Pete The Feet

I wish I was in a position to report back with race results from the recent IPCAS slalom races that where held in Landgraaf, Holland the back end of last week…..however after a very pleasing weeks training on Stubai I managed to crash in slalom training on my first day in Snow World.

My last post was left on Remembrance Sunday; and the week that followed was a progressive, pleasing week of GS training on Stubai. Confidence was on the up and after a training block that left me excited for the up and coming races in Holland I was looking forward to getting into slalom training with BDST/CSDST at Snow World.

However as Lady Luck would have it I wasn’t going to be making the races. An awkward tumble in a slalom training course saw me break my collar bone, take a trip to the local med centre and then spark an international rescue from my wife and daughter to repatriate me, and the car full of kit to the UK.

I was literally dropped at the door of A+E at our local hospital as after hours on planes, trains and automobiles Ava was in need of letting off some energy and a hospital certainly didn’t fit that bill. So Laura was a little taken a back when she received a call late into the afternoon to pack an overnight bag for me as I was on the morning surgery list!! It was once again the responsibility of Mr Alfred Morris to put me back together, this time plating the collar bone, the joke is now I’m stuck together with so much metal that I could audition as the Tin Man.

So now the rehab starts and just a week after surgery I’ve had my first Physio session this morning. I’m also due to see Mr Morris next week for a realistic time scale as to when I’ll be back on snow. I’ll keep you posted on that front.

As my last blog was posted the snow was falling heavily in Hintertux, which could only have been an improvement on my last visit to the glacier when we were essentially water skiing down the mountain in the summer heat of August. The dumping snow brought about a powder day for the opening day of the British Disabled Ski Team camp; not terrible conditions to be “finding your ski feet” again!

The remainder of the week was in reality free skiing on GS skis but with guidance from the coaches, giving suggestions on things to work on before gate training commenced the following week.

So the second week of camp brought about gate training; slalom to be precise. Considering this is not my favoured discipline I felt I had a good week overall. Areas to improve on where identified and I’m hoping these can be remedied in further training before the racing calendar kicks off at the end of November. I realised that as the conditions started to get colder, the piste started to ice over and the wind picked up that my confidence in my skiing did take a knock; I can only hope in time this improves as I appreciate not all race pistes are going to have that soft powder landing should I crash.

The camp not only worked me hard on the hill, but off snow as well with a very well structured dry land training programme. It was an enjoyable camp, not only where conditions generally favourable (as I was leaving for home the temperatures were dropping), I was also skiing on my new seat and tinkering with it to get the most out of it, but it was also my first time working with Tony, the new coach.

I’m currently home with the family for some down time; with it being the run up to Remembrance Sunday we’ve all been doing our bit for the Poppy Appeal. In my absence Laura and Ava launched are local Appeal last week on the Mersey Ferry and we’re out and about selling Poppy’s this week.

I will also be heading to London for the Ski Show, so if you’re around and about head over to the DSUK stand. I’ll be there Thursday, but the charity staff and BDST athletes will be around all over the weekend. There is also a team send off at Aura, Mayfair on Friday 2nd November. For more information check out: http://www.justgiving.com/britishsendoff

As the calendar was flicked over to October in the Dunning household it meant only one thing, the impending arrival of the early ski season, the last of the corporate events on UK soil before the likes of suspension testing in Holland and early season glacier skiing out in Stubai. It’s hard to believe really that I only left the house on 3rd October considering the timetable of events.

First stop was the Combined Services Disabled Ski Team launch, held annually down in Hemel Hempstead’s snow centre. Essentially a day for the sponsors, supporters and media to come along and see the team ski and to see the official hand over of the new team bus courtesy of Ford.

It was then off to a Quiz Night hosted by David Claridge of Selex, one of the great companies to support CSDST. A great evening that not only saw more funds being raised for CSDST, but showed the continued support of Selex and their staff to the team and what we aim to achieve in the coming years. I’m not really sure that we, the team were meant to win the quiz considering the evening was in aid of us, but hey ho, these things happen!

To round off the UK based events I travelled back up north, just not quite as far as home to the Tamworth Race For All event at the Tamworth Snowdome. It was a great publicity event that raised the profile of DSUK and BDST enabling any disabled skier to race against BDST team members. Sadly I hadn’t been able to get on snow all week for any of the events as my rig was with Supacat, another CSDST sponsor in preparation for suspension testing the following week.

The early season CSDST contingent headed to the continent only to find our great escape to snow somewhat delayed courtesy of a Eurotunnel backlog! However once at Landgraaf we settled into long days of suspension testing, with the help of Supacat experts and electronic data capture on the hill we sought to get the most out of the mono-skis. Shocks have been tweaked and adjusted and we have been given the knowledge to continue to do so throughout the season to ensure that we are getting the maximum out of our kit in race and training situations.

To round off the early season package, the bus was packed up and the CSDST boys and girls headed to Neustift to set up base for a couple of additional days skiing up on the Stubai glacier. We had been warned of poor conditions but upon arriving up on the hill we were pleasantly surprised. The team just undertook some basic skills and drills to get our confidence back on snow, especially for myself now skiing on a new seat and returning to the snow from a season off following injury. I didn’t do much for my confidence (or my wife’s) when I decided to eject myself from the ski and do a bit of tumbling down the piste.

Via a series of texts my wife told me to “man up” and so I returned to the snow the following day complete with war wounds and I actually left the snow feeling really pleased with my progress and looking forward to the Brit Team Camp.

