Team GB Telemarkers in the South West

Team GB spent the weekend (15 - 17 Aug) in the beautiful South West of England.  Plagued by not so good weather the weekend originally planned gave way to some exciting events.  Learning how to surf on Fri afternoon in Newquay was fun if not immensely tiring - Andrew Clarke sporting a board the size of the QE2 was less than impressed at the amount of gun power required to manoeuvre the 9ft beast into position.  Mark Perkins displayed evidence of a mis-spent youth or far too much spare time by standing on his first wave – poser!  Chris ‘Young as they Come’ Wotton tried to outrun his grey locks with a stunning head stand at the end of his wave – only it was at about 300 mph and he almost broke his neck!  For a moment there was some controversy as the World Wildlife Foundation arrived amidst rumours that a beleaguered sperm whale was trying desperately to get out to sea from Fistral beach.  However they soon disappeared when they quickly realised it was actually a Rick Whaller look-alike on a surf board!

Fri night we sought refuge in the bustling night life of Newquay – stag and hen parties aplenty the team were undeterred from their primary aim – food and lots of it.  Mark Perkins displayed his knowledge of haute-cuisine, whilst being singularly unimpressed with Moules Mariniere, Cornish stylee!  Whilst Chris Wotton was educated of the pitfalls associated with carbonated drinks and red wine, the RAF just nodded!

Saturday morning Pat Mitchell and Dave Munro were at a loss, being from the RAF they were not as ‘at home’ with the water as the steely eyed dealers of death Commando brethren.  Joined that morning by a rather late Paul Treanor the Team headed to Pentire Head for a 3-and-a-half hour epic coasteering.  What an epic morning with washing machine like swells which almost robbed Chris Wotton of a backside during a particularly hazardous departure from a particularly swollen sea. Dave Munro weighing in at a mere 6 stone wet through had similar issues, choosing to ride the ‘machine’ twice before being plucked to safety.  There were some decent displays of acrobatics amongst some shoddy leaps of faith from pretty high cliff tops – comments of ‘I just hit the bottom’ after one of the leaps from about 45ft was uncalled for amongst the remaining jumpers.  The adventure concluded with a short scale up a very vertical wall – of which none of us succeeded, before a short jaunt through the caves to deposit us on Crantock beach – just in time for Chris Wotton to pluck some mussels from the beach’s main drainage channel for his dutiful Wife to steam...Poor Mel.

That afternoon we braved the sea squalls to get pulled around by power kites.  Due to the strong gusts of wind we only managed to get 2 of the kites out – the other two would have resulted in a death for sure.  Dave Munro and Andrew Clarke both came a cropper with the first 1.2m kite when they got a tad too cocky with the acrobatics and realised quite quickly that these kites can dump you quite hard onto your arse.  We all tried the 1.4m kite and hope that the opportunity to try these kites whilst on skis in Eastern Europe materialises in the Winter.

We were quickly on the road back to Chris’s for a sumptuous feast.  The ladies (Mel and Alice) had been left to deal with the boys and Kitty and Violet which they did all in their stride.  The BBQ was delicious, even if those that ventured anywhere near Wotton’s coal-tastic inferno got 3^rd degree burns – it was all worth it.

Thanks go to the Ladies – in mammoth sized portions...Well done.  Sam Starkie and the Vertical Descents team for fitting us in at last minute www.verticaldescents.com

Look forward to reading all about the next team building extravaganza scheduled to take place in the Lake District 20/21 September.

July 08

The New Team GB Telemark Logo

June 08

CONFIRMED British Team Sponsor - GM Motors

Team Captain Andrew Clarke is pleased to announce a partnership with GM Motors.  Paul Phillips acting on behalf of GM Military Sales is pleased to be associated with both the British Army and British National Telemark Teams.  GM will donate a Chrysler for the duration of the Telemark World Cup which will include pivotal support to the British Army Telemark Championships to be held in Austria in 09.  Keep an eye out for the flashy motor marked up with decals near you.  Also look out for the existing offers of tax free and dsicounted sales to military personnel.

Continued Support from VIST (UK) and JUNKI GEAR

The British Team are once again to recieve considerable support from Junki Gear and VIST (UK).  Managing Director and Owner Andrew Phyn is pleased to once again offer his support to the team for 08/09.

Selected British Team for 08/09 World Cup and World Championships

Andrew Clarke - Team Captain

Chris Wotton - Vice Captain

Adrian Pery

Huan Davies

Mark Perkins

James Bennett

Pat Mitchell

Paul Treanor

Tim Muir

Dave Munro

Apr 08

FOR YOUR DIARY - 2008 TeamGB Selection Week dates...  24 May to 1 Jun.  See '08 Selection Details' tab for more information or click here.

Mar 08

Final World Cup standings... See www.telemarkski.org and follow links. (You'll need to use your imaginations on name spellings!)

Feb 08

Great results at the Europa Cup....  TeamGB sent 3 racers to the Europa Cup which took place on 21 and 22 Feb in Valdezcaray, Spain.  The Spanish hosts put on an excellent event and the Rioja flowed like water by night, which seemed to improve Andrew Clarke and Mark Murray's skiing the more they drank!  Clarke recorded a brilliant 10th place in the Sprint Classic on Day 1, with Murray coming in 13th and Andy Salter (who competed last year but hadn't competed this year until now) 14th.  Sadly Clarke could not build on his good start, bombing out of the course 3 from home on the second day, but Murray and Salter maintained British spirits with good finishes.  TeamGB would like to extend huge thanks to the event organisers whom they feel have set the benchmark for future World and Europa Cup events.

Team Selection....  Selection for the TeamGB 2008/09 squad will take place on a glacier somewhere in early June 2008.  Let us know via the Contact tab if you want to be a contender!

Shep the Seahat retires ...  The oldest man on the team, Dave Shepheard (b. 1906ish), has decided to call it a day.  Shep, who is one of lifes enthusiasts, has been a huge support to the team since it's revival and competed in both the 2007 and 2008 seasons.  We wish him well in the future and hope that he will continue to free the heel whenever the opportunity arises.