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Last night was my first night's sleep in my own bed since November 2nd. Surprisingly time has gone by pretty fast but it sure is nice to be home and see my family and friends. Last weekend we planned to do 2 GS races in Brigels (Switzerland) but they were also canceled due to the amounts of snow. It is a bit of a disappointment that so many of the races have been canceled so far this year but it is ski racing i guess. Today has been a pretty eventful day, i woke up at 10 ate breakfast and went to the dentist. Then got home had lunch then moved on to the garden where i have been for the last few hours. Not quite first day off i was hoping for but nevertheless it is great to be home.
Anyway i want to wish everyone a merry christmas and a happy new year.
Please keep following the blog.
Harry x

Possibly the hardest conditions i have skied

So.. The last two days were fairly interesting to say the least haha. We had 2 Slaloms in Davos/Klosters and they were without doubt the hardest slaloms i have ever raced. 150 people started both days and only 30 people finished each race. Sadly, I was one of the 120 more unfortunate ones on both occasions. The piste was sheer ice (glass) and the snow was so aggressive. This made it so hard to ski especially as the tracks were not soft, they were simply hard bumps!
But tomorrow there are 2 Super G's on a so called 'easy piste' hopefully i can get a couple more results before i fly home on Monday. I'm feeling confident and my skis are running fast so there is nothing really to complain about.

I will post tomorrow after the race with the results.

Goodnight

last 2 races cancelled

Hi everybody,
The last to races on Thursday and Friday were canceled due to massive snow falls. It is a bit of a bummer as i have been skiing pretty well in both disciplines. But on the plus side we had a great day powder skiing on Friday and i landed a couple of front flips which i haven't attempted for a couple of years. We have 6 races in a row starting on Tuesday which i'm not too sure will happen to be honest because of the big dumps of snow. And the weather always needs to be good to run speed events due to the 'danger factor'
Anyway i will keep you posted on what is happening over the next week
speak soon

Cancelled after first run

I finished the first run in heavy snow and bad visibility and the called off the race about 5 people after me. Pretty disappointed but that is the nature of the sport. I will let everyone know how the slalom goes tomorrow.

It was also great to have Aaron Tipping back racing with me after his two year lay off due to his terrible injury in Austria. Well done for fighting your way back mate.

I am off back to bed now!

Later

Harry

Finally

Hi guys,

I raced yesterday in Bormio, Italy (Great resort) and scored my best FIS point (63.10) result EVER which is a good start to the season after a couple of crashes. I skied into tenth position from a start bib of 32 which I was really pleased with. I am just sitting in the mountain restaurant keeping warm and focused while I wait for the first run in the second of the four races here.Today is another GS. I have two slaloms from tomorrow.

Fingers crossed we can have another day like yesterday then I will be pretty happy. I will let you know how it goes later once I have finished.

Bye
Regards
Harry Brown

Average day

Today was a tough day training. Felt like i was skiing pretty well but the times were not reflecting it to be honest which is always disappointing. I'm not too worried though as i know that the form is there and i have been skiing fast all summer, so i'm just going to keep cool and be patient. One day bad training is hardly worth panicking over! Apart from that all is good, just suffering from the wear and tear of skiing in general but they are only little aches and pains and fortunately nothing worse which is sadly unlike one of the girls from our team (Melissa Piper) who broke her leg racing a super g and will be forced onto the sidelines for around 8-9 months. She is due to have an operation today so I wish her luck with that and a speedy recovery. Touch wood i can stay injury free this season.

We have a day off tomorrow followed by a travel day to St. Moritz in Switzerland on the Friday. Lastly, I hope any Arsenal fans out there enjoyed their ever so sweet loss to Burnley yesterday in the Carling Cup and all Spurs fans are relishing tonight's victory against Watford!!!

Ciao

Its a tough sport for sure

Hi everybody,
Today was not so good as I crashed out towards the end of my first run which was pretty thin snow to be honest. Gave myself a bad dead leg which is causing a bit of a dilemma for tomorrow but I'm hopeful I will be able to race somehow. The good news is that my coach said it is the best he has seen me ski slalom which is positive. Just going to keep my chin up and wait for the results to come, I'm sure they will, it's a long road of ups and downs but I still love it despite the crashes. Jack and Scott also crashed out plus the Europa cup race has been postponed till Thursday so Pete and TJ are racing here with me tomorrow.
I will let you know how tomorrow goes anyway.

Regards
Harry Brown

For Sale

Absolutely Fantastic Storm Jacket for Sale. Top Quality, Hardly Worn, Age 16 and bought in Meribel in an end of season sale in 2006 for €500! Needs good home as Harry can't wear it due to GB sponsor commitments. The best and most warm jacket ever.

