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In a bold break from the norm, the inaugural Natives Mini Olympics was held in Val d'Isere as part of the Workers Challenge Series 2010 and Scooby Doo, Alice in Wonderland and a host of others battled it out for the crown. Emma Morris reports...

Olympic beginnings
Twice selected for the French Olympic team (in 1972 and 1976) Gerrard Bonnevie was one of France’s greatest slalom racers, and as was customary in the days before the mountain resorts of the Alps were quite as well known as they are today, the French government gave Gerrard a piece of his home mountain as a reward.

That little piece of Val d’Isere is now known as the Grand Stade, and Gerrard and his lovely wife Sara teach racing technique and style on the Stade every day of the winter season. They work seven days a week in the winter which seems outrageous, even to those of us lucky enough to be working in the mountains we’d consider it unfair not to have at least one day off per week!

But Sara and Gerrard work tirelessly setting the courses and timing equipment for regulars and wannabe racers alike. It’s only 2€ per person to try your turns through the gates, and as our Olympic competitors discovered, racing is addictive as well as great fun.

Winter Olympic inspiration
It’s less than a week until the Winter Olympics begin in Vancouver, and those of us with a vested interest in the world of all things snow are as excited as a season worker on a day off without a hangover on a blue sky powder day.

In our anticipation we thought it’d be a great idea to hold our very own Olympics of the smaller variety – so small in fact you could call them mini. Therefore it seemed that the Stade, with its Olympic roots seemed like the perfect location to host the first ever Natives Mini Olympics.

Eventful day on the hill
Traditionally the Workers Challenge in Val d’Isere is greeted with a snow storm, so we were delighted with the conditions on Wednesday as after a light smattering of snow the night before we had a cloudy but mainly sunny day for the event.

We had a surprising turn out to the Stade with some awesome fancy dress costumes including Scooby Doo, the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland and some skin tight racing suits. Extra points were awarded despite the lack of adherence to the theme – which was an Olympic country of your choice – but effort is just as important in our eyes.

The bum boarding was an absolute hoot with Sara Bonnevie being the most surprisingly enthusiastic contender and showing some incredibly graceful technique! Sky diving , kneeling on the boards, face first, backwards and traditional use of the bum were all employed as tactics!

Team Oxygene were awarded with the most points in the bum boarding and then it was time for the more serious elements of the day as the competitors took to the blue and red flags for the MIni racing events.

Mini serious
We began with the team event – a Mini Dual Slalom where two teams go head to head and first team to complete the course wins. In a nail biting final Team 20 Days were the outright winners, and with Lorne Noble, ex-Scottish racer in their team it was no wonder!

So it came as no surprise when Lorne also achieved the quickest time in the Individual Mini Slalom of 24.14 seconds – a whole two seconds lead over the fastest male skier, Natives very own Simon Clark – and gaining even more points for Team 20 Days.

Adrian from Skiworld put in an impressive 34.12 seconds taking the title for the male boarders but it wasn’t enough to regain the lead, and eventually 20 Days were announced as the gold medallists. All the competitors had a great time and absolutely loved the racing.

Bitten by the racing bug...
As we always say after a Natives racing event, once bitten by the racing bug you just can’t get enough, and there were many promises at the after party and prize giving, hosted at Le Petit Danois, of more racing on the Stade to follow.

All our competitors were able to see themselves in action thanks to Paul ‘Spanky’ Sparks, who travelled over from Meribel to capture the day’s events on camera, when Adam Johnston – our usual photographer – was unable to make it.
We’d also like to say a huge thank you to Oxygene Ski School, 20 Days, Ben and Megan Simpson, Sara and Gerrard Bonnvie, Simon Clark help and enthusiasm, and a big mahoosive extended thank you to Jim Duncombe who was an invaluable asset throughout the event.

Plus we would like to say 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.