Mills & Reeve is delighted to be sponsoring Anna Turney in her quest for gold at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games.
Anna, a keen snowboarder with a natural ability, had her sights set on competing at the highest level but a snowboarding accident in January 2006 left her paralysed and meant her life ambition to snowboard for Great Britain ended. This didn't stop Anna though: "A year later I realised that there's a whole world of opportunities out there to be seized," she said. After speaking to three-times world champion and Paralympic monoskier Stacey Kohut, she set her sights on the slopes again. In May 2008, after intensive training and less than two and a half years after her accident, Anna made it onto the British Disabled Ski Team.
Anna is now about to embark on the next stage in pursuit of her dream of competing in the 2010 Vancouver Paralympic Games. At the Games the disabled racers will compete across the same disciplines, namely slalom, GS, Super G and Downhill and Super Combined, as the able bodied racers. They will also race on the same slopes as the able bodied women, meaning that the racing is every bit as challenging and demanding for Anna as it is for the top able bodied women skiers.
On 1 November Anna left, with the rest of the British Disabled Ski Team (BDST), for a two-week training camp in Hintertux, Austria. This is remarkable progress given that Anna only joined the BDST late last season and already she has made the squad as a member of the "B" team. The BDST have noted that Anna "began to show true promise in the latter races of the season…" (2007-08).
For the non-skier readers, Hintertux is 75km from Innsbruck and is a tiny resort at the end of the Tux valley. The resort is at an altitude of 1,500m but the glacier allows ski-ing up to an altitude of 3,250m. There is guaranteed snow all year round with downhill runs up to 12km long, which makes it one of the leading winter Alpine resorts and a perfect location to start training for the 2008-09 season.
On 16 November the team departs for Stubai which is some 30km south east of Innsbruck. Here the team will continue race training for a further week before returning to the UK for one week. Then, all being well, Anna will be travelling to the USA training camp in Winter Park, Colorado before the start of the North American cup races at Breckenridge. Anna is aiming for good results in these races as the results will determine selection for the World Cup races in January 2009.
The 2008-09 season also includes, in February, the World Championships in Korea, which take place every two years, so there is plenty of competitive ski-ing to look forward to this season.
Anna needs about £10,000 a season if she is to compete at this level. To make it to the Paralympics will take even more. You can follow Anna's progress on her website
www.annaturney.com where you can find further details of how to sponsor Anna in her quest for Paralympic glory.