SAC Daniel Sinclair - Training Diary 9 January 2012

We have now moved across Europe to the 1 (UK) Divisional Championships held in Les Contamines, France.  This competition is still training for us but for the army team’s it is a qualifier for the National Championships which are in a couple of weeks from now in Ruhpolding, Germany.  This is the most intense training camp for us with racing on every day and today’s race was the 15k Classic.

Before we could race we needed to decide what wax we were going to use.  With the weather changing day by day it was awkward to decide whether to use Kilster or tub wax, but we decided to go with klister, (if you mixed ‘No More Nails’ with flubber you would end up with Kilster).  The track itself was very hilly with only two flats for breaks and a few cheeky down hills.

The race start was at 9.00am with 30 second intervals between each competitor.  I was the first to go from are team and 6^th in the race and before the end of the first lap I had already taken over everyone except No. 4 who is an ex GBR athlete.  It was a tough race from start to finish as you could image, with plenty of novice athletes to weave in and out of.  The results of the race were pretty good all round with 116 starters, Coach came in 11^th, me 13^th, Carl Pointer 18^th, Luke 19^th followed by Mat in 25^th.  This afternoon we had a long rest in bed to recover before tomorrow’s race which is the 4x10k cross country relay.