Mad Dog’s and Masters Go Out In The Midday Sun

While the rest of the nation settled down to watch England take on Portugal in the World Cup, another group of athletes proved Bill Shankly wrong. There are more important things than football! Masters skiing.

After an introduction from Mary we made our way round to a shady area for a warm up session. Somehow the organisers had managed to get top sports coach Margot Wells to warm us up and give us an outline of an effective fitness plan. Within 5 minutes she had made us run faster. Within half an hour her maverick and inspirational style had exercised all the major muscle groups and made it clear what we had to do to get fitter.

With the thermometer hitting 28 deg C it was time to hit the slope. Bare flesh was covered up, boots were clipped and hands were pushed reluctantly into warm gloves. After a couple of runs to familiarise ourselves with the slope, our coaches, Tom and Tris, set about improving our basic skiing skills. Working on timing, aim and accuracy, the first hour sped by quickly. With good feedback and exercises that made it easy for us to monitor our own performance, we all looked like we’d improved.

After a quick break for much needed water, we were ready for the next set of challenges. A forest of stubbies had been set allowing a choice of line. None of these lines were easy to carve, but that was the point. Carving is just one way to change direction. A good skier needs more than one trick up their sleeve. We were being encouraged to steer through the course and when comfortable, take a harder, more challenging line. Again there was no escape from the eagle eyes of the coaches and each run we were asked to refine certain aspects of our skiing

Out came the gates and on went the pads. As this was the first time some had skied in gates we were allowed to ski the course before being timed. Again each run was being observed, with the promise that a small tweak here or there would shave a fraction off our time.

As the stalemate in Germany hadn’t been broken the drama of penalties ensued, but that didn’t matter to us. We were here to ski and we weren’t going to be distracted. Each of us knew that our skiing had improved but would the clock be kind to us? We knew we could do this. One by one we pushed out of the start gate and tackled the course. As this was the best of three runs, we all laid down a cautious first run. The second and third ones were a little less reserved and saw some quicker times plus an agricultural excursion by Dunky Nash.

While football fans headed home that night downbeat, we all left Aldershot on top of the world. Like England, we’ll all be back and who knows what might happen next time!

All of us would like to thank Mary Ondrusz for putting together a fantastic training sessions, Tom Ondrusz and Tris Lamb for their enthusiasm and Margot Wells for putting fun into fitness.

Race Results