I’ve made the transition today from one very snowy valley to another, heading from Stubai to Hintertux for the start of Brit Team training tomorrow. It’s been dumping down here today so the plan of action is to just do a bit of free skiing, so the big boy skis will be making an appearance – it’s a powder day!

It’s hard to believe another month is nearly over; August has been a busy month starting with the wedding of friends, Mr and Mrs Richardson. A beautiful service followed by the most spectacular venue (a former monastry) was the perfect start to the month.

Out of season training essentially started the next day with a 1000 mile drive out to Austria for the training camp with the BDST.  Now I’m sensible and a dad I made the journey over a period of two days stopping over in Hockenheim before pressing on to Hintertux.

My introduction to camp life was that it was going to be long days and that is exactly what they were.  I was up at 6:15 for a quick wheel around in the wheelchair and early stretches before breakfast and then a wheel to get the first gondola at 8:00 and then on the snow for 8:45.  We would normally be off at about 12:30 and then we would have a 2 hour rest period in which we would tech our ski’s, then it would be downstairs for the days phys which would last around 1 1/2 -2 hrs.  Once back and showered it would be downstairs at 5:30 for video debrief on the days skiing, then tea then bed. It was non-stop!

The conditions when I was there where not great at it was only jjst getting below freezing at night and in the morning it was getting up to 12 degrees somedays.  We started off the first week with slalom training which I thought would be great as I needed to work on my slalom.  The conditions though made it very difficult for me to progress and I found myself getting worked up when things just weren’t going right! 

After being in gates for the first few days I decided enough was enough and took myself out of gates and went back to basics to work on technique. That seemed to work for me and I felt myself gaining confidence.

The next week saw us change onto giant slalom which I was more then happy about as I had only really been working on my slalom technique since my return to skiing following my injury of last winter.  Unfortunatley it didn’t go as well as planned and with the increase in speed I found myself hesitating more and more, resulting in me tensing up. Trying to be cautious and preventing another shoulder injury was probably the worst thing I could be doing! 

The conditions didn’t improve as my confidence took a nose dive, so I took it upon myself to leave Austria and head to Landgraf, Holland and do some training there on my own.  Once I had completed the 8 hr drive to Holland and started skiing there in decent conditions my technique quickly came back to me in  both slalom and giant slalom. So after a road trip around Europe I came home feeling positive about the future of my skiing! 

My next trip to Holland will see me training on my new seat, I head to Aspen seating in Denver next week to get fitted for my custom made seat. I’ll then fly straight to Europe to train on the seat and hopefully that will see my confidence pick up just in time for the start of the new season and the start of what is likely to be a long and tough journey!

It appears that yet another apology is in order, it’s been far too long since I last blogged to you all. Let’s just say day to day living has been taking up a lot of my time recently as well as fitting in the gym sessions, meetings and training camps around the country.

As you know I was in Holland towards the end of May which was closely followed by a family holiday to Portugal. Laura’s parents came with us which meant that we had a break every day from being Mummy and Daddy, it was nice to take some time out, and see some sunshine!

Since returning home it’s been busy, busy, busy. Our daughter Ava was christened at the same church that Laura and I were married in only a few months before.

But then it was back to reality; starting with an invite to be Key note speaker at Allocate Software Healthcare Usergroup in York. I addressed the Usergroup about my journey, from injury to athlete and all the bits that have happened in between. The response was overwhelming and I was privileged to be invited to the Allocate Software awards evening that was held in the National Rail Museum. So thank you to Clive Jecks for putting my name forward for that event.

The following day Laura and I were guests at Haydock Races for a Carers Trust fundraiser.   Our table was made up of injured service personnel and their carers and we had a good day, especially as the wins on the horses kept rolling in. Laura and I would like to thank Sally Mendonca of CSDST for putting our names forward for the tickets in her absence.

I have received the new seat for my mono-ski last week courtesy of Qinetiq and Tencate; as with anything new it’s a case of getting used to it, and learning how to get the best out of the piece of kit. A lot of hard work and effort has gone in to delivering the seat so I hope to be able to make that worthwhile for all concerned.

Supacat (CSDST donors) were involved with a defence vehicle display and the team received an invite to attend to seek out further sponsorship, network and show how military suppliers are sharing their skills with the team. Supacat have very kindly looked at the suspension on the mono skis over the years to ensure that we are getting the best of out of our equipment and therefore get the best race finishes. It was great to attend and Scorgie (CSDST coach) and I were fortunate enough to bump into old team mate, Martin Hewitt who you will probably all know from Walking With The Wounded fame.

It was a busy week, what with collecting my new seat in Hemel, the Supacat event in Woburn and then a return to Snow Centre Hemel Hempstead for the first of the summer training camps with the British Disabled Ski Team. The camp took in technical slalom training, and for me getting used to the new seat. It was a worthwhile weekend and I’m now looking forward to the next training camp with CSDST in Holland which will see more slalom technical training taking place.

The rest of this week sees me taking part in cultural workshops surrounding the Olympics/Paralympics with local schools and presenting at an awards evening in Mansfield. I’ll return to you all when I get back from the next training camp with an update on my progress, fitness and how I’m getting on with the new seat.

To sign off, firstly I need to thank Mark Scorgie for taking the time out with me last week to test out the new seat and secondly I think it’s time to move to a more “professional” looking website. My wordpress blog has done me well but with the Winter Paralympics fast approaching and my after dinner speaking/motivational speaking taking up so much of my time I’m looking to set up a website. However at the moment I’m trying to find a web designer who is able to help me with reasonable costs to set the site up – if you think you can help please shout!