We've recently welcomed new up and coming rider Paul Moralee to the Tignes Spirit Team. Heading into his first season on the GB SnowboardCross team, we're excited to be cheering him on throughout his forthcoming winter race calender.
I was born in Devon and have lived here ever since. I’ve been snowboarding since I was 12 and have been lucky enough to board all over Europe and North America on holidays with family and friends. My first time snowboarding was on a family ski holiday to Courmayeur, Italy. One day whilst there I had a snowboard lesson with my brother and I've been on a board ever since.
I choose to focus on boardercross for one main reason, the speed. Ever since I got on a board it was about fast runs and curving up the pistes. I do enjoy getting out in the snow park and fresh powder but love the buzz of the speed in the head to head races.
Its always a mix of feelings whilst waiting in the gate at the start of the race. Nerves, excitement, focus and self believe. But as soon as the gate drops and you pull out of the gate as hard as possible, the nerves go and the adrenaline kicks in and the focus and concentration begins.
Unfortunately I have been in a tumble, but that's all part of boardercross. It was this year at the Brits in TIGNES. I qualified well and went through to the knock out heats. During the quarter-final heat I was taken out by an opponent. I had the inside line going into the first corner, neck and neck with one rider. Just as I went on to my toe edge to take the corner another opponent went into the back of me. This coursed us both to crash out. By the time I had got back to my feet, I could see the other two cruising along. I raced down in hope that someone had crashed out or missed a gate. But sadly they didn't and that was me out.
Most of training is based in Hintertux, Austria. We will be covering all sorts of different snowboarding aspects in pre season training. A few of the main areas we will be working on are:
Carving technique, to help develop the perfect racing line around gates on the course.
Jumping technique, working on big kickers to get used to jumping at speed whilst in close proximity of other riders.
Rollers, well will work on rollers and how to power through to generate more speed.
Freestlyle, we will be doing some freestyle training (this may seem strange) but we are all working on the basis the “riders that can adapted to the terrain and can react to unforeseen circumstances in races will make good Boardercross riders”.
Fitness, I have my own personal fitness plan for the season designed by the British Ski and Snowboard fitness coach. Most of this will be based in the gym, with 3-4 sessions a week.
There are 10 riders on the British SBX squad with a mix of male and female talent.
I went out for a weeks trial in November 2014 and had a full week of intense snowboarding. Covering all techniques I talked about in the current training with the team. After a tough week on the snow I was luck enough to be offered a place on the squad. It was a very proud moment for me. Nearly one year on and here I am on the team training full time in preparation for the upcoming race season.
This year I will be competing in FIS races and Europa Cup. These races are held all over Europe. We will be competing in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France and hopefully a race in North America. I think the team are aiming to race at 12-15 races this season (weather dependant). The first race will probably in the middle of December and I cant wait to get back on the track again!
I love riding in Tignes. It has a massive area of terrain to ride, with a good mix of runs for all levels of riders. I like the 'Crocus' run as it opens out with a very steep slope which allows for great speed. Tignes also has a great park that seem to be built to perfection year after year. The glacier at Tignes was a personal highlight of my latest visit. The views from the top were breath taking and the runs off the top were great to. (The après is pretty awesome too!)