Off to race

Hi guys,
I'm just about to lerave lofer now to head to kaunertal for my first races. I'm feeling in a good shape and the nerves are low which is a good thing. So let's hope all goes smoothly and i'll just have to see what happens. I will let you know how it goes tomorrow when i'm done

take it easy
Harry

Hi everybody,

Been training with the europa cup team over the last couple of days near Schladming, which is an hour and a half away. Very cold and early mornings, but the training has been totally worthwhile. For the last two days we have been waking up at 5.30 and travelling over there so, we are ready for the first lift. Tomorrow is the same programme but Slalom instead of GS. It's weird how the summer's training has simply flown by and to think that tomorrow is our last day training before the race season really starts. Nevertheless, i feel ready and can't wait to race on monday and see where the summer's hard work has got me. I want to say good luck to my great mates T.J and Pete who are racing in their first europa cup on Monday in Reiteralm which im sure will be a great experience. The one thing about skiing is you make some great life long mates and we have all grown up together and despite our competativness we really do have to spend a lot of time together and watch eachothers backs. I'm gonna hit the sack now because the recommended 8 hour sleep is decreasing fast.

Take care x

---- Envoyé avec BlackBerry® d'Orange ----

Not a great day today but found out my race program

Hi guys sorry once again for the lack of contact,
Just had dinner and been on the bike for a recovery session and did some core as well.Today we skied super g in -15 (-25 with the wind chill factor) which was ridiculous haha. Did not ski great but to be honest i am not a big fan of the piste and am never too fast on the flats. My first races of the season are on the
-01.12.2008-02.12.2008 in Kaunertal SLALOM + GS
-06.12.2008-07.12.2008 in St.Moritz 2x GS
-09.12.2008-10.12.2008 in Bormio 2x GS
-11.12.2008-12.12.2008 in Bormio 2x SL

I'm really looking forward to racing Kaunertal next week as it is a really nice piste and generally a good race to score so if all goes smoothly without mistakes things should work out. Although it was where i broke my hand last year. Over the next few days we will be training around the Kitzsteinhorn and Schladming then take a day off before the first races.

Bad News!!!

Hi guys. Sadly this time i have some pretty bad news. Chemmy Alcott (Britain's number 1 female skier) has broken her ankle training Giant Slalom. Chemmy has had a great start to this season finishing top 10 in the opening race of the season in Soelden. Let's hope Chemmy get's back on snow fast and is racing again as soon as possible. Yesterday was a really good day training for me after i took a day off because of my knee. I skied both Gs and Sl and had a very good feeling in both disciplines. So it looks like i could be racing next week after all but im not 100% sure as of yet. Today the lifts closed after one run because of the wind, but that one run was just enough time for us to leave our bags at the top of the mountain which was a bit of a problem. We managed to convince a 'lifty' to take us up on a ski doo which saved us some walk. We have spent the last six hours taking our skis, bags and all sorts of equipment from the mountain and bringing it back to base. Everybody dreads days like this because they are such an effort especially considering it was pouring with rain..

Good luck with the injury Chemmy.

Bye guys

Fantastic News for 'Snowsports'!!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/south_of_scotland/7735735.stm

Bad knee

Hi guys not too much to report, skiing is going ok although I did not
ski much today becase I hurt my knee training yesterday. It's nothing
major just some bruising and swelling. Shoul be ok tomorrow which is
good. Going to train slalom tomorrow because it will be too windy to
train anything else and most lifts are closed. Just about to watch the
football and them catch an early night. There is also a chance I may
be racing next week which will be an early start to the season but I
feel ready so let's hope all goes well.
Bye
Regards
Harry Brown

My home for the winter

A Pretty Cool View!!!!!!!!!!

Back at Base

Hello everybody,
We just got back to Lofer today after an interesting week. We skied a single session of slalom today which went really well. Last season slalom was probably my worst discipline and now it seems to be one of my best which i honestly did not expect to happen. If I stay in I usually have always managed to be fast and have won quite a few Championships along the way but last year I was constantly crashing out of races, but now things seem to be a lot more consistent which is great. Yesterday we were doing dryland training in the gymnastics hall (up the mountain) and one of the guys fell and hurt his ankle pretty bad. We all thought he had broken it because of his instant reaction but it turned out it is just ligament damage and he should be ok within a couple of days which is a relief, our main concern though was how we were going to get him off the mountain if he needed hospital treatment (lifts were closed) so all in all we were quite lucky.

