Alpine Surfs and Speeds in NZ

October 7, 2008 on 6:13 pm | In New Zealand, Skiing Snowboarding, Sports Travel, Surfing Resorts |

WANAKA, New Zealand - With the beginning of the season in their line of sight, U.S. Snowboarding’s alpine athletes are in New Zealand putting miles on their boards in anticipation of their 11-race World Cup tour.

“The camp is going pretty well. The snow has been good and we’re just working on getting in a lot of miles for these guys,” said Alpine Head Coach Steve Persons. “We’ll have another camp in November in Copper, CO and we’ve added a few days going into the December World Cups, so I think that’s where we’re really looking to start rolling.”

According to World Cup winner Tyler Jewell (Steamboat Springs, CO) he can see where his summer training has helped prepare him to train hard at this camp.

“All the hard work I put in with Per [Lundstam, USSA training center manager] and the Olympic Training Center staff in San Diego is really paying off,” Jewell said. “Every year I learn how to prepare better and better and I have reached an all time high in my preparation this summer which makes me very excited for the season ahead.”

Outside of breaking their new equipment in and logging some distance on the hills, the alpine racers have been participating in some extracurricular activities to keep them in shape.

“We’ve been doing some dry land training,” Persons said. “We played capture the flag the other day, which is something that a lot of us haven’t done since we were 10 years old, and it brought out the kid in every one of us.”

On a rare day off, the athletes also had the time to venture to the coast for a variety of activities.

“The whole team went to the coast. The boys went surfing and the girls went and found waterfalls and went on some hikes,” World Cup winner Michelle Gorgone (Boston, MA) said. “I went swimming in the ocean and that was freezing, but it’s been fun.”

“A local surfer named Mike took me and the other guys under his wing and coached me into 15-foot surf,” Jewell added. “Being this close to mother nature’s power is life altering bringing me a deeper perspective on life and how fortunate I am to have the life I do.”

The alpine athletes wrap up camp on Sept. 8 after which some of the racers will head to Landgraaf, Netherlands for an indoor parallel giant slalom World Cup on October 10.

No Comments yet

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.

Powered by WordPress with Pool theme design by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds. Valid XHTML and CSS. ^Top^