G Bindings

Schladming

I scraped ferociously at the edge. I'd been doing this for an hour, but
it still wasn't sharp enough. It never would be, for me. My arms were
killing me and the stench of the wax was driving me crazy. I stared at
my skis and smiled. I was really looking forward to this race. I hadn't
been to Schladming for years, and I was finally going back. But this
time, I wasn't going as some seven-year-old. Now, I was a slalom racer,
and I was pretty good at it. In fact, my whole family's into it. My
sister used to race, but she gave up after having a bad fall in a
really important race. She hated it after that, and has never been down
a racecourse since.
'Look, let me have a go.' Claire reached past the wax, sharpener and
screwdriver that lay on the table. I'd just been making sure my skis
were perfect for tomorrow-I didn't want anything to go wrong. I
gratefully handed my sister the skis, and tried to shake some life back
into my arms. 'You've used a whole bottle of wax on these! You won't be
able to stand up tomorrow, let alone ski. Maybe you should leave them.'
She grinned and put the skis on the floor. 'You go and get a drink, and
buy me a kit-kat.'
I nodded and stood up. 'Fine, fine. But you owe me three Schillings!' I
strode out of the room and down the corridor of our hotel.
'Destination-drinks machine.' I whispered to myself, and quietly hummed
the 'Mission-Impossible' theme tune.
After obtaining some ice water and chocolate for Claire, I went and sat
in our lounge and watched a bit of TV on the English Channel. 'I got
you something to eat. There weren't any kit-kats, but will a Ritter
Sport do?'
She walked out of the bedroom, smiling. 'God, I haven't had one of
these for about ten years!' she exclaimed, and took it out of my hands.
She sat down heavily on the pink and yellow patterned sofa and leant
back. 'Anything on?'
'Nah. Bunch of badly dubbed American trash and a documentary on
seahorses.'
'Ooh, interesting. Turn it off.'
I stretched out my foot and flicked the switch on the TV. The screen
went blank, and for a few moments there was silence. 'I'm really
excited about this race! I know I'm not going to do particularly well,
but it'll be good experience.'
She hesitated, but then spoke. 'Yeah, I know what you mean. I was so
excited about my first 'proper' race I couldn't sleep. If I were you,
I'd go to bed now. You don't want to be really tired tomorrow.'

Blearily, I opened my eyes and slammed down my fist on the buzzing
alarm clock. After a few moments of quiet, I sat up and stretched my
arms. 'Wakey wakey, sleepy head.' I said to my sister, and stood up. I
ambled slowly into the kitchen and prepared some breakfast-strawberry
jam and peanut butter on toast. Claire thinks it's disgusting, but
personally, I love it. Besides, its 'nutritious and delicious', as they
say in the Cheerios advert.

'Helmet, check. Goggles, check. Skis, check?' I quietly gave my teddy a
hug and kissed his nose. 'I think I've got everything. Come on!' I
turned away from Claire and saw her reflection in the hall mirror. 'Are
you okay? You look a little?'
'I'm fine. Now come on.'
She stamped on past me and I rushed forward to catch up. Neither of us
spoke. I wanted to break the awkward silence, but couldn't think of
anything to say.
'I told Mum and Dad we'd meet them in the foyer, beside the pool
table.' She nodded and carried on. 'Well, fine.' I thought. 'Be like
that. It isn't my fault if you didn't have enough sleep, so don't blame
me.' We eventually reached the large foyer, and I left Claire to be in
a bad mood by herself. I walked over to the fountain and stared at the
blue and green mosaic on the bottom. My reflection flickered across the
waves, and I brushed my dark brown hair out of my eyes. In two hours I
would be at the starting posts, ready to race.

'Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God?'
'Keep calm! You'll never be able to race if you're this worried. Don't
freak out, okay? I know it's scary, but you'll do fine. I believe in
you!'
'Yeah, well, I don't. I'm gonna fall, I can just feel it!'
'You won't fall!
'For goodness sake! I never got this wound up when I raced.'
'Claire! Now is not the time! Sarah, its time to go up to the top. Now,
don't worry!'
I looked around at my family, and nodded miserably, and trudged over to
the chairlift, staring at the competition. Where was Chemmy Alcott? She
said she'd be here. I took a few deep breaths and tried not to panic.
'Its good if Chemmy isn't here. She's better than I am.' I recognised
some of the other racers, but I ignored them. Right now, I needed to
keep cool, calm and collected. I headed for the queue, and silently
showed my lift pass to the attendant.

My nerves were screaming as I stared at the times on the small monitor
in front of me. They were all so fast! My turn was coming up, and I
needed to regain composure. I stood up and headed to the first gate.
Two more people, then I had to go. I stepped into my bindings and
shuffled over to the start.

I closed my eyes and slowly forced them open again, taking a few deep
breaths. I stared down the piste at the course and began to go over the
race plan that I had prepared the week before. My concentration fixed
on the skier in front of me, I picked out the places where she stumbled
and made a few quick mental notes not to do the same. The noise of the
crowd died out, and all I could hear was the pounding of my own
heart.

Beep?beep?beeeep?

'And Sarah Wood is out of the gates! She's really going for it now,
folks. 15 year old Sarah in her first International Grand Slalom.
There's the first gate?good technique, but lying 0.2 seconds down at
the first gate?oh no! What this! She's fallen! It looks like she came
right out of her bindings on that second turn. She's stopped at the
barrier, is she okay? She looks all right, she's sitting up now?And
next up is 16 year old Dany Chase, a young star from Germany.'

Dazed, I looked up at the course and the path of my fall. It must have
been over 100 feet, 200 at most. As I trudged up the slope to fetch my
skis, I tried to think what could have caused the wipeout. As I picked
up my skis and clipped them together, I glanced at the bindings. They
were set on three, but I was sure I'd set them on six the night before.
I looked into the crowd to try and see my family. I caught Claire's
eye, and she smiled. I picked up my skis and slowly started to walk
towards her and my parents. She began to laugh.