Latest News from The GB Telemark Team

The team has been very busy with the World Cup and World Championships since they left for Europe at the beginning of December. They started their epic season in Les Houches with some great conditions for early season; there was much scepticism at the decision to place Les Houches so early in the calendar as it rarely gets enough snow so early on, but they needn’t have worried. From there they moved across the mountains to Thyon in Switzerland before returning for Christmas.

Les Houches saw 6 of the team sporting their fine new race suits, all made possible by Team Fusion at the season debut. The conditions were fantastic and a strong field from some 15 nations had turned out. The best results were recorded in the Sprint Classic by Andrew Clarke who took 31st and Mark Perkins following in 41st. Perkins and Clarke both racing this year with NTN boots and bindings, courtesy of The Royal Artillery Centre for Personal Development. The classic saw Perkins in 43rd and Chris Wotton and Clarke in 45th and 46th respectively.

Packing their kit into their SnoKart bags, the team travelled on to Thyon close to Verbier. The track there was challenging and provided great conditions once again for the first race with bright sunshine and blue skies. The GB Team brought home a good top 30 place secured by Perkins in 29th. The conditions were to change significantly overnight as the clouds rolled in and obliterated any chance of the sun burning through for the Classic race which was by all proportions an absolute epic. The final times of the top runners was about 3 minutes, with 2 skating sections. Perkins recorded his season best arriving 25th and secured himself much needed FIS points which permitted him to compete in the Classic at the World Champs.

The team resumed the charge after Christmas attending the British Army and British National Champs in Austria. This was a great way to ease themselves back in, after an indulgent couple of weeks! It also gave the team the opportunity to do some training. 3 races here would determine the British Champion. The conditions were marvellous and the sun did not give way at all save for the 12th day and the classic race.

The sprint was a fantastic race with a significant audience to boot; Chris Wotton secured 1st place with a great opening performance and an old team-mate Phil Maddox snatched 2nd. A fall in the rap in the first run right in front of everyone left Clarke floundering for a position which in the end was converted into a
3rd place. Clarke took 2nd closely followed by Maddox and Huan Davies who were now the closest contenders to Clarke for the overall championship title. It was all to be decided in the classic race. Overcast conditions greeted the team on this day but the track remained good and the below freezing conditions meant that the piste stayed in shape throughout. Clarke secured his second championship Classic 1st and in doing so took the Championships Combined Champion title. Perkins was 2nd and Davies 3rd.

With no time to rest, the team moved on immediately to Kobla in Slovenia for the first World Cup after Christmas. With 7 athletes including Rachel Morgan, their first ever female competitor. She had competed successfully for the Royal Navy at the British Champs and after having shown early promise, the team captain decided to invite her into the National Team and take her along on the circuit. She was warmly received by the other ladies on the World Cup and has quickly become part of the telemark family. Slovenia was a big event; especially in this World Championships year with 18 teams from all over the world making up a field of 75 men and 30 ladies.

Please visit the team’s website for full details of this event and more…