Bearsden Ski Club’s (and Britain’s) top alpine skier Dougie Crawford is preparing to kick start his season at the first World Cup speed events of the year in Lake Louise, Canada.

Dougie Crawford, Britain’s top downhill racer, missed last season through injury but has been back training over the summer and is full of confidence for the season, “We have been very fortunate to have some great training conditions over the summer and autumn this year and it has allowed me to make major technical steps forward.”

 

Dougie skied for the first time in 12 months this summer in Chile, improving his world ranking in his first race back after surgery! “The first result was a bit of a surprise as you never know how things will go when you haven’t skied for that long, but the months of rehab clearly paid off as I was able to get back to full speed very quickly”

 

After a few difficult years with bankruptcy and funding issues, the British Ski Team seems to have stabilised, though is hardly wealthy. “Things have calmed down a bit, but we are still running a very tight budget” reported Dougie, “we haven’t been able to get a technician to help with the skis, we have to spend several hours a day after training preparing our skis, and are still paying for all our own expenses.” Quite a contrast from all our rivals!

 

“It’s pretty difficult going into a season not knowing if you can afford to make it to the end! But I have had some great help from Canadian Affair who are getting me out to Canada and sponsored my fundraising ski race at Bearsden Ski Club. I’m still working away to find sponsors who can help with the costs of the rest of the season, but my first priority right now is to ski fast and make some good results in the early races.”

 

The first World Cups in Canada and America are great races. Lake Louise is an amazing place and Beaver Creek is one of the gnarliest and most fun downhills in the world!

 

He travels to Canada on Saturday 19^th November.