has now made it a British Team tradition to win the opening race of the season! Tilley did not take part in the race as she had come down with flu just prior to the race, the same reason that Mead did not start. Tilley explained: "not the best of starts. but almost recovered now, didn't make sense to race really."
Full Results - click here
Picture: Charlie Guest - credit RACER READY, all rights reserved