SAC Steve Boyes - Training Diary 11 September 2011

On the Start Line

After having a nice 10 days leave we were back into training in Scotland, competing in two races over the weekend, the first was a 7km race around the Huntly circuit, the second classicing 5km up the Cairngorm Mountain. On Thursday we practised the Huntly circuit because for many of us it was  the first time been on the track, we concentrated on how we would get up the steepest hill on the course either skate 1 or 2, we timed each technique to see which would be the best for the race.

Saturday the weather was pretty awful with constant rain, not the best conditions for roller-skiing. As we began to get ready for our race the heavens opened up and there was torrential rain, we seemed to be waiting ages on the start line getting drenched. Some of the corners were waterlogged with water-skis probably being more appropriate. I had an experienced skier (Steve Perry) starting 15 seconds behind me so I knew if I could keep up with him I'd be keeping up a good pace. Steve over took me on lap 3 but did not make much distance in front of me, so I managed to overtake him a few laps later, he stayed around 5-10 meters behind me until the end of the race. I Finished 3^rd out of our team, 19 seconds behind Luke and Carl finishing first, Danny 4^th and Matt 5^th (Coach was ahead of us all but we always compare ourselves against each other).

There were awards being handed out for the best senior and novice of the weekend's competitions, awarded to the people with the best combined time over the two races. Myself Luke and Matt from our team and Andy Goodwin from the Air Command team were up for the novice because it was our first year competing. This meant I had to finish at least 20 seconds in front of Luke on the hill climb to win the novice prize.

The hill climb for safety reasons had to be cut short by 1km because the winds at the top of the mountain were 60 mph plus and pretty impossible to roller-ski in. I started at the back of our team with 15 seconds intervals between each starter, I caught Matt after 1.5km and Danny soon after before catching Luke by the end of the race. I finished 8^th overall and second out of our team, finishing 24 seconds in front of Luke and receiving the novice award which was very unexpected for me. Carl finished 5^th overall and first out of our team, Luke finished 3^rd, Matt 4^th and Danny 5^th.