The team returned to Europe on New Years day because of the unusually early start to the race season this year, and with 1 day to try and find those snow legs again it was straight into the race season with a 10km Classic race in Hochfilzen in the Royal Armoured Corps, Royal Artillery and Army Air Corps Championships, aka RACs! It is also an annual Biathlon World Cup venue.
The snow had been falling heavily over the Christmas period and there was roughly 2 meters of snow at the stadium which was where the team was staying, if you have any thought of cosy wooden log cabins the teams might be staying let me explain our accommodation. A wooden type building it is with a communal toilet and shower area on one side and basically 4 shelves 15 meters long (2 either side of the building bunk bed style) where up to 40 people sleep, fortunately there where only about 20 in our block.
So onto the racing! 2 laps of a 5km course with 160 racing at 30 second intervals with abilities ranging from international athletes to people who only stepped onto a pair of cross-country ski the previous day is always a good recipe for excitement! The race from my perspective went well for 9.5kms with my fitness feeling reliable and technique holding well until about 2/3 the way through the 2nd loop when my posture was starting to fail, which normally results in the skis slipping. The loop is basically set in a valley with the first half of the loop generally climbing and the return is generally downhill with a few decent bumps, at the 4.5km point there is a reasonably quick downhill section with a 90 degree right turn at the bottom. So with 9.5k of the race completed and the last hill climbed I was chuffed I only had a little drop, turn and double pole to the finish, or so I thought! As I was climbing the last bump to the top of the decent I noticed 2 slower skiers ahead the first one got in the classic spurs on the right hand side of the track as I also planned but he travelled straight over them into a snow bank and then started to throw himself back on to the tracks covering the spurs so I had to take the other option of the left hand side of which as I breeched the horizon of the decent I saw the other skier sprawled all over the track!?! Fun and games! I then proceeded to advise the chap in a clear and audible manner to move to the right of which he started to do so I relaxed thinking I was in the clear when unexpectedly the chap placed his pole out to the left to give himself better purchase to move right HHMMMMM! Of which point I had no choice but to force my knee forward and try and snap through his pole only to find the chap had a metal one which in turn led me to emulate our favourite ski jumper of the spectacle style! After opening my eyes and realising I had survived I got up to carry on to notice my ski had snapped in half (never a good thing!) and my hand was hurting a little, after straightening out the ski so it could glide I carried on down the hill to the right hand bend where I tried to step turn which did not go as planned as my broken ski folded over again causing me to spin and fall again. After restarting and trying to remember to not step turn, I made it to the bottom of the hill and into the safety of a spur (so my ski could not go wondering), in the mean time the guy who made me fall overtook me and got into the same spur and proceeded to double pole annoying slower than me ahead, I could now not track him as we were in the final 100 meters ascent to the finish and I could not step out of the track because of the broken ski!?! So I encouraged the skier ahead!
To cut the rest of the day short, an ambulance journey, X-ray, and cast followed as I had broken the 5th metacarpal of my right hand and was advised it needs to stay in a cast for 4 weeks which finishes at the end of the National Champs, GGRRRR! The next day I had a custom made splint made for my hand enabling me to hold a ski pole and shoot, GAME ON
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