SMWC-Day 6

Start of the woman's Vert Race

Vertical race today, which equals to 950 vertical meters of suffering, for Jane at least. I gave this one a miss to rest a little more for the 3000m long race tomorrow.

The race was going to be held just out of Champery and be only 750m, but due to a lack of snow they moved it over the boarder into France, in the same location as the famous "Montée du Linga" or The Patrick Blanc Race. It was named after Patrick (one of the most outstanding racers ever) after he won the race multiple times and set the record of 36'10" in 2006. In last nights race briefing it was joked that if you break the record the race will bear your name, not every one in the room took this as a joke.........

The lady's started 40mins before the guys and I watch Jane make a good start to the race before cutting the huge life lines with Oriol from skimo.org and made my way to the finishing line.
The Italian ladies continued to dominated and easily took 1st and 2nd. Jane said the steep start hurt a good bit, but once on the flats she got a rhythm and managed to pass a few people. She finished 28th out of 45 and in 53'28". Not bad for 950m vert (Duncan, Gary hope your training). The winning time was about 43'30"!

Jane at the start of the Vert race

The men s race, like all the races was fierce, with 5 guys all in contention. In the end it was the unstoppable force that is Frenchmen Florent Perrie. Florent crushed the record, finishing in 35'04". It was very impressive to watch. The first 5 men all broke Patrick Blanc's record!

Florent "I just crusted Patrick Blanc's record" Perrier

Click HERE for results.

SMWC-Day 5

Today was a rest day, so we had a catch up on a few things before I went along to the ISMC General Assembly.

The big thing on the agenda was to vote on axing the ISMC and replace it with the ISMF (International Ski Mountaineering Federation). what does all this mean I hear you ask? Well I am not even gonna try and understand all the politics and what have you, but the basics are-"For the first time in his history, ski mountaineering has a real international federation with independent legal entity which will for sure help to develop the sport".

The really big news of the day (for me anyway) was immediately after the vote for the new ISMF, the New Zealand Alpine Club was admitted in to the ISMF!!! This is really nice, as before the NZAC was not part of the ISMC and I kind of felt like we were on the outside (officially anyway) of things.

This will really help to have the backing of the ISMF to help grow competitive ski mountaineering in NZ.

Click HERE for press release on skimo.org

SMWC-days 3 and 4

Been a little busy the last few days, no racing for Jane or I, but still lots going on. I will try and recap a little of whats been happening.
Day 3- Very leisurely start on Monday morning, with the rely race scheduled for 6pm that night. Over breakfast we talked with the ISMC technical directer, who told Jane she looked very strong at the top of the first climb in the individual race, but that her transitions were very bad! It was like music to my ears as I have been telling Jane she needs to work on them a little more. So after breakfast were went up the tram from Champery and did a little transition training.

After lunch it was nice to relax in our hotel room, which for the record has a pretty nice view!
We then took the tram again and watched the relay races. We stayed at the top and watched the skins off transitions. It was amazing how fast the top racers (male and female) were going and how fast they could remove there skins. Definitely got a few ideas and how I could improve things....

Day 4- The much anticipated teams race was held on Tuesday. Like the relay race, we couldn't race as there are only 2 of us. I was following Pierre, who come up from SMU, around. He was pretty excited about the race (as was I) and we got to see a lot of the race. It was pretty exciting with the French and Italian slugging it out until the final climb, with the French team pulling away for the win. The Italian woman were unstoppable and won easily.

Were are currently ranked 20th out of 28th nations, which it not bad as there are only 2 of us and I had such a bad race on Sunday. Today is a day off, so we are catching up a little. I have been working on my boot liners, trying to address an issue I have with my little toe.......
Hopefully cutting away some of the liner and adding some trusty duct tape with do the trick, as my next race is the 3000m long race on Friday.
Jane is fronting up for the vertical race tomorrow and then again on Fridays long race!

Remember to keep checking skimo.org and the official SMWC2008 web site for updates, results, photos and some really cool videos.
Thanks to those who have left comments on the posts or wrote us e-mails, we really appreciated it!!

SMWC Day 2- Individual Race

Was hard to believe that today was finally the day, the World Ski Mountaineering Individual Championships!

While Jane and I never for one moment expected to turn up and rock the boat here in Switzerland, we had set some goals for ourselves and hope that if we raced well we might be the first non-Europeans racers across the finish line. It sounds like a funny goal (and it is), but the sport is so well established here, there's no way a "outsider" can really expect to play with the big boys and girls, not yet any way.

