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Last week the Natives team drove out to Meribel to run the first event in the Workers Challenge series 2010, the Ski Club of Great Britain Giant Slalom, Emma Morris reports...

Tense build up
With so many people signed up in advance for the race the following day the Natives team were just a ittle concerned when on Tuesday morning it began to ever so slightly snow in resort...but we carried on with the prepeartions for what was going to be the 9th Workers Challenge race that we had run in Meribel.

However, when we began our journey back up to the hotel Adray Telebar, situated literally on the piste and accessible by snow mobile or on foot (across two pistes - a better ski in ski out hotel it would be hard to find!) We discovered that not only was it still snowing but that we needed snow chains on our English tyres in order to get up the steep incline towards the Rond Point...and it was at this point that we started to worry!

But if there is one thing that is outside of our control when orgainisng an event; it’s the weather, and despite sun dances and prayers to the Almighty you just have to take your chances, much like those poeple that had signed up in advance for the race – all 86 of them!

Looking back on it there was never a real reason to worry, every single year the race in Meribel receives the best sunshine you could possibly imagine, and this year was no exception (thank God!)

So it was glorious sunshine that greeted us at the Stade the following day for the Ski Club of Great Britain Slalom and smiles all round, as the BBQ from Jack’s Bar was fired up, the poles were set and yet more people flooded to the Natives registration desk to sign up for some super G slalom action.

The compeition seems to get fiercer each year and with the RAF, the Royal Navy, the Aussie’s and Sywss in town, this year was no exception and we certainly saw some incredibly quick times down the course.

Martin Jeffers, from BASS ski school has fought for pole position in recent years with his friend and co-competitor Craig Conkey but sadly this year Conkey was working and perhaps it was this that put Jeffers off his stride as he took a bad fall and which took him out the competition.

We hope that he is receovered again and ready to fight it out in Val d’Isere, at Natives Mini Olympics on Wednesday. Historically the title of fastest male skier is the mostly hotly fought position but these days there is a lot of rivalry in the form of the snowboarders, and even a telemarker, Oscar Skabar, who won the telemarker category, being the only telemarker!

The RAF and Royal Navy make for some imposing opposition and as they were out in resort training for the ‘inter military’ events. We are reliably informed that these involve four disciplines, including slopestyle, and as one of the female competitors explained to us on the bus, even if they’re not very good at a discipline they still have to take part in it.

We ask ourselves now if it was Vagina Love Duncan – the fastest female down the slalom – who was our bus informer but it’s hard to tell when the goggles are on. With so much glory up for grabs it’s no wonder that despite not being able to claim the much coveted skis from Freeride.fr the instructors and pros enter with much gusto.

This year’s fastest male overall was Torres Auguston from Magic, who we were told is an Olympic hopeful, (shouldn't he be in Whistler?) Auguston stomped home with a time of 37.1 seconds he was closely followed by young pro, Juan Bertani who at only 15 was our youngest and second fastest racer with a time of 39.01 seconds.

But this year, we were delighted to be able to award the skis from Freeride.fr to one of it’s own employees; Andrew ‘Buck’ Buckingham, who walked away a very happy man despite a small moment of tradegy as MC Jon Triggell accidentally awarded the skis to Ben Williams who came a close second to Buck which had us all holding our breath for a minute until Jon realised his mistake.

Extra determination is requried for fancy dress and we saw a couple of great efforts, including one chap in very dapper suit and tie, and little Jenny Clare who never fails to disapoint us in her kilt. If you’re going to stand out from the crowd then it helps if you can also display some excellent skiing , and there was no exception from the fastest female skier Elsa MacDougal Pope who donned a leopard print catsuit.

She was absolutely thrilled with her brand new skis from Freeride.fr – at least we presumed that was why she played them like a guitar for the audience at the prize giving and after party in Jack’s.

Once we were all fed and watered with tasty burgers washed down with a beer courtesy of Jack’s bar, or alternatvely a vin chaud kindly provided for us by Meribel Tourist Office, the crowd eagerly awaited the afternoons spectacular team event as all 16 of them tackled the dual slalom course.

Team tactics are always best employed but literally anything can happen as Adam from Photoski.ie – who was photographing the event for us - found out when one of the snowboarders (?? Who) took a tumble at high speed and then collided with Adam and all his very expensive photography equipment.

Fortunately the only items broken were Adam’s designer sunglasses, which were still fairly pricey but nowhere near as expensive as his camera! It’s clearly fairly risky being either side of the camera in snowports.

New kids on the block Team Swyss International and Team Swyss UK, were hot contenders in the skiing with Swyss Internaional just plucking the title from Polygana, who after beating Team Two Hens and Two Cocks, fought valiantly until the final moments when one of their team members missed two gates and therefore handed the trophy to the Swyss team.

' Where’s the Army' and 'Tallyhoo Crab Fat's represented the armed forces in the snowboard event but it was Team 'Where’s The Army?' that won the re-run of the final and evenutally took the Dual Slalom snowboarding title.With a name like ‘Late and Disorganised’ it’s no wonder that they came in third in the snowboarders parallel.

As the light faded, the hill turned colder and the warmth of Jack’s bar beckonned we were all content in the knowledge that another fantastic day of racing had beaten the weather once again and we could all hang up our racing bibs unitll next...err week. It’s the Natives Mini Olympics in Val d’Isere on Wednesday and we’re heading back to the mountains for the second event in the WorkersChallenge series...bring it on!  

We'd like to extend a special thank you to the wonderfully generous Meribel Tourist Office, Stade Corbey, Jim Duncombe, Ben Simpson, Vicky Brown, Giles Thornton, Simon Clark, Welsh Phil and his fine BBQ, Jez and the team at Jack's Bar and MC extraordinaire Jon Trigell.

And an absolutely mahoosive thank you to our sponsors; Ski Club of Great Britain,, Freeride.fr, First Drop, Altitude Festival 2010, Warren Smith Ski Accademy. Local sponsors, Courchevel Enquirier, Cham the novel, Frog and Roastbeef and associate sponsors; Greeneye, Fall Line and Document magazine, Profeet, Aether Mobile.