This year's national championships took place at Ruhpolding in Bavaria and once again were organised by the Army winter sports association with the British biathlon union.

Katy Homyer had a very successful return to the championships after an absence of three years. In Saturday's 10k classic race, Katy skied into 7th position in senior race and won the British Junior Championship. Ski selection was difficult as wet snow fell and the temperature rose through 0C to +7C. Although tired on Sunday, Katy managed 4th place overall in the 7.5k free technique race and once again was leading junior skier.

Finally, the relays took place on Tuesday and Katy raced the second  fastest third (skate) leg to bring the GBR team up to first place at the handover to Posy Musgrave, who completed a very good win for the ladies team.

Meanwhile dad Roger has been in Innsbruck for the first World Youth Olympic Games as the team leader and coach for the British Cross-Country ski team. Our best performance was by Sarah Hale who completed a best ever youth olympic result in 16th place in the sprints. Scott Dixon (CBNSC) was unlucky to miss out on a final place just being pushed into 33rd position in a world class field.

On December 3 and 4 I was at the Bul sprints in Beitostolen. Andrew Musgrave came a fantastic 4th in the mens 15km free and Andrew Young was 3rd in the  junior sprints and 4th in the junior 10km classic. Well done the Andrews!

Across to Val Gardena next and the OPA (Continental Cup) Races were cancelled due to a lack of snow. So it was off to Seefeld where a 2.5k track promised some training- as we arrived the snow started to fall and 36 hours later the tracks had increased from 2.5 to 102.5km with a fall of nearly .75m. Fantastic training conditions.

On Monday 12 Dec I was back in Insh and able to ski on a fresh fall of 5cm on the grassy fields. The hills were plastered however, so on Thursday I telemarked Cairngorm where the gullies were loaded with powder and the sun shone.

This Saturday I am back in Norway at Sjusjoen- the forecast is for a lot of blue extra days so I am really looking forward to the camp.

Happy Christmas
 

A snow-free start to the season in Scandanavia has led to the cancellation or postponement of a number of races. Sjusjoen was almost snow free but training has been possible at Sognefjell and elsewhere on artificial snow- Beitostolen, Ostersund and Bruksvallarna.

At Bruks, a 2.5km track provided a 15km mens and 10 km womens race. The fields were extremely strong with Magnificat (FRA) and Kalla (SWE) winning their respective races. Katy Homyer of Highland Nordic, racing for the British Junior Team, had a good start to the season scoring 218 FIS points and gaining an A qualification for the World Junior Championships. A month spent training on the 3km circuit at Ostersund probably helped!

Congratulations too to Calum Irvine and Scott Dixon who set fantastic standards in the mens race- scoring 122 and 146 points respectively, both qualifications for the Youth Olympic Games.

Both races were televised all over Scandanavia. This weekend attention focus on the first World Cup which has moved to Sjusjoen where extra cannon have made a circuit. Good luck to the Andrews!