I'm just going to be resting over the next couple of days and maybe go to the gym a couple of times.. And watching the draw for the Carling Cup. Come on Spurs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Catch you soon

No civilization

Hi all,
Stuck up a mountain and found a very slow internet connection believe it or not.However all the sites I need to go on are blocked (facebook, msn, gmail, the blog). But the good news is that the training is really good and we are the first people on the slopes every day.We skied super g first thing this morning and I was skiing reasonably fast which is reassuring. Gs this afternoon was not so good and I seem to be getting 'stuck in the back seat' and need to get that sorted today.I'm really tired so I'm probably gonna go to bed and have a VERY early night.

See
Ya
Regards
Harry Brown

Where's the Snow!

No Internet or Phone!!! What do we do now?

Just to let everyone know that Harry will be posting today, he is 'living' on a mountain this week with very few facilities, hence the lack of contact! it is good to see so many people checking the profile, please hang around as well because the season races get going soon and hopefully harry will be able to share some good results for both himself and the team with you all

School Work

Hello everybody,

Just in Lofer at the moment which is a small town outside of Salzburg in Austria. During the winter this is our main base where we train out of and travel from. It is owned by the British Olympic Organisation and is the nearest thing we have to home and a place to keep all our equipment. We are having the weekend off but it's not quite as i planned. Lots of school work for Loughborough which is a bit of a pain but not much i can do about it really and I need to keep all my options open in case of injury. Last weeks training went really well and i'm very happy with my progress over the summer. On Monday we will be skiing on the Kitzteinhorn glacier for 4 days to make up for the lack of speed training last week. We are staying up the mountain in a small hostel (haha) with no real civilization which should be great fun! The reason for this is that we can get up earlier and train before the public start skiing and then can finish early and hang about all day!!

Well i'm off to watch X Factor now but i will be in touch

Harry

Robert Poth - One for the future

A big shout out to Robert Poth www.robertpoth.co.uk and everyone at mysnowsports.com, I hope your hand is better and you are back training hard very soon. I will ask Dave when I see him and also the jacket is great thanks, keep skiing fast and I am sure you will get your own one day soon. My first races will be the end of the month or very early December. Everything looks good for you apart from of course your football team who are rubbish! Up the Spurs.

Thanks for checking my blog mate.

Good Luck

Harry

PS : Nice website Robert

Training is going well

Hi everyone just getting ready for bed now after preparing my skis. We
have been skiing giant slalom all week because the snow has been to
soft for super g and downhill. We've been getting up before 6 every
morning now so I'm quite looking forward to having the weekend off.
Probably will be going out for a couple of drinks tomorrow as it is a
couple of the guys birthdays. Anyway I will give you more detail over
the weekend when I have a computer in front of me.

See ya

Regards
Harry Brown

Europa Cup Races

In the Europa Cup race today Andy Noble finished 6th starting from bib 84 (22.86) and Dave Ryding finished 18th (23.21) great results from my fellow GB team mates. Well done boys.

Europa Cup Boys in action

Good luck to Dave Ryding and Andy Noble who are competing in the Europa Cup SL in Landgraaf on Thursday 6th November (Dave was 19th in the indoor EC SL competition on Tuesday 4th November in Amneville, France - his best EC result to date)

I will let you know about my day later.


See ya

---- Envoyé avec BlackBerry® d'Orange ----

New Kit and high winds!

Not a great photo but I hope it gives everyone a quick look at the new kit we got last night. Skiing was a bit if a let down today with poor conditions and very strong wind. Up to 130km/h expected tonight which should be fun!!!!! Apart from that, all is good and the new clothing is really nice and warm luckily enough ! It is good to be back with the boys and everyone is here apart from Nick Robinson who is still injured. I hope he gets fit and back soon.

It is meant to be a four day speed camp but we often have to work with the weather so will be training giant slalom tomorrow (because certain lifts are not open for speed training) which suits me down to the ground as to be honest as that is always my preferred discipline.

I know this may be a short message, I'm on my phone which is a serious mission to type as well as spell words correctly so excuse me for any grammar issues.

Bye for now
Harry

PitzDULL - Valley Town

I am just finishing off my packing before heading off to the airport and then Pitztal in Austria for some speed training. We had a big family Sunday Lunch yesterday and then watched Lewis win the Grand Prix which was really exciting. I am away for seven weeks this trip which is quite a long time to be away from everyone but I also can't wait for the first races to start and hopefully get some good points quickly for the first list.

