Racing Underway

Posted on August 16, 2018 by Adam Barwood

Excited to start the New Zealand season on some new gear, joining the Volkl, Marker and Dalbello Family! Many thanks to Eric Wolf, Racing Management for time spent getting such a good fit with the new Dalbello Boots.

After the initial back on snow basics at the Remarkables and then more strength and conditioning, it was full on training mode at Rocky Gully, Coronet Peak. It has been interesting working on the new test Volkl skis trialing a few different models to see which ones work best for me. Getting there but still need a bit more testing in some better snow conditions.

Coronet Cup Slalom

Racing seemed to start quickly as still in training mode. Weather and snow conditions weren’t the best so the first giant slalom series at Cardrona were postponed and the fog and tricky snow conditions on new gear for the slalom were a challenge. A little more training and it was straight into the National Championship races at Coronet Peak this week. Second day of giant slalom for the Coronet Cup I got a better feel for the conditions and put down the 3rd fastest second run.The first three days were pretty mixed with poor visibility in cloud/fog and soft snow that was quite sugary and not a lot of it in places. For the final day of slalom we saw blue sky for the first time in days and the snow held up really well after a good freeze the previous night.

Coronet Cup Giant Slalom

At the end of the day I was pleased to have retained the National Slalom title and also to have picked up the Giant Slalom title. Many thanks to all my sponsors for your continued support and belief in my progress.

Damp slalom day

Early morning sunrise

Coaches corner, almost sunny

Giant Slalom

Racing In The States

Posted on December 8, 2015 by Adam Barwood

Since arriving in Dillon we’ve had good snow, cold temperatures and a lot of excellent training, joining in with a number of international athletes. Our first races for the season were at Echo Mountain, CO (see results on link) with two slalom races and a large field of 120 international athletes. I managed to put in a really good first run coming in .42 seconds ahead of the field. The snow was a bit soft on top but a good layer underneath and I was really pleased to finish the second run well keeping me in first place ahead of Robbie Kelley in second and Ola Buer Johansen, Norway in third . It’s an awesome way to start the season – with a podium and my best points result in slalom of 15.08! Day two was a similar field but I wasn’t quite as fast, coming in 3rd after Robbie Kelly 1st and Marco Reymond, Switzerland 2nd.

Echo Mt with Robbie Kelley 2nd, Ola Buer Johansen 3rd

From Echo Mountain the races moved on to Snow King, Jackson WY for the NorAM slalom races, ten athletes under 10 points! The course was incredibly slick on the bottom half where the watering crew got a bit carried away. On day one, I put in a good first run moving from start 26 down to 11, unfortunately I broke a gate which fell down in front of me in the second run which wrecked my rhythm, coming out lower down. Day two I moved a bit too laterally, hip checked and came out – less than one third of the field managed to stay in on day two.

Slalom Course inspection – SnowKing

Back to Dillon for two giant slalom NorAM’s at Copper Mountain, CO 30 Nov and 1 Dec with another large field of top athletes including number 5 in the world, Fritz Dopher plus 24 athletes under 10 points. The race course was quite aggressive man made snow. Day one starting bib 55 I had a good first run putting me into 22, unfortunately with a few tough turns in the 2nd run I dropped back to 30. Day two I made a few errors in the first run, where I drifted in to the top of the turn on some turns so missed making the flip but had a cleaner second run coming 18th putting me in 28th position. USA athlete Tommy Ford took out the win on both days.

Couple of images below from Jackson, Wyoming with the Main Street and antler arches!

Next up was a Super G at Copper Mountain where I managed to move up a little from start 21 finishing 12th and making a few points, 44.28 but we skipped the second day of SG racing to get in some giant slalom training at Vail before the World Cup. Had a really good session doing timed runs with some of the German team including Fritz Dopfer and Felix Neureuther, and managed some very respectable times. I finished off the racing in the States with my first World Cup Giant Slalom race on Birds of Prey, Beaver Creek. (photo inspection time looking up from the finish) It was a pretty tough long course with a number of the top athletes not finishing, including Ted Ligety. I started bib 63 and managed to finish in 49th place, 1.21.34 unfortunately I made a mistake near the top just before the flats so lost speed! Only top 30 get to do the second run so it was time to finish packing and head to Denver to catch the evening flight to Calgary. Arrived into Lake Louise after midnight where we will be based for five days for the NorAM speed events before heading to Panorama. It is currently snowing and team mate Willis is battling the elements as they attempt to get the men’s training run for the Downhill done .

World Cup GS Finish

End of Northern Hemisphere Season 2013

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Adam Barwood

It was a pretty full on schedule following my last post with travel and races in Zagreb-Sljeme, Croatia and Meribel, France. Weather and snow conditions made for some interesting times for the first series of races in Zagreb – thick fog and tricky courses made for some tough races. We did get to check out some of the amazing old architecture in Croatia which was a bonus.

After the GS races we headed back to Leogang for a bit of training before going back to Zagreb for a couple of slalom races with a super tough field including World Cup winner Ivica Kostelic and Europa Cup winner Dave Ryding on a really rough course. This is what coach Chris McKnight had to say about the course – “So today’s race in Zagreb was a Papa Kostelic special 73 gates, 70 direction changes – in the first 20 turns of the course there was 4 hairpins, 1 delay and 1 flush! Further down the course and something I have never seen in SL was a delay into delay followed by a flush – the course was a Picasso!”

