2024/25 Season Wrap

TLDR: Results Finland: 4th SBX, Switzerland: 1st SBX, USA: 6th,6th,3rd SBX, Canada: 10th BS, 12th SBX.

After a quick summer break over the new year, I took off on the next leg of the season, returning to the northern hemisphere ready to give it a solid crack. Our first stop was Pyhä, Finland, for a Snowboard cross(SBX) event. I finally made my return to the track, it had been over 5 years since I’d last raced SBX on the para circuit and to be honest I was little nervous. Finland was once again cold and dark which is standard for January. But when the sun did peep its head over the horizon between 11am and 1pm it was pure magic.

The week-long training camp went well but I took a pretty solid crash over the big kicker snapping my race board and straining my ankle. Fortunately it wasn’t too serious so by the time the weekend came around I was able to race. After setting the fastest time in qualifications I was feeling confident and breezed through the heats into the big final. In the big final was Krupa(Slovakian), Davy(UK), Matti(Finnish) and myself. I was pretty frothing to make the big final first event back and overfrothed clipping the tail of my board on the start gate as we got underway. I was behind from the get-go and couldn’t catch the other three riders on course so I finished 4th place on the europa cup.

Following Finland, we journeyed to Lenk, Switzerland, for the next europa cup events. Lenk, making its debut on the Para Snowboard circuit. In a quick turnaround we had the official training and qualifications on the same day. I qualified 1st at the time trails but unfortunately rough weather cancelled the finals the following day. The results from qualifications counted handing me my first Podium for the season!

With momentum on my side, the next stop on the circuit took us too Steamboat Springs in Colorado USA the final stop before the World Championships. First day back we had an epic pow day at nearby Keystone resort. 30cm of fresh snow, bluebird skies and long steep black runs made for the best conditions all season. Over at Steamboat the sbx course was slow with the fresh snow making line choice crucial for maintaining and generating speed.

Having earned enough points in the European cup I was able to move up to the world cup level at steamboat. We had two world cup races over two days, where I lost in the semi finals both days earning me a pair of 6th placed finishes. The Final day of racing was the North American Championships. It was another bluebird day and I had a great qualifying run which gave me a better heat draw than the previous days. I made it through the semi’s and kept the momentum going in the final to finish in 3rd place. Although not as prestigious as the world cup, it was nice to stand on the podium again. To top it off at the end of the day we got to ride the 22ft superpipe which was super scary but very fun.

Steamboat moved into the rearview and we moved onto Big White, Canada for the season crescendo, the Para-Snowboard World Championships. This was my 4th time coming to Big White and with all the aussies that work the ski season there it felt like homeground. With a bit of fanfare, we had the opening ceremony. The organisers linked up with a local primary school to have each country led through the village by a student. I was given the honour of flag bearer for Team Australia which consisted of three athletes, two coaches, wax tech, physio and a sports psych.

Banked Slalom was first up and the course was a long one. 21 banked turns stretched out over a minute downhill had the legs burning by the end of the course. With the extra numbers at world champs training was limited to three runs. I tried a different line each run low, high and mid. After talking with the coaches, we thought mid to high for the top section and mid to low for the bottom would be fastest.

Race day we were met with overcast conditions and temps around -3. We had one training run to adjust to the course and then everyone got two timed runs with only the fastest time counting. I put down two pretty clean runs with my second run being my best at a 1.13s. This was fast enough for me to place 10th overall. My teammates Ben Tudhope and Aaron Mcarthy finished 5th and 12th in their respective categories.

Next up was the snowboard cross. Training day flew by with the course running fast and technical, top speed being around 70 kph. Race day was again met with overcast conditions this time with a little more wind around. We had our one training run to adjust to the course and then the timed qualification straight after. My balance was a little off through the start section costing me some time and qualifying 12th for the heat draw.

The field was cut from 23 athletes to 16 after qualies so my first heat would be a quarterfinal. My competitors alongside me in the quarters were Luch(Italian), Pengwang(Chinese) and Masa(Japanese). I had a good start out of the gate and was sitting in third in front of Masa after the first turn and keeping up with Luch and Pengwang until the mid course step-up where they turned on the afterburners. I held off a late challenge from Masa to finish third but only the top two advance to the next round. So my qualification result of 12th stayed the same.

We had one more day on snow freeriding and then it was season wrap followed by some celebrations at Snowshoe Sam’s. Each event this season has been a stepping stone, building confidence and highlighting areas for improvement leading into next years Winter Paralympic Season.

Thanks everyone for the support I’m keen to carry this momentum forward and keep things rolling for next season.

