THE CASE TO RACE
with Phil Brown
Race training guru Phil Brown extolls the virtues of taking your ski training beyond the UK
Phil’s race series for British skiers took place in Pila, Italy
Together with my Impulse Race team, I’ve just completed running a race series for British racers in Pila, a great high-altitude resort in Italy’s Aosta Valley. It was our first training series in the Alps in almost two years and being back in the mountains got me thinking about the benefits of racing and training beyond the UK. If you’ve tried some race training in the UK and want to have a go in the mountains, or even if you’ve not managed to get any done in the UK but fancy trying in the alps, there’s not a lot stopping you (recent restrictions excepted).There are a few options open to both children and adults with local alpine ski schools to full on race academies (mainly for juniors) and specialist training organisations.
SKI SCHOOLS
Many Alpine ski schools run a fun race at the end of a week of lessons, which is a gentle introduction for younger kids. Local branches of the École de Ski Français (ESF) offer regular Flèches and Chamois races, particularly during school holiday periods, for students who have participated in their lessons and clubs. Organised and supervised by ESF instructors, the slalom and giant slalom competitions area fun way to gain experience in competitive skiing and win some medals. If you have a group, the instructors might run a race specifically for you.
CLUBS
There are several UK-based clubs that run camps in the Alps and academies based in the mountains throughout the winter, which are a great option for children as they combine group training with a fun social scene. The options for adults aren’t as expansive as those for youngsters but there are several organisations that offer training weeks or days in the Alps. These sessions range from gate training tasters all the way to preparing athletes looking to participate in the FIS Masters race scene that takes place across the Alps. Open to skiers of all abilities aged 30 and over, the Masters Cup series includes slalom, giant slalom and Super-G events in resorts and indoor centres across the world throughout the winter. Find out more about the Masters series through the British Masters Ski Club (BMSC), which assists anyone looking to participate, or simply learn more about, British Masters racing or by contacting Snowsport England, Snowsport Scotland or Snowsport Wales.
SUMMER OPTIONS
Race training outside the UK is by no means just for winter-summer can be a great time to try it out too. Alpine glaciers might offer restricted terrain for a ski holiday but they’re ideal for focussed training. From May through October, you’ll find a multitude of training camps on offer on glaciers across the Alps, including various resorts in France (namely Tignes and Les Deux Alpes), Austria (Hintertux and Pitztal), Switzerland (Saas-Fee and Zermatt) and Italy (Stelvio and Cervinia). Do be aware, however, that the high altitude and exposed setting of these resorts means they are prone to closure should the weather close in.
THE DRILL: THE FLAT 360
ILLUSTRATION AMANDA BARKS
The Flat 360 is a fantastic drill that not only combines several different skills to help your skiing but is also fun to do. The ultimate aim is to spin through 360 degrees with the skis on the ground. Doing this well requires control of edging, rotation, weight distribution, balance and coordination, all of which help to build more versatility into your skiing.
Start with your skis pointing down the hill. Pickup as much speed as you’re comfortable with and then turn left quite hard, allowing the skis to come right round so that you are almost pointing backup the hill. At this point, you should start to slide backwards down the hill.
To complete a rotation, initially, open the skis into a wedge, or backward plough, with the tails close together and stand against the left ski. This should have the effect of bringing you round the rest of the full rotation.
This isn’t an easy drill to master so be prepared to practice it . Once you feel comfortable with the full rotation, try reversing the direction and then speeding up, ultimately linking 360s down the hill.
MY STORY: LUCY PAGE SKIS THE FLAT LANDS
Lucy Page, a former student at Burgess Hill School, explains how a trip to Europe’s flattest country proved to be the perfect training for her school ski team…
When Impulse Racing first started coaching my school team, Burgess Hill Girls, several years ago, we had no racing experience. However, thanks to the expert input and encouraging and constructive feedback of the coaches, we quickly got to grips with this technically challenging and competitive mountain sport and have achieved podium placings in various competitions over the last few years.
Before the pandemic, we attended a raining weekend in SnowWorld Landgraaf in the Netherlands. With half a kilometre of indoor snow and five pistes, it’s Europe’s largest indoor ski centre. Over the course of two days, we trained for 16 hours with the coaches, doing both technical training and gate (pole) training.
Much of our time was spent running drills like The Superman. This useful if challenging drill was completed without ski poles and required us to push our inside hand onto our hips while pointing our outside hand down the slope (so we kept our upper body facing down the hill and were slightly pitched forward rather than leant back). This created the all-important upper and lower body separation while also encouraging us to roll our skis onto our edges-vital yet difficult to master racing techniques.
After practicing our Superman drill with GS turns, constantly supported and encouraged by our coaches, we moved to slalom turns before carrying them over to gate training sessions on the course. As a new team with some less experienced skiers, approaching the gates was quite daunting, so working on our racing techniques using drills before hand was invaluable, enabling us to first learn how our skis should feel, and what we should be doing to create that feel.
The coaches would occasionally ask us to try the course without any drills, offering us each individual tips and encouragement. If we struggled, they’d put the drill back in, building back our confidence and consolidating the feel for our skis. Video analysis was also used to enable us to connect how things felt with what we were doing, which proved a huge eye opener to most of the team. In all, the weekend we spent at Landgraaf with Impulse Racing was hugely beneficial for our team, not only in building our technical skills but also our confidence.