Cross Country Skiing Skating Race
Molesey Rowing Club come to the Undiscovered Alps for an intensive stamina and cardio training week on skis!!!
With over 100kms of cross country skiing pistes around the Champsaur Valley including one high altitude 2300m venue, it was a perfect venue for a week of stamina training for some of Britain’s top rowing athletes.
Head Coach Ben Lewis putting eveything in to it!
In addition the national Trans’ Champsaurine 50km cross country skiing race scheduled for the end of their stay, provided the perfect outlet for the rowers competitive spirit!
However, after the worst conditions in the Alps for decades the team arrived in the rain with grass pushing up through the pistes!
Molesey Rowing Club are the top rowing club in the UK with several Olympic champions and rowers in the team.
Head coach Ben Lewis wanted to combine his passion with skiing and rowing and create a memorable week of stamina and team building for his rowers in the Alps.
They arrived on the 9th January with a mixed team of professional and amateur rowers, the majority of whom had never strapped any sort of skis to their feet – never mind cross country skis.
And if that wasn’t challenge enough they were faced with some of the worst conditions seen in the Alps for years with rain melting most of the early snow dump and leaving the majority of pistes un-skiable.
The snowshoeing 'rest day'!!
The first morning a small 7km slushy loop served as the introduction with ski instructors Bernard and Sophie trying their hardest to teach the basics! After a few co-ordination problems for some and the need to go as fast as possible irrelevant of technique for others, the group quickly split into two ability levels!
The rowers, it seemed were determined to cross country ski whatever the conditions! Their will paid off with a small but welcome 6 inches of snow falling on the second day! Hooray!
It wasn’t enough for the Trans’ Champsaurine race scheduled for the end of the week but it was enough to make the pistes a bit more acceptable and give the rowers a few more kms to exert themselves on!
After a day of high altitude training on the Rocherousse plateaux, the rowers were starting to show some promising speeds – despite their unconventional technique!
A rest day was planned – well not quite a rest – the team went on a full day snowshoe walk into the wilds of the valley. A perfect day with blue skies and snowy landscapes! Check out our photo album of their snowshoeing trip on flickr.
And then it was serious training for the race – they were determined to try and beat the locals!
The Race
And beat them they did!!! Head Coach Ben Lewis came 4th in the 10 km race! And in the 20km race Blake Friedman compled the 20km course in 74,40 coming 23rd, Peter Robinson in 79,38 coming 30th and Henry Pelly in 82,27coming 35th.
No-one ever doubted their fitness but cross country skiing and particularly skating is a very technical sport usually taking years to master! The team did well and certainly left a lasting impression on the Champsaur valley – It is quite humbling to be beaten by a beginner even if they are a professional athlete from a different sport!!!!
Local training is beginning now to beat them next year!!
If you would like to find out about coming to the Alps for a training week or holiday please contact us with your ideas and we’ll put something together for you. Or have a look at our current holiday offers and let us know if anything grabs your fancy!
I’m the owner and director of Undiscovered Alps and I live in France with my husband Bernard who is a UIAGM high mountain guide and two children, Annie and Tommy. I am a passionate outdoory and love walking, mountaineering, biking and ski touring.
Before setting up Undiscovered Alps, I spent a brief period of time as a science teacher and then retrained as a journalist where I spent four fantastic years at the BBC.
This blog for me is the perfect marriage of my passions; the mountains, Undiscovered Alps and writing!
Please have a read, leave your comments and get involved in the discussions – we love to hear your views! 
One Comments
[...] skier, and had never tried snowshoeing. I was lucky enough to get a chance to go snowshoeing with Molesley Rowing Club, who came on holiday with Undiscovered Alps last year. It was an amazing experience. You get to [...]