So what did January bring, mostly a miserable cold making training difficult. Even training indoors was a chore, needing lots of hankies, Lemsips and inhalers to get me through. I’m sure inhalers are OK, unless you buy them in the US (that’s what lost Alan Baxter his Olympic medal). My cold lasted most of the first two weeks, them I was off to Switzerland to take part in the Murren Inferno Downhill race. What an experience that was with training event more frightening than the race itself as the quick guys repeatedly flying past at frightening speeds. The race itself was the full 15km, the first time this had been possible for many years (it’s start and end changes each year depending upon the conditions).
My run started off with a customary swig of the Inferno Schnapps at the start gate, then for the first time ever I took my place at the start of a ski race. At the beeps I have heard so many times on Ski Sunday counting down, followed by the long beep signalling to go, I tried my best to launch myself out of the gate. A couple of short turns to line myself up to gain some speed for the first flat section and found yellow flags waiving indicating to slow down as there was an incident in front of me. Passing this I quickly gained speed to cruise along the flat and over the first crest, please that I had hired race GS skis, then on to the next long cruise. Another couple of sections led me up to the section I feared most, the Kanonrohr, a series of switchbacks which by the time I reached it, with my late start number, was rutted and ice as I had expected. Clearing this led me to the biggest uphill section of the course which by the time I had climbed on skis I was exhausted. No longer able to tuck for very long I cruised along the next few sections until getting to the part of the course that we hadn’t managed to train on, the forest descent into the valley. This section was even icier and more rutted than the previous switchback section. I had to take the corners through the ruts and hope my skis held on in the ice. Once again I was very thankful of my race tuned skis with properly prepared edges. Towards the bottom of this section I had my one and only fall. As I skied over an icy section I felt myself slipping of the track downhill. Turning uphill to correct this I shot off the opposite side of the track into the lumpy snow at the side and fell over. Mostly what I remember was the bemused look of the race marshal just below this as I passed following my fall. Leading into the finish line I felt exhausted but happy.
My finish time was not quick, finishing in 26m41.92s placing me 1553 out of 1638. The winning time was 13m20.53s, about half my time. If only I’d had DH skis rather than SG.
I was however very happy, as I had completed one of my challenges for the year, to take part in a ski race that I have wanted to do for over 20 years.
Job Done!