Event News

Most people feel exhausted after a long day on the slopes. So imagine my anxiety about being sent to Villars for a 24-hour slalom race. Information was scant and the only directions were get fit (in four days) and be on the start line by midday.

Team tactics

Lizzie Crookenden, fellow Ski Club member of staff, and I, duly headed to resort to meet our fate. Here we were received by Villars local and team captain Neil English along with Guy Chanel from the tourist office. Neil quickly whisked us off to the opening ceremony followed by dinner for the team briefing.

This was a confusing announcement, those that had done it before promised it would be ‘brutal’, and in the next breath that it would be ‘wonderful’. Having finalised our rota (24 hours split between eight people) we knew what hours we would be skiing.

Apprehension of long shifts and night-time skiing were rapidly soothed by copious amounts of booze, after all, the team needed to bond. And bond we did, until 4am.

Just before the marathon began

Rendered almost totally incapacitated by events of the previous night I was beginning to dread my 3pm slot. It seemed scarily near the start of the race. Only Sammi our Grindelwald expert skier, Neil English and Paul Stuart (son of F1 racer Jackie Stuart) preceded me. All tough acts to follow.

We were under strict instructions to be at the course by 10am. Here we could make final adjustments to our tactics, which until this point were only ‘beat the Spanish’. Does that count as a tactic? They had been set as our main rivals, having dined with us the night before.

Konrad Bartelski, World Cup champion and teammate offered the advice “pick a line”. After a frantic handover in the pit stop I was off. The amount of kilometres the team covers is measured by a Tag Heuer GPS device, which is strapped around the waist of the racer. If I didn’t make it around the course many times, I’d be found out courtesy of my tracking device.

Moral support from Sammi

Flanked by 80 other skiers I took on the course, tackling the gates as closely as possible and gathering speed throughout, it was a good start. Unfortunately all went rapidly, well… uphill at the bottom. Here we were required to skate our way back up to the lift. Sammi was on hand to give me a push but he was little prepared for my growing resemblance to a sack of potatoes and I ended up facedown in the snow. One long hour and five laps later I welcomed the opportunity to give up my bib and let Holly, another member of my team take over.

This pattern continued throughout, each hour another member of ‘Great Britain Star Media racing’ (our team) coming off the course looking exhausted only to be met by a shiny new skier to replace them.

Change over onto the night piste

By 5pm we had moved to the night course, here Konrad’s advice of ‘pick a line’ was harder to follow. The darkness and mist meant that you could barely see the next gate until it was upon you. Adverse conditions didn’t hinder the performance of other racers.

Many teams were made up of ex-professional skiers including Amanda Pirie who was racing in the Kandahar team. The speed with which they tackled the course was inspiring and frightening. Perhaps most admirable were the team from Disability Snowsport, many of whom would over take by sit-ski.

Cold and in pain it was occasionally hard to lose sight of the reason behind the BCV 24hour challenge. We were racing in order to raise money for EORTIC, Lutte contre le Cancer and Disability SnowSport UK. The fact that long-standing organiser, Barbara Pollock, is suffering from terminal cancer made it all the more poignant.

Konrad on the night-shift

By 8.30am the ghostly light was replaced by thick snow and daylight. At this point it was my turn to return to the dreaded day run. Morale reached an all time low, my replacement skier Holly was stuck on a bubble lift. Minty was sent up to save my ever-dwindling spirit.

Ensuring that the team had a member skiing at all times was not only reliant on the determination of the skiers but also on teamwork. Without such supportive members it’s doubtful we would have achieved such a gratifying finish.

Sadly, Lizzie and I had to abandon our team before the end of the race. An update from Neil told us that we had completed the race in an admirable 38th position (the highest we had been throughout). As a team we covered 462.25km and there was never a moment when someone hadn’t been racing. We raised 1000CHF for charity and all emerged relatively unscathed.

The pitstop at dawn

This wasn’t the only triumph. We fought off our own Armada, with the Spanish fleet coming in at 70th place. All the gruelling endurance had paid off – victory to Great Britain Star Media!

Great Britain Star Media
Neil English (Captain) – Ski journalist
Sammy Salm – Grindelwald tourism director
Warren Smith – Warren Smith Ski Academy
Konrad Bartelski – Downhill World champion
Amin Momen – Momentum Ski
Lizzie Crookenden –Ski Club of Great Britain
Holly Fisher – Fish and Pips.
Rosa Wildy – Ski+board magazine
Minty Clinch – Ski journalist
Derek Chandler – Marmalade Ski School
Alina Trofimova  – superski.ru

For more information visit BCV 24h Villars 2010 or to see more photos from the event visit the Event Photo Gallery.