As soon as those races were finished it was back on the road to Leogang arriving late in the evening to have to re-pack to head out 5.30am for the ten hour drive to Meribel France.

Once again terrible weather with lots of snow, postponed and cancelled races but finally finished the British National Champs races on soft crumbly snow. Not particularly happy with my skiing, however picked up 3rd in the under 21 slalom and 4th in the GS. It was a long trip back to Leogang followed by the mammoth task of packing up ready to head home to New Zealand. The trip home was one of the longest ever with a diversion to Winnipeg, Canada meaning we missed the connecting flight LAX to Auckland and a slight hiccup meant an extra few days in Santa Monica before finally making it back to Queenstown. At least I got a couple of days of summer on the beach before arriving to a cool colourful Autumn.

After a couple of weeks off it is now time to get back into some serious physical training to get ready for the New Zealand winter which feels like just around the corner. Overall it has been an amazing season in Europe where I have achieved goals and had some great results. It was a very good set-up by the SSA (Snowsports Australia) in Austria and I would like to thank everyone involved, no easy task! I had a great time with team mates from Australia and New Zealand and many thanks to my coaches Nils Coberger and Chris McKnight for their hard work and dedication – definitely not a 9 to 5 job!

Arthurs Point rainbow

Austria – Slovenia – Croatia

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Adam Barwood

Racing at Mutters, Austria 2nd March – 25.28 point result.

It’s been a pretty full on schedule since competing in the World’s with the first races on the 20th February in Annaberg where I scored a 32.51 in slalom. Following these races we headed off to Turnau but both days of racing were cancelled due to heavy snowfall and poor course conditions so it was back to Leogang for a bit of training.

Next stop was Mutters, Austria for two days of slalom (2nd, 3rd March) – super stoked with results first day scoring a 25.28 and also winning the second run after starting bib 41 first run. Didn’t manage to handle the ruts on day two quite as well but we had some awesome weather which was a bit of a first. Back to Leogang to tune and pack again and headed over to Slovenia for some giant slalom races at Stari vrh (5th March)- was pretty pleased to make points again with a 29.58 result.

Stari vrh, Slovenia 5th March – Giant Slalom

We didn’t wait around for day two as the weather was supposed to be very wet so we took the four hour drive to Turnau, Austria for two more giant slalom races starting 6th March. Wasn’t quite putting two fast runs together here but overall reasonably happy with how it all went.

Back in Leogang we have been taking it easy for a couple of days before we go to GS races on the 12 and 13th in Zagreb, Croatia. Yesterday took a day trip to Salzburg for a bit of different scenery and culture!

Mozart’s birthplace at Getreidegasse 9, Salzburg, Austria

POST WORLD’S

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Adam Barwood

The World Ski Championships in Schladming have been an amazing experience and I was lucky enough to represent my country in the giant slalom and slalom races after performing well at qualifications where the top 25 get into the final race. Particularly in the Slalom where I raced from position 48 into 9th on icy conditions and was very pleased with my performance. In the GS race I fell not far from the bottom and although that’s a little disappointing I was happy with my intermediates. In the Slalom I straddled just before the first intermediate. Not what I was hoping for but that’s ski racing sometimes and I was giving it my all. There was an incredible 55,000 strong crowd for the Slalom to see Hirscher take the gold for Austria. At the time I came down many of the fans were out in search of their next drink, however the bulk remained. Being a part of that environment, seeing the fans and to race in such a race had to be one of the best experiences in my life, not to mention motivating. Thank you to all the New Zealand and Australian team coaches involved, for making it possible for all of us. Also big thanks to Mike Rishworth of the AUS team for the use of his edge machine. Sharp skis were definitely a necessity over the past couple of weeks. It has been a both mentally and physically exhausting week. We’re not done yet though. Tomorrow we leave for a couple of slalom races in Annaberg, Austria on the 20th and 21st.

Schladming finish area

Team mate Willis and myself during qualification

Inspecting with my coach Nils Coberger

World Ski Championships, Schladming 2013

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Adam Barwood

Today we travel to Schladming where I will be starting with qualification races for giant slalom on the 14th February. The opening ceremony was pretty amazing, unfortunately I had to watch from afar/TV as I had races the following two days at Piesendorf. Schladming program and race info

Preparing the finish area, Schladming 2013

Finish area at opening ceremony, 4th February 2013

Since my last update I’ve competed in four slalom races – two in Jenner, Germany where what Iv’e been skiing in training didn’t really transfer into racing until the final run which didn’t help all that much. My slalom is coming together really well in training and am feeling more and more confident with my changing tactics. The next two races at Piesendorf, Austria 5th & 6th February went much better and was very happy to make a personal best result on day one and day two! Over the past couple of days we have been concentrating on some GS training on the new radius skis. They are a bit of a battle as many have said however we’ve had some fantastic training and I’m slowly getting there!

Piesendorf from race area

Course inspection

Piesendorf slalom, 6th February

Training area at Hinterreit, not far from Leogang

Adam Barwood

Check out what I am up to, where in the World my skis take me.

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