The woman started 30mins before the guys, so it was nice to see the start of the race and cheer Jane on and she made a good start.

the course started on a steep ski run, that really hurt me at first, until it turned into a flatter treed area and then some kick turns, which I always enjoy. I was feeling good toward the top of the first climb, and felt great on the ski down. I actually passed some people! No really, I actually passed people on the ski, I was surprised too! My transition was good (no ski issues this week) and left before Cary and Brandon, 2 USA racers. Things we going well, but I did start to feel my self slow a bit, then came the boot pack and that's when I hit the wall in a big way. The rest of the race was a blur of pain. I have never felt so bad. In the final climb I came to a stand still around a dozen times! I'm not sure why, I ain't big on excuses, but maybe it was the late start, warm temps and not drinking enough? I finished a good 15mins slower than I think I should have been, just basing off what other guys I have raced against this winter. pretty disappointing, but there's always 2010......

Jane on the other hand had a good race, finishing in 25th place and just 3 mins behind Mona for the US. Nice job ladies!

The race was won by Frenchman Florent Perrier, while Italian Roberta Pedranzini achieved huge upset over Laetitia Roux from France in the womans race.

VIDEO and RESULTS You will have to scroll aways down to find me......

SMWC 2008-Day 1

Got in to Champery today, had a quick look over the course for tomorrow before checking in to our hotel and getting registered. Jane near the top of the 1st climb

The we had a race briefing and the opening ceremony. We got a NZ flag and little guy carried a sign with Nouvelle Zelande on it! Was pretty cool experience.

Was a good day, got to meet heaps of new people as well as see some old friends from all over the world.

Check back for a race report tomorrow night (or morning).

4 days to the 2008 SMWC!!

Only 4 days until the 2008 Ski Mountaineering World Champs!!

Pretty exciting here in the French HQ of the New Zealand ski mountaineering race team, with only days until we will be lining up against the best in the world. I think there will be 27 nations and over 300 racer's converging on Champery, Switzerland on the 23rd Feb for the opening ceremony and the short (1650m) individual race will be on the 24th.

To be honest we have hardly even had time to think about, with Jane starting a new job and me dealing with a nasty infection in my toe. If that wasn't enough I feel off my bike today just to keep things interesting......

After racing in the French vertical and individual champs I'm not stressing to much and have a pretty good idea of what to expect.

We did manage to get out for small work out this morning. It was cloudy for the first time it what seems like weeks, which made for some cool cloud formations....

Chamechaude

Vercors

I just got the new Dynafit race ski, the SR World Cup Limited Edition the Friday before the Croix de Chamechaude , so it was nice to get out on them again and to "break in" my skins some more.

I mounted them with Dynafit Ti toe pieces and XP50 heel bindings. I am using XP500 carbon fiber boots, which are pretty darn good. The New SR World Cup skis are really nice too. I was impressed when mounting them as I had to drill through a steal top sheet and then wood, no foam!

Croix de Chamechaude results and videos

Update 22nd Feb-another video

Here are the RESULTS from last Sundays Croix de Chamechaude. Click HERE for a video and story on the official G3M/Croix de Chamechaude web site.

Below is a video that Seb made for SkiMo.tv (skimo.org movies on YouTube).

No kiwis in this video, just the top Frenchmen! Pretty cool to watch these guys, enjoy.

Croix de Chamechaude AKA 2008 French championships

We raced in the Croix de Chamechaude today. The Croix de Chamechaude is the 2nd race in the G3M series and this year was also the Fench individual champs.
A week out from the World Ski Mountaineering Champs, spots on the the French national team still had to be decided (a bit like the NZ team.....), so there was no rest for the top racers from France. It was great, all the big names were there, Blanc, Perrier, Gachet, Roux, not to mention a string of other amazingly strong athletes.
I had a pretty decent race, apart from some skin issues on the bottom of the 2nd climb. My skins weren't sticking, so I had to swap to another pair costing me time and placings. Still I was happy how I recovered and finished in 21st, about 20mins behind the winner Florent Perrier.
The finish was a brutal up hill sprint and I was pipped by Brit racer Jon by 1sec! We were thinking we might be in the 30's, so 20th and 21st is pretty good for a couple of non Frenchmen.
Jane was really excited about this race. She had a good race, finishing in 8th place.
Not sure how things will look after this race, but going into it Jane was ranked 2nd overall in the CAF rankings (there are 2 alpine clubs systems here CAF and FFME).

