The Herald reports

'It's highly dangerous but you have to go for it'
Published on 20 September 2013


Kevin Ferrie

Her mother reckons that Pamela Thornburn's career choice as a ski racer was inevitable.

The Scottish skier was travelling at velocity and frightening the life out of her parents from the moment she came into the world . . . literally.

"She thinks I was born for speed because I arrived in an ambulance travelling at 70 miles an hour," says the 27-year-old with a giggle.

You can only feel for Linda Thorburn since, from that moment on, her daughter has been on a mission. Her worst injury has been a broken neck - "I had a really good rehab but it still gives me a bit of trouble" - while Gordon Mackay, the sports surgeon, said he had never seen a shoulder so loose, held together only by muscle, when he rebuilt it. There has also been knee ligament damage along the way.

"Both my parents have been very supportive and mum knows it's what I want to do, but she can't watch when I'm racing," admits Thorburn. Perhaps, then, there was momentary relief for Linda when Pamela told her two years ago that she was giving up competing as a downhill skier in favour of ski cross, at least until she was told what the latter entails.

The name may not ring any bells but most who saw it at the last winter Olympics remember it. "Most people say that: they don't recognise the name of the sport but when you describe it they know what you are talking about and it got a good reception at the last Winter Olympics," says Thorburn.

Essentially it is still racing downhill on skis: the only difference is that four competitors are doing so at the same time. Put another way, much of the danger of downhill racing remains, but there is the added complication of battling for supremacy on the same stretch of snow with three other women.

"It can be very physical. Coming out of the start gate it can be a bit of a squeeze when the four of you come together," she says. "You do see some strange things too, with people ploughing through fences or heading off in among spectators."

For the most part, it seems, it is every man or woman for themselves. "It may not look like it but there are rules, and mostly people race fairly, but there are moments when that's not the case and the dirtiest are definitely the Russians.

"If you get two of them in your heat they will work together with one of them looking to block you out; you just have to deal with it," says Thorburn.

So, when the Bank of Scotland Local Hero turns up at events like the one held at Bearsden Ski and Board Club last week as part of the sponsor's Join In campaign, just how does she promote a sport so fraught with danger?

For the kind of youngster she was - and around 100 attended the event in question - the reality is that no selling is required. "The speed side of it has always been one of the things I love; I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie," she says. "Both [downhill and ski cross] are highly dangerous but you've just got to throw it all out there and go for it."

She had done so to good effect as a downhiller ahead of the last Winter Olympics, achieving the qualifying standard only to be denied her chance when the British Ski Federation went bust. Although seven skiers had qualified to represent Great Britain, the funds were eventually scrambled together to send four of them and Thorburn was one of the unlucky ones.

"It was a bit of a heart-break because I thought I was set and so did my parents, so it was really tough to take having worked so hard to get there," she says. "As a result Alpine skiing had a bad feeling for me but I wasn't ready to stop competing so when the opportunity to try ski cross came along I went for it."

You might say she has gone from the frying pan into the fire since there is little in the way of formal support for ski cross in Britain, but through events like The Snowflake Fund Raiser at Hampden on October 5 for which she is currently selling tickets, she scrabbles together the money to get to the necessary events and is doing sufficiently well to have revived that Olympic dream.

"Last season was my first full-time in ski cross and I had a couple of results that were bang on so I'm looking quite good for qualifying and I've got seven races in which to do it ahead of the Olympics," she explains. "The first World Cup event is in Canada in December and with ski cross it is just down to being in the top 32."

Several mountains need to be negotiated first, both physically and metaphorically. Given her past experience on and off the slopes you cannot help feeling that this is one Olympic hopeful who now deserves the right kind of break.

This article was posted on 20-Sep-2013, 06:27 by Hugh Barrow.