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CUOTC Team wearing our team catsuits which Max designed! |
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My medal for 1st individual slalom |
Through my university I am part of the Territorial Army as an Officer Cadet for Cambridge University Officer's Training Corps. As well as other things, this meant that I can compete in the Army Alpine Divs and, if I qualify, Championships. These are 10 days of racing involving an individual slalom, team slalom, individual giant slalom, team giant slalom, individual and team super-g (together), downhill training day and an individual and team downhill (together).
This year was the first year that CUOTC entered a team into the Divs which were held in Le Corbier. Before this I had never tried super-g or downhill and given that I have been focusing on skiercross over the last few years I haven't trained in slalom or giant slalom either so I wasn't expecting anything from these races apart from having fun. As a team (3 guys and me) we didn't do any training before these races (which turned out to be the opposite of everyone else who had spent 1 or 2 months training prior to the Divs). It was brilliant fun though and after a tense battle I even won the individual slalom!
Despite me having to go back to Strasbourg to sit a 10 minute EU Law oral exam (I was on an ERASMUS year abroad studying French Law), that resulted in me missing the individual giant slalom, myself and one of my team mates managed to qualify through to the championships down the road in Serre Chevalier. Neither us, nor our Colonel, thought that we would be able to do so, so it was a last minute panic teaming up with other Officer Cadets from UOTCs across Britain to find accommodation, etc but we managed it in the end.
The format for these 10 days were the same as the divs; however the courses were harder and longer. In the slalom I came a very close 4th after a mistake at the end of my second run ruined my chances of getting 3rd. The stade where the super-g and downhill were held was a black run which resulted in these two races possibly being the scariest things I have ever had to do before. Our downhill training was cut short (4 racers before me) due to high winds which meant that most of the females didn't get a training run down the course. Therefore, tension and nerves were high with everyone when it came to race day and thanks to words of encouragement and some snow sneakily put down my back from a Swiss coach training the Army Air Force racers, I manage to complete my run. However, exhaustion, relief and holes in my goggles resulted in teary eyes for my photo at the finish - attractive!
Overall in the championships I finished 4th female. This result would have been good enough for me to have made the Army alpine team if I had been full army instead of TA. My results also caught the eyes of several members of the army, as I got asked several times when I was joining the army and what area I was interested in. Interestingly, before these races I wasn't interested in joining the army after university; however now becoming an Army Legal Services Officer is a big possibility.
These 3 weeks helped my skiing and confidence loads and I cannot wait to do it all again next year!
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All of the Officer Cadets who qualified for the Championships |