Pitztal is 3440m and is pretty dull tbh. I have just checked the weather and it is going to be about -12c all week with some light snow, it is one of Europe's highest and most snow-sure ski areas, and certainly the highest mountains in Austrian Tyrol, Pitztal's glacier ski area is accessed by an underground funicular with 10,000 stairs running along the side of it just in case it breaks down! Apres-Ski is virtually non-existant in Pitzal and there is really not much to do at all, in fact our hotel does not even have WI-FI so we will all be watching a lot of movies I guess. Still we have really early starts (5.30) so we will be sleeping plenty and certainly not partyin or drinking this close to the season. It is amazing how much time we spend hanging around airports, hotels and in the van between races. You really need to have a lot of Patience when you are a ski racer and this is a very important training camp for us guys.

Speak to you soon x

Up the Spurs!

Hi guys, not much to report to be honest apart from happy halloween haha, not really my cup of tea though. Bad weather here, has not stopped raining and is really cold which can only be good news for the alps. Looking forward to getting back to training this Monday and getting our new clothes from the team sponsor Colmar. We have 4 days of speed lined up in Pitztal which is a really difficult piste where temperatures hit around -20c at this time of year (that will be nice in full lycra). We are training for 4 day blocks with 3 days off in between, up until the first races at the end of November. You might think that 3 days off sounds a lot but when your training at altitude and getting so close to the season you really need to have 'gas in the tank' (as the Austrians say) when the races start.

Also gonna watch the GP this weekend and hope Lewis can do it, he is another young sportsman that has gone right through and he is a great role model to us all.

Anyway i'm off to the gym now, I'll be in touch over the next few days and let you know how the skiing is going.

Bye

Balance and balancing training and school!

Been studying hard for the last few days as it is really important I do well in my sports qualification for Loughborough college. Obviously I just want to race and carry on with this but you never know what can happen and although I have been successful for the last eight years you still have to do the business every year plus you never know what can happen with serious injuries or accidents. I am also going to start studying for A-Level French and maybe English too. I will have to do it on-line and fit it round my training but it will give me lots of uni points should there ever be a need. I did pretty well with my GCSE's and got some A's and A* which I was pleased with because I have never been to school between December and April and always done home school or the BSA which is great and really helped me with both my racing and school stuff.

I have been in the Gym the last few days as the weather here is rubbish (Snow in the Alps though!) and have been practising my unicycling and juggling. Those two things are not expensive and would make great Christmas presents for any ski racer as they are things that at some time you will probably be asked to do to develop both your balance and coordination. I have been juggling years but certainly wish I had started the one wheel biking thing a long time ago. We recently did a unicycle camp in Austria through the mountains, none of us were great at the beginning but we soon got the hang of it. You can often see lots of the top World Cup guys juggling before a race.

Check out the cool clips from YouTube Juggling and Unicycling

Oh well, night everyone x

Snow Forecast

This site was set up by someone we know and is by far the best website for snow forecasts. If you are a skier be sure to book mark it. All our coaches and every one in the 'know' use it constantly. Take a look HERE

Snow-Forecast.com is the biggest resource on the web for snow lovers and winter sports enthusiasts. There are weather forecasts, snow reports, webcams and resort info for over 2000 locations around the world.

Update

Hi guys,
Just a quick update about the week i guess. All is going good and training hard, having a nice day off today then back to work tomorrow morning. I was in Monaco last night with some friends. It took me two buses and a train to get there which was a bit of a sketch but it was good to catch up with people who I haven't seen for so long. I have to be really careful with money because my training and racing costs are really hard to find but being a skier we are all usually trained at getting some free drinks and making our money last! Even the older guys are the same, we are all very hard working and I have had a few casual jobs but it is pretty impossible for us to earn any money because we are just never in the same place for very long.

I don't know if anybody watched it but the world cup was on this weekend in Soelden where Chemmy Alcott came 10th. She had a pretty poor first run with mistakes but had the joint fastest second run so its looking like a better start to the season for Team GB already and we really need the World Cup guys to get some results this year as then the funding from the Government and UK sport will hopefully get increased. I have got two sposors and they really help me out but there is still a ton of money to find.

catch you later
harry x

Me and the Uni

Just to prove I can!

The 'DOMS'

'Delayed onset muscle soreness' is a killer. I went to the gym yesterday for the first time in quite a while because i have not been here and i woke up this morning in some amount of pain. Yet again i got up at 9 which does not sound to bad but when you have been getting up at half 5, you would naturally prefer to hear the alarm at 12. Today is all about recovery, coordination and core. I will do the usual and unicycle for a while and then onto core. The core programs we were set are unbelievably hard, we work on all muscle groups surrounding the core such as your back, obliques and both upper and lower abdominal muscles which can take up to an hour.Then lastly go for a run this afternoon to loosen the muscles and 'free up' the lactic acid build up in my legs.

