My name is Gary Skinner and I ski in The Ski Club of Ireland in Kilternan in Co. Dublin. During the weekend of the 5th and 6th of October I took part in the International Dry Slope Irish Open Ski Championships in the Ski Club of Ireland.
Some teams from Britain came to Ireland for the race. I was in the Under 16 (U16) boys’ category. On the Saturday, I won in the U16 category by a margin of 3.43 seconds over the combined two runs and came 6th overall. On Sunday after the first run, I was lying in second place in the U16 category to a British skier by about two thirds of a second so I had to really go for it on the second run. The second run was going well but I overcooked it and fell. All in all, I felt it was a good weekend of racing and I was happy with the result from the first day.
I don’t just take part in races in Ireland; during the summer I took part in two races, one was in Manchester in England and the other in Hillend outside Edinbourgh in Scotland. These were weekend races also. In Manchester, on the second day I came third in U16 boys slalom, while in Hillend I came third on the first day in the U16 boys’ slalom. On the second day in Hillend, I crashed out in the GS.
My training on snow takes place on some school holidays. At October mid-term, I went to Hintertux, Austria with the Irish to be trained by Austrian coaches. I usually do most of my snow training in Leogang in Austria as I am a member of the ski club there. During the Christmas holidays, I usually train with the Australian Developement Squad as they travel to Leogang from Australia for the Christmas period. During February Mid-Term I usually train with Leogang Race Club and I plan to do a few races in Austria during these times this year.
Gary Skinner (Grammar)