Hopefully I will have some photos and full results soon.

1 week to the world champs!!

TSF-Millet

Had a great time this weekend at the TSF-Millet!

I have written a story for skimo.org so am a little burned out on the whole writing thing just now!

A quick over view.......
Thomas and I had a pretty average race Saturday. I didn't fell bad, but just never feel that good? We finished in about 36th place, well behind were I think we should have been. I explained to Thomas were I think we should be and he strongly disagreed, thinking that we were not that fast! I let it go, but I don't think Thomas did...
Jane and Fabien had a pretty good race and were actually leading until the last ski on Saturday! They finish 4mins behind an all American girls team.
We stated out on Sunday morning and Thomas sure hadn't let our little talk go the night before, but in a very positive way!! He stepped up huge from the day before and we finish about 14th for the 2nd day and 25th over all!
Jane and Fabien had a great day too, winning the day easily and the over all race by 2mins!! WOW, a kiwi Win's the TSF-Millet! That's pretty huge. OK, so a lot of the top racers were in Andorra at the 1st teams world cup race of the season, but a win is a win!
2008 TSF-Millet women's overall winners-Jane and Fabian!

La Nocturne de l'Aigle/TSF-Millet/NZ Race?

La Nocturne de l'Aigle-I raced in another small 1hr relay race, La Nocturne de l'Aigle, last night. It was pretty comical really. No poles, running late and a really up set stomach from something I ate/the drive up all made for an interesting little suffer fest.
Luckily my team mate for the night Cyril is really strong, so despite me puking between laps we still got 2nd!
TSF-Millet-We are racing in the TSF-Millet, a 2 day, team of 2 race this weekend. I am gonna race with my usual team's race partner Thomas and Jane will race with Fabian for the first time. Like Thomas and I, Jane and Fabian will race in the Peirra Menta together and the TSF is great preparation for PM.
Should be really fun, check out the course below.
First day is 2080m vertical
Second day is a little shorter, only 2030m of climbing! NZ Race?-I am pretty excited about this race as I want to see how it all works and maybe one day in the near future get a race like this(2 day,2 person team)in New Zealand. Craigieburn to Mt Cheesman/Mt Olympus one day, then finish at Porters the next day! What do you reckon? No really, what do you think? Leave a commit, I would love to hear what people in NZ (or any were)think of a race like this. I am think for 2009 NZ winter it could happen.......

2007 Deuter Temple Rando Rally

Better Late Than Never......
Check out these little videos from the 2007 Deuter Temple Basin Randonnee Rally.
Rather than these being a late post from the 2007 NZ race series, I really like to think of these as primer to the 2008 New Zealand race series, that will include the CraigieBurner International Ski Mountaineering Open, the return of the Ohau race, possibly a vertical race, hopefully the inclusion of a Southern Lake race and maybe even a night race or 2. Watch this space!

>
Ah, gotta love NZ weather.......

But wait there is more.......

Tour du Grand Veymont Video
So this race was over a week ago now, but I still am getting sent some cool photos and even this sweet little video. This is me at the transition on top of the Grand Veymont.
A big thanks to Bonoit and Thomas for this!

More images from the Tour du Grand Veymont

Having some needed time off from racing this weekend after doing 7 race's in January! Febuary is looking the same, with up to 7 days of race's!

Its snowed here last night, so I managed to get a few things in order this am and skied some "Peuf" (french for powder snow) this afternoon. I was on my full race set up, so I got to make the most of it, with my skinny ski's sinking deep in to the wind blown snow. We did about 1500vert at a mellow pace.
I have been bombarded with photos from last weekends Tour du Grand Veymont. Thanks to Philippe, Boris, for these.

2008 New Zealand Ski Mountaineering Race Team Sponsors

The New Zealand ski Mountaineering team has been really fortunate to receive some great sponsorship for the upcoming 2008 ski mountaineering world championships.

Here's a bit of a look at our sponsors....