Peace x

Up Early

Would love to have had a lie in this morning but I have to set the alarm early now every day because I can't afford to miss breakfast or my energy drinks and supplements (LEGAL OF COURSE!)For breakfast I will have a high energy drink with plenty of milk, big bowl of Weetabix, some muffins and eggs. I am also in to green tea at the moment which is meant to be really good for you! I need to go to a couple of gyms later today and find a squat rack and someone who will let me train for free. I can't afford to join a Gym but anyway I am not home enough to warrant paying every month. I get a pass from the British Olympic Association who have nominated me as a future Olympian and get lots of discounts and free entry to most Gyms BUT they all the benefits are in the UK which is not that helpful to me. I am sure we can pitch someone round though, I am going to go out with the old man and also need to find a decent area where we I can do a 45 minute session on my uni-cycle, it is great for your legs and also brilliant for your balance. It's bloody hard though!!! Next I have to learn to juggle whilst riding it as this helps with your peripheral vision. Most skiers can juggle and uni-cycle but not many can do the two together! At least if the skiing doesn't work out I can get a job in a circus. I then need to do another hour session on the bike but I will do that while I watch a movie because it is just so boring! Oh well off to train...later x

Grand Prix

Just watched the Grand Prix in China, Lewis Hamilton is such a great role model and so focused, it will brilliant for GB if he wins in Brazil. I am going to do half hour on the static bike and chill for the rest of the day. I need to eat plenty as really I could do with putting on some weight, there are so many elements to making it in sport, it's not just the skill factor but you also need to be strong both mentally and physically, avoid injuries plus you need to worry about your size and then somehow you also have to find the money to pay for it all! That's why you really need to admire the guys that make it and think how well the GB Olympic team did because believe you me it took years and years of hard work. I have been training like crazy and missing lots of school and friends since I was nine. That is 8 years so far and realistically I have at least another six years before I can hopefully do my first Olympics. That is 14 years which is a pretty long apprenticship! Still I have picked up a good few British Championships along the way and had some great experiences so I just need to stay focused and injury free because this is a pretty dangerous sport remember! Catch you later.

A great night

Just got back from a great night out, we pitched Dwayne (my dad) to come down and pick us up at 5.00am this morning (he is always up anyway!) outside The Meridian casino (right), the club is about half hour away and cabs are just too expensive. We had a great time and now I am going to bed until lunchtime, it was great doing some normal going out, I miss out on all the social stuff being away so much but I have some great mates in the team that I have grown up with since I started skiing when I was nine. I guess you can't be a party animal and a professional athlete but at least I can have a blast now and again.

Home sweet Home

It is great to be home, the sun is out and I have just got up, travelling, training and very early starts make it all pretty knackering but at least I have today and tomorrow off before I start strength and fitness training on Monday! I have a strict programme to follow before I head back up to Austria on the 3rd November and stay there until December 22nd. I am usually away from home for about nine months of the year and even when I am home we do not get to rest much, being a full time athlete is great but it is much harder than people think. Plus I have to find time to study for my qualifications at Loughborough, still I would never complain because it is a great life. I am going to go to a club in Juan les Pins tonight with harvey and some friends, it will be good to catch up because I don't get to see them very often PLUS have a drink of course!

travelling home

Just finished my last morning's training and the snow was great, packed the mini bus and now getting dropped off in Imst which is about an hour away, then it's a four and half hour train ride back to Munich airport and finally get home at about 10.30 tonight. Looking forward to some luxury, good food and seeing the family of course. It is great living in France but we have far less of a choice of airlines and airports so usually I fly in and out of London because the Lufthansa flights are much more expensive.It has been a great camp though and I feel I am skiing really solidly in Slalom and have much more strength than last season. I just hope I do not get injured this year like last year I broke my hand twice in the two months pre- season and then in one of my first races, I was skiing really well then too and it really screwed up a big chunk of my season. Oh well fingers crossed, need to go catch the train now.

Home tomorrow!

Just been training in Pitztal which is a small valley town close to Innsbruck in Austria, nothing there except some good all year round training pistes, not even any wi-fi which is a pain. We have been here two weeks and have had 6am starts every day and trained until 3pm which makes for a long session, then it's back to the hotel for a warm down and a sleep. Pretty hard going but I am skiing well at the moment so it is not so bad and I can't wait for the season to start.