Ed Drake

2008/09 Season Report

Biarritz in June although it is an expensive weeks training camp it is the nearest thing I get to a holiday, full of doing different things to the rest of the year and a change from the usual snowy mountain environment. It was more like a big family, cooking and generally mucking in together, a change from the usual hotels. The surfing lodge we stayed in is a business run by some friendly people, we had a pool to swim in and relax around, and they also taught us to surf in the sea. There were the usual weights to be done and some really hard cycling on some of the Tour de France roads which is why we took our road bikes with us.

We did have some wet days, but it didn’t make any difference to us as we were already getting wet in the water and we carried on doing whatever had been planned on those days, and the temperature was very pleasant a definite bonus not having to pile on layers of clothes to keep warm!

Summer Skiing Camps
Our team training plans received an early blow we learned that our budget had been severely cut and we weren’t going to be able to go to Chile. This was an extremely bitter pill to swallow after last year, my first year on a FULL training program spending the summer in Chile on winter snow and steep long pistes resulted in an extremely positive effect on my 2007/8 seasons world placings.

So I had to settle for two and a half weeks in Saas Fee, beautiful though it is its not the same challenge and the weather meant that the mountain was closed for five of those days, we made the best of the training and managed to get some good runs in. I did however have a rather scary moment when I got my arm hooked in a GS gate and immediately my whole arm went dead and hung lifelessly at my side as I continued skiing down the course! I stopped and discovered that I couldn’t move my arm as it was completely numb! Apparently I had wrenched it out of the socket, mercifully it popped straight back in, and after a visit to the doc and a scan to check nothing was broken, it was discovered that I had damaged the nerves and had to have physio and rest but I only missed the last day of training before flying back home.

I had to miss the next camp which was held in Holland on an indoor slope as I was having regular treatment on my arm which was beginning to feel normal again.

Reiteralm
End of November, first race of this current season was a Europa Cup race where I discovered that my new boots and inner soles were an illegal height, luckily the Atomic factory was nearby. I dashed off there and got them sorted ready for my races;

Drove back to the base in Lofer to pack ALL my kit and team kit into the vans which took an hour, then drove home through the night. We arrived in Kingston at 8am unloaded the kit we needed into dads van then dossed in the sitting room in front of the TV, got fed lunch before getting driven to the airport for our 4pm flight to Canada for some NorAm races (North American Cup).

We landed in Calgary- freezing- stayed in a hotel for the night before driving to Lake Louise only to find the rooms far too small and far too expensive, so we stayed an hours drive away and commuted. We started with the DH races, nothing spectacular 13th and 7th places and SG 9th.

After the races we had to help take all the orange crash barriers and netting down from the race piste and roll it up neatly, it took hours in the freezing cold trying to dodge the moose that can be very aggressive.
The next day we had a 3 hour drive to Panorama for more NorAm races. We were racing in -30c I did 5 races; SG 12th and 8th , GS DNF and 10th and SC 6th, decent race results especially in GS. I did however come away with an unwanted souvenir, frostbite, on my big toe. I am pretty used to having numb cold feet and I just thought this time they were bit more numb and cold than usual and as my feet thawed out back in my room my toe went white then black then blistered and I realised I had frostbite! Timed it just right for the trip home for the Christmas break, where mum dragged me, jet lagged, off to the hospital to get my toe
checked out. I was told to keep it very clean and dry; I also had my circulation checked in my feet and was told to be aware of increased possibilities of getting frostbite again, my poor feet, they do suffer being crammed into very tight ski boots! I had a great Christmas just chilling out in front of a roaring fire eating and watching TV.

On 1st January it was time to fly back to Lofer for training, ready to do two DH Europa Cup races in Wengen. As far as I was concerned my results of 54th and 58th were disappointing, but my coaches felt that my racing showed enough promise to be put on the start list for my first World Cup downhill races. Bit
daunting for a first WC race as it’s the longest one on the circuit @ 2.77miles, it was such a great experience, thousands of people lining the piste and the noise of cheering when you come across the finish line is overwhelmingly loud, bells clanging, horns blaring, people shouting, flags waving, a very special atmosphere. I started with a bib number 65 and finished 55th. I was very pleased with my performance in my first WC race. It made me realise what it’s going to take to get to the top physically and mentally, bring it on! A fantastic experience and great preparation for the World Championships to come in Val D`Isere in a months time.