Texner- All the great teams of ski mountaineering, France, Switzerland and now New Zealand wear race suits made by this small Swiss company that was started about 5yrs ago by Stany Fardel. Stany, a ski mountaineering racer himself (he's raced multiple times in the Patrouille des Glaciers!) knows the requirements that racers have and the Texner suits are very well made and thought out, with a mesh back, zip away hood, kangaroo pouch for skins and multiple pockets for transceiver, skins and energy foods.
And Stany didn't just hand us any old suit off the rack, no, we got custom made suits that are a nice black, grey and white combo, with the Southern Cross! We also recived the Hyper Light jacket and pants that weight only 100grs each!

Icebreaker- You all must know the Icebreaker story by now! Jeremy Moon, with the help of a few thousand merino sheep, has totally changed the way we layer for the outdoors. Thankfully, gone are the days of Stinky, itchy rainbow coloured thermals!
I thought it would be nice if we looked like a team post race, something styly, yet functional.....I went knocking on the door of Alice at Icebreaker and was delighted when she said they would be sending out some EXP Conquest Hood jackets. At first I thought I would only wear mine for going out and after races, that was until I had a few early morning training seasons in sub zero temps! Warm and super functional with big deep pockets on the inside of the jacket, perfect for stuffing skins into.

Buff- As a French friend said just yesterday "If you want to make ski mountaineering, you need a Buff", it really is that simple. Most first scoff at Buffs, but their opinion quickly changes once they realize just how versatile these little pieces of tubular head wear are. I have to admit that I have a collection of Buff's (about 4 and counting), but I wanted to make sure I had the right Buff for this trip to France. Marco at Buff NZ sent the team some great, black with silver ferns Buffs, that go great with the Texner suits or the Conquest Hoods.

Marvelox- If you want to go climbing, running, mountaineering, camping, or as for SkiMoNZ, skiing/skinning, Marvelox has the goods! With training and racing its easy to be skiing 5000-8000 meters of vertical in a week here in France, so having good skins are key. Sean at Marverlox was nice enough to set the whole team up with skins for training and racing.

Cactus Climbing- For this trip I needed a bag. It needed to be big, real big. I wasn't to worried about the color, but was thinking black would be nice, as that's quite the NZ color. Enter Cactus's Big Black Bag (BBB). This thing is perfect, not only is it a bag that's really big (and black) but it has all the quality's that make Cactus such a great brand. It's simple, very well made and extremely strong. Its easily carries 2 pairs of ski boots, 6 pairs of skins, 2 helmets, water, food, and all the other stuff that we lug around each weekend (and mid week) to races. Now if I can only figure out how to fit my skis into it........

Tour du Grand Veymont Video

Stephane made this great video from the Tour du Grand Veymont race that was on the 27th January. Thanks to Stephane and all the others that contributed to this video!
I higly recommend taking the time to watch this as it's a pretty nice little video. Loving the AC/DC.......

Guest Blog- Nocturne du Grand Duc

I did another night relay race on Tuesday, it was the same format as the Nocturne de Chamrousse that Jane and I raced in a few weeks ago.

Jane was unavailable to race so I teamed up with fellow DSA member Stepane. I made contact with Stepane well before arriving in France, so it was pretty cool that we got to do this race togeather. Here's Stephane's race report he wrote for the DSA web site (he was nice enought to translate it in to english for me!)-

"For this 2° Nocturne I teamed up with Grant (aka The Flying Kiwi). He starts like a Skud and I see him 8 minutes later in the relay zone in Third position. All the pressure is on my Shoulders now ...

Starting quite quicky, avoiding to reach ultra-red to keep some energy for the next laps. I catch-up a bit on the previous one (good surprise !!). Suddenly my back is heated-up by the 200watts of a Silva headlight. The RGV Stephane Brosse is passing ...I feel the huge draft ...
A bit further, Marc is passing too. The first transition a bit messy for me and I rush down in the dark seeking for tiny red 'luciole' to reach the skating zone (it kills the rest of energy you could have spared). Passing by the relay zone our team-mates are noisyly encouraging us .
Transition again (skins ON) to run in a Nordic style until we reach the Arch of the relay zone. At this stage the Final Ranking is well drafted. We keep on fighting together with Thomas Warnier and Olivier Cordeuil, Grant having the task to catch-up for the precious seconds I wasted during my laps. After 1 hour, we are done, our lungs are devastated & white mulled-wine is healing them back up. Then comes a nice meal in the old Hotel du col de porte chatting about gear, training, next races and more ...
The evening end up with the Traditional Podium and prices.
Special Thanks to Grant."
-Stephane Mougin