Cheers,

Polly

This Newsletter was made possible by the support from:

The AIS

KRC Construction

Joel Spiteri Tattoo

Hightides Furniture

Thanks for reading!!

If you would like to get involved on the journey to the 2026 Winter Paralympics click the button below to see more.

Europe 2024

The 2024/25 Para-Snowboard season has kicked off again, this northern hemisphere winter is set to see events in the Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Serbia(unconfirmed) and rounding out with World Championships in Big White Canada.

After missing last season due to injury, I started my comeback with Team Australia in Ruka Finland where we had our preseason training Camp. Ruka is 66 degrees north so at this time of year you only get around 5-6 hours of daylight so a lot of our time on the slopes was in the long evenings under floodlights.

It was early season so not much snow had fallen yet which made for some really variable and mostly icy conditions. This makes for some really good training conditions if you can snowboard on ice you can snowboard on snow. I recorded our training sessions via strava and in 3 weeks we clocked up over 300 runs and 38000 metres of vertical. To keep the body feeling fresh we did recovery sessions in the sauna followed by cold plunge in an ice cold frozen lake.

The camp passed quickly and pretty soon we were moving on to Snowworld in the Netherlands for the first competition of the season. Held indoors at a place affectionately known as “the freezer” we joined up with the rest of the team which included a few development athletes coming through.

After settling in at Snowworld we went and had a look at the banked slalom racecourse which had 14 banked turns over approx. 200metres from start to finish. On race day your allowed two runs with only your fastest time counting towards the end result.

I was happy to get back in the gates and make my return to international competition. After the training runs I decided to take the highline on the course as it felt the quickest. My two runs were within .1 of a second with my quickest time being 36.12s. Against some tough competition this was good enough to have me finish 7th out a field of 22.

My results were good enough to collect the required points to wild card into the world championships coming up in Big White Canada next March. So pretty happy with first leg of the season. Now it’s time for a short Christmas break at home before heading back to Finland for the next competition.

Thanks for reading!!

BURTON STEP ON : Review

*Check the video’s below to see how long it takes to clip in to step ons compared to normal bindings*

How do you strap into a snowboard with no hands? With patience young grasshopper.

Being on the Aussie team we are in and out of our snowboards a lot during an average days training. Using the split hook, I’m always the last to get strapped in, I’ve got the technique dialed these days but sometimes it still gives me the shits having people always waiting on me. This recent Australian season I thought I’d give the new Burton Step-on’s a go (massive thank you to Burton Australia for hooking me up).

First impressions were really good stepping on and clipping in was easy enough straight away but after a few tries you pick up a subtle little twist that gets it locking quickly with a satisfying click. It is a little weird looking down and not seeing your toe strap, mentally it takes bit to trust the mechanism especially when its windy on the lift. Right from the first run you notice how responsive the set-up feels going edge to edge. The heel is locked in and pressure is generated from the base of the boot rather than leaning in and relying on straps, this makes the connection with the board feel truer in a sense.

I rode them in all conditions this Aussie season, pow, ice, groomers, slush, wind, sunshine and rain and had no troubles at all. Before clipping in you have to make sure that the base of the binding is completely clear of snow otherwise you don’t hear that satisfying second click, with fresh snow it builds up a little more. But you don’t have to clear the base out any more than you do with normal bindings and if it’s not fully cleared out you can still ride with it sitting in the first click it just feel a little loose and less responsive.

One draw back I found was with the fit of the boot. I was riding the Burton Photon’s which felt fine but I found my foot getting squeezed width wise. There are two little metal tabs at the front of the boot that lock into the binding. In that part of the boot there was no give at all and often my back foot would go numb from my little toe and down the side of my foot. A boot fitter could probably help get a little more space in there and it only happened on my back foot so could have had something to do with how my foot was sitting in there but regardless it became a tad annoying.

Overall, I was super happy with the system. It saved me so much time, I was always first to lock in and ride away and I also saved a heap of energy not having to bend over or sit down to strap in. I really like the feeling of being more connected with the board and the responsiveness that brings. After the first few runs any doubt I had about not being strapped in went away. I can’t say too much on how they would go through the terrain park but that extra responsiveness could help. I definitely recommend getting a set if carving is your thing. Despite my foot getting squeezed I’m going to go with the Step on’s this NH season to see how they hold up in competition.

Japanese Musings

The light cascaded through the cloud capturing the tiny flakes as they made their way from the heavens. The wind yielded to the valley as they settle amongst the Sakura. The Canopy extends into the illuminated patchwork blue contrasting a framework of beauty out above.

The moment etched for eternity, held steadfast into the growth of inner and outer simplicity. A soul enriched from a moment in time when the lucidity of existence expressed itself through a confluence of the elements. Today was a good day.