Ed Drake takes one step closer to Olympic dream

The Snow Centre at Hemel Hempstead saw Olympic hopeful Ed Drake hold his first fund raising event to support his bid for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

The Ski Club sponsored two events, the Ed Drake Club National and Ed Drake Invitation Parallel Slalom Event, which were open to all age ranges from Mini’s to Seniors and the standard of skiing was extremely high.

The Ski Club's Bridget Cassey paid her first visit to the Snow Centre and it was also her first UK based slalom event. "It was the weirdest thing packing my skis and boots into the back of my car on a sunny warm August afternoon and heading off around the M25" she said. "However when I got to Hemel, it all slotted into place. The venue was great, much bigger than I had imagined and the snow was just well, like real snow!"

An impressive line up of competitors were pitted against each other on the slalom course. Ed was brilliant with the younger skiers, who took the opportunity to hob nob with their skiing hero and size themselves up for future events.

Ed also did the pre-runs for each slalom race in an impressive 11 seconds, along with Sally Bartlett of Ski Bartlett and Phil Brown from Impulse Racing.

The Ski Club has been supporting Ed since he was a young ski racer himself, and this was a great opportunity to have a course-side look at British racers of the future. “The whole day went really well" said Ed. "I would like to thank everyone for coming along and to all the staff who worked tirelessly to make the event such a success. Being able to raise this money is vital in what is the most important season of my career to date. I am so glad it all went smoothly and the money raised will really help me in my preparation for the Winter Olympics.”