World Champs! Such an awesome experience, the event, the atmosphere, the piste. The day before the first race the piste was open to the racers for an hour to free ski and get a feel for it, but the way it felt then was totally different to how it was in inspection, and the actual race, it was like someone had brushed all the snow off and polished up the ice! Well, racing got underway, I finished a credible 29th in Super G and 27th in Downhill, the Downhill leg of the Super Combined went really well up until the last split I was only 1.29 off unfortunately a mistake in the final section pushed the deficit to 2.77, the slalom leg didn’t go according to plan after a massive mistake I ended up not finishing. With the way the season had been going I didn’t reach the high targets I had set for myself at the World Champs. None the less I had a great experience which will prepared me for the bigger challenges ahead!

After a short break at home it was back to Lofer where there was time for a couple of days training before leaving for Europa Cup speed races in Tarvisio. The first day was ok nothing spectacular in the Super Combi where I finished 18th. Super G was on the following day and I was ranked about 17th in the overall
standings, so I was starting in the second group where they draw the 16-30th ranked skiers. I didn’t get the best draw (27th) but the course held up great. My run went really well and once I came through the finish I looked across at the timing board, which wasn’t totally visible and I saw a 4, so I pushed round a bit
to see if there was a 1 or a 2 in front of it and as I got a bit further round I realised that there was nothing in front and that I had finished 4th! My best positional result ever, and my first single figure result where I scored 9.58.

After my result in Tarvisio I had the opportunity to go to a World Cup in Kvitfjell, Norway to race Downhill and Super G, with the experience I gained from Wengen World Cup and the World Championships I knew what to expect. For the Downhill race the start was lowered because it was very windy but luckily the race still went ahead where I finished only 3 seconds off the winner, a great result for me. As for the Super G I wasn’t so lucky because the race was cancelled due to extreme wind conditions and a large amount of fresh snow, I was very disappointed but that’s part and parcel of the sport we all love.

The following Europa Cup races were the finals in Crans Montana. During the Downhill training run I crashed and landed on my shoulder and my head. I was able to ski down afterwards but I was in a considerable amount of pain, so it was off to doctors where they said that I had dislocated it but it had popped straight back in and that I was advised not to ski for about 2-3weeks. It was decided that the best course of action would be to go back home and get treatment a soon as possible. I had a couple more scans back home and subsequently found out that I wouldn’t be back to full fitness for about 4-5weeks, but with the British Champs fast approaching I decided to go back out after only 2 weeks, the doctor provided me with a lot of strapping and pain killers to see me through till then end of the season!

My first races at the British were quite rough, narrowly missing the nets right at the bottom of the course, a pretty nervous moment, but somehow I completed the last few gates and managed to finish 4th. I fared a lot better in the Super G and came away with a win! I was delighted, as I had scored my second best result and that, combined with my result from Tarvisio, puts me 46th in the world for Super G. The Super Combi went well, until I had to put on the short skis! It’s weird that up until a few years ago I considered myself an out and out slalom skier, but now it’s the discipline that I find the hardest, my program is so full of training for the other disciplines that slalom has had to take a back seat!

With only the technical events left, the season was coming to a close but I needed a final push. The first was a night Slalom, with the course rapidly deteriorating I skied ok and managed to finish 4th which pleased me as I don’t get much time to train in slalom. Then came the Giant Slalom where I was much more comfortable and managed to win and Dave Ryding finished second this meant that we shared the British Overall title!

That was it, my seasons racing over. I spent the rest of the week relaxing, enjoying Meribel and catching up with friends before heading back home to get my shoulder fixed.

Previous season reports can be found on Ed's website www.edwarddrake.co.uk