Nicky Holford connects to the fray

For now I've were give full attention to conversing with a number of participants eager only to complete the gates. With few women racers, I think I would have a probability of making one of many lesser prize categories - until I realise the type of females who're racing. There is certainly Emma Carrick-Anderson, Britain's top female skier with four Olympics and many World Cup places under her belt. Then there exists Swedish-born Caroline Oldman who, racing for Singer&Friedlander 36 months ago, achieved the fastest female time in the race's history. Georgina Bowes-Lyon from Rathbones is also a force to be reckoned with. Race day dawns sufficient reason for it come vaguely worrying memories of the previous night: the lawyer who had previously been late for dinner while he had been waxing and tuning his skis; the fierce competition between Accenture's Jamie Skeate and Lloyd's Filippo Guerini-Maraldi. Then there are all those tales of spectacular wipeouts; of shredded knees, broken bones, dislocated shoulders. To produce things worse, the next wind storm is treacherous - high winds and a white out - and the race, we learn, is in jeopardy because the course is unsafe. Amazingly, the organisers have the ability to create a whole new course, but now rather than two runs, with your best time chosen, racers are just going to get one shot. Matt Chilton, the BBC's Ski Sunday commentator, was promised a cosy commentator's box having an elaborate audio system however he could be relegated to waiting the protection nets at the conclusion with the course using a megaphone. We reach the starting paddock and all my worst fears are justified. You'll find a growing amount of competitors in slinky, Latex catsuits starting to heat up and also the atmosphere is tense. Even the Veuve Clicquot girls look nervous, far through the previous night once they joked that regardless of whether they did your entire race on the bottoms they wouldn't mind providing there is a glass of Champagne expecting them at the conclusion. As my start number is within the 80s , I follow the experts walking the course. The top gates are tight and there's one in particular, gate number four, that should be taken slowly to prevent released on its steep corner. Then to access gate five skiers virtually need to change direction, going slightly uphill to the left-hand turn. They're off, the blue and red of Tommy Moe's Spyder catsuit zooms by, practically flat on the floor. Bell, Bartelski and Carrick-Anderson appear and disappear inside a second. Then its Einar Johansen, an old Europa Cup racer from Norway, for Goldman Sachs and Candida Williams for HSBC. Suddenly, it's high time will be able to join the starters' queue. I own a flashback to my youth while i did some junior racing for the Downhill Only, one of many British junior race training clubs, and pray that the force will, against all odds, nevertheless be with me. "Questions flash through your mind when you are waiting on the gate," Bartelski explained yesterday. "Things like, should i go fast enough? Will I make first turn? Am i going to beat that guy from Lloyd's who made that silly bet with me within the bar yesterday?" Three to look and my heart is beating like a jackhammer. Four out of your last five racers have fallen at gate four. My poles are out in front of me, I'm inside racing position: three, two, one - I push served by every one of the force I will muster. Gate the first is easy; by gate two We have developed a large amount of speed; by gate three I'm going too fast; by gate four, I am unmanageable, it can be too steep and there is already a deep rut. I hit the snow fast having a thud and somer-sault down the course, landing alarming not even close to my skis. But my chances of a prize aren't over - "Best Wipeout" remains to be a definite possibility. I'm not even close the only person to experience a mishap. The bad visibility has additionally caused several skiers to miss the last gate and be dispatched into a ravine. "It was hilarious hearing the screams as they went in the edge," chortles Jacot de Boinod later. Bad weather might not be a disadvantage: in a very previous year Andy Stuart, racing for UBS, was overtaken on the final gate by jail Cham-pagne box which, courtesy of a strong wind, had left the starting paddock concurrently while he did. The lamp flew past his shoulder, damaging the beam that clocks the finishing time, giving Stuart an extra second. With the tension with the race over, the serious party begins. First there's a Champagne reception. "We usually get through 180 bottles of Champagne over the weekend," says Naomi Hancock of sponsors Veuve Clicquot. "I see it as practice to the polo champion-ships." The Gala dinner, that is always at the Hotel Pavillon, starts at 9pm. When the prize-giving begins, the noise has grown and the occasional bread roll has hit its target, including one geared towards the event's star skier Tommy Moe. The prizes incorporate a holiday in the Chilean Andes, jewellery from Links based in london and two next year's skis. Again Accenture gets Fastest Team and Moe Fastest Time. Antony Barrow wins Fastest Master and accepts it as being a Grand-Prix winner, shaking the bottle until it spurts over his team-mates. It's off to Poppy's nightclub. Many of us are past conversation nowadays so it is time to dance, preferably on tables and chairs. Off come the boys' shirts and raucous attempts are made to sing along towards the old favourites. Much, much later I wander back to my hotel along the quiet cobbled streets. My only regret is I've not won the prize for the best Wipeout: that went along to Maryla Shingler from your Rathbones team who completed the course simply to fall into the safety netting and be, as Matt Chilton cheerfully reported, "tangled up just like a haddock".