BIOGRAPHY

Development Team (1989)

Everyone was back at the hotel in Meribel, socialising at a drinks reception and sitting down to dinner with HRH. And where was I? Lying in a hospital bed three hours away having just come round from surgery.

Yes, it was one of those seasons!

Having spent a frustrating year grounded while recovering from an ACL injury at the 2006 British Champs SuperG, I was looking forward to a more productive time.

Despite being involved in a head on car collision in July (fortunately no serious injury), 2007/2008 got off to a comparatively good start with training in Chile. It was brilliant to have the chance to travel to South America, the snow conditions were just amazing and everything might have been just perfect if my skis hadn't been left in Lofer!

Thanks to the surgeon, my knee felt as good as new and, with fitness training support from the Highland Institute of Sport, I was ready for the first races. But it wasn't to be. To cut a long story short, I broke two fingers and a thumb in a Slalom in Italy just before Christmas, fractured my shoulder in a SuperG in Austria in February and finally ended up with a broken arm after crashing out of the jump in the British Juniors Downhill.

Hmmmm...not so good and really frustrating, especially as I had scored a 6th overall in the Seniors Downhill and made it on to the TV, albeit briefly, for the first time.

It was a double blow on the injury front as just three days earlier my sister, Sarah, had crashed out of the British Seniors SuperG, popping her ACL on the same fourth from last off-set gate which had put me out of action back in 2006. As well as being an equally annoying incident, it was disappointing for Sarah as she had chalked up good points during the season and should have been in the running for some Junior podium places. However, I had managed to score some reasonable points over the winter and, after a year out, it felt as though I was really starting to get back on track.

In between training there had been plenty of fun times as well. I did some fire swinging as part of an outdoor performance with Scotland's top fiddle players, the Blazin' Fiddles, and spent a couple of days catching up with Jo Ryding and sightseeing in London, having been invited down with the team for the premiere of the new Warren Miller movie.

Despite the setbacks along the way, Sarah and I are determined to get back into training as soon as possible. In the meantime, we would like to thank the Ladies Ski Club for the continued support which has helped in encouraging us to keep going and focus on achieving our goals.