New Zealand and back to racing!

I've been over in New Zealand now for about 5 weeks and it has been really great so far. The best start to the season I have seen in years! Just a shame that the resorts back home are struggling..really praying they get some good snowfalls soon.

I spent the first 2 weeks of my season skiing with my regular coach at Cardrona resort in New Zealand's South Island. With perfect early season conditions we were able to get straight into gates, skiing long days of often 2 ski sessions and then a gym session in the late afternoon. Tiring, but after such a long injury I need the mileage! 

Cardrona Alpine Resort, Wanaka, NZ - my training hill for the next few months

It's never easy living in a foreign country, but I have been so lucky to stay with some wonderful families. Thank you to the Andrews family for having mum and I to stay for a few nights at their beautiful resort, Tin Tub Luxury Lodge, in Wanaka. Check out their website here. It is absolutely stunning and Trish is a killer cook!

When mum left, I went to stay with Richard and Di Somerville. They are old friends of my parents, and their son, Will, went to school with my brother when they lived in Sydney. I can't thank them enough for their love and support. They've taken such good care of me and really made me feel like a member of the family. Really going to miss them! They are also die-hard sports fans, so as you can imagine it's been a match made in heaven! They're even sponsoring the 100% pure New Zealand Winter Games through their vineyard Two Degrees

The Somerville's beautiful home on lake Wanaka

View from the Somerville's home looking over the lake across to Treble Cone Resort

After my first training block in Cardrona, I moved over to Queenstown for a 12 day National Team camp at Coronet Peak. It was the first real time we have all trained together as a national team, so it was really great to get to know my fellow team mates. There were 10 of us in total (3 women and 7 men), along with our national team director, and the probable Olympic coach. It was an intense camp - double ski sessions, followed by a gym session every afternoon and only 2 days off - but I made some great improvements in my skiing. All in all, it was a great camp and I look forward to the second camp in late September/October. 

National Team camp in Coronet Peak, Queenstown, NZ - thanks to Anne Barwood for the great photo!

View from the gym in Queenstown - not bad!

Some GS and SL training footage from the team camp in Queenstown.

A massive thanks to Coco Plaskitt for having mum and I to stay with her during the camp in Queenstown. You're a star! I'm so lucky to have such wonderful friends (especially those from my SCA family). Coco is busy starting up her own new business - a ski and travel site. Check it out here.  

View over Queenstown from the Plaskitt's beautiful holiday home

After the camp in Queenstown, we were initially scheduled to return to Aus to compete at Mt Hotham in the Australia New Zealand Continental Cup (ANC) series. However, these were unfortunately cancelled this year due to the poor snow conditions at home. This meant that most of our team stayed in New Zealand to compete in the Wanaka Ski Club FIS series. This was actually quite a blessing for me, as it meant I was able to compete in my first comps in 18 months on my home training hill at Cardrona.

Cardrona held 2 GS races and Treble Cone held 2 SL races. The SL races at Treble Cone were first and it was a very tough hill to make my return from injury. The conditions were very steep and icy, and to top things off I had bib number 1! That was pretty nerve-racking! Spending 18 months off is a long time, but I am really happy with how it went. I ended up in 6th place with a score of 52 FIS points on the first day, and unfortunately did not finish on the 2nd day of SL. Then I competed in the 2 days of GS races at Cardrona. Both days of racing I had great first runs but struggled with nerves on the second runs. This aside, I still had some great results, scoring my second best ever FIS points result in GS (35 FIS points). Even though I was disappointed that I dropped from 3rd place to 6th place on the 2nd day, I am happy that there is some good, fast skiing in me and I know I am going to put 2 fast runs together soon! For detailed race results, check out my FIS biography here.

The National Team men had some great results, with a 3rd place to Dominic Demschar on Day 2 of the GS at Cardrona. Awesome Dom! Congrats also to great friends of mine in the women's field - Alex Tilley (1st & 3rd place, GBR), Charley Guest (3rd & 2nd place, GBR), Mandy Dirkzwager (2nd place, NED) and Piera Hudson (2 FIS points PB's, NZL). Super stoked for you guys.

AUS National Team-mate Dom Demschar 3rd place GS Cardrona!

GS race at Cardrona

Happy to be back racing after 18 months out from injury! Thanks to ACE for the great shots!

I'm currently enjoying a much needed 2 days off, before starting a 4 day block of training tomorrow. On thursday I am flying back home for 10 days to compete in the Australian National Championships in Thredbo. Really looking forward to racing in my home mountain of Thredbo again. It's been a while...

I'll be sure to update again after the next race series.

Much love,

Lav xoxo