Welcome to the first newsletter of the new season from Snowsport GB which will keep you updated on all the latest from the British Snowboarding team. Along with results, we'll be featuring profiles of the athletes and teams, hear from the coaches and sponsors, and will keep you informed about the main news and events throughout the season.

It's been a fantastic start for the snowboarding team with successful training camps in Saas Fee for the Half Pipe and Snowboard Cross teams and we have some amazing results to report, on what promises to be a highly exciting season.

Zoë Gillings, Britain's No.1 female snowboarder, started off the 2007/08 winter season in style by achieving her best result in a World Cup Snowboard Cross for three years. She took 6th place in the Nokia Snowboard FIS World Cup Competition in Valle Nevado, Chile, the opening event of the 2007/08 Season. The competition was won by reigning World Champion Lindsey Jacobellis from the USA.

After the race, Zoë said: "I am absolutely thrilled with this result, as it shows that all the hard work and training over the summer is paying off. It was a great competition with most of the best riders in the world in Chile, and so I am so pleased to be up there challenging them. This is a great start to the season, and I am very excited about the rest of the winter when I can hopefully achieve a victory in a World Cup - that's my goal for this year."

Zoë Gillings won the Valle Nevado FIS World Cup back in 2004, but following a career-threatening foot injury in 2005 she has had a tough battle back to full fitness. It seems she has won that battle, and now has the chance to take on the best in the world once again, and to win World Cups in the next few seasons. Zoë's ultimate goal is a medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver in 2010.

Lesley McKenna has also had a fantastic start to the season with three high ranking finishes. Lesley spent the winter training in New Zealand at Snow Park and Cordrona with team member Ben Kilner and fellow Brit, Jenny Jones. She also found time to fit in some coaching as well.

The first competition of the season for Lesley was the Burton New Zealand Open at Snowpark, a Five Star Tournament attracting world class riders. Lesley was up against Olympic gold medal winner Kelly Clark, TTR Women's Champion 2007, Torah Bright and World Champion Manuela Pesko and was delighted to make 10th.

Lesley triumphed in the World Cup in New Zealand at the end of the summer, qualifying 6th and finishing with 8th position. Her World Cup success has continued with a well-deserved 11th place during the Half Pipe World Cup on the 1-2 November in Saas Fee, Switzerland.

She's riding better than she has since she broke her ankle and can't wait for the season ahead.

The 7th of November saw the launch of the British Ski and Snowboard Teams at the Vue Cinema in the West End of London. The event featured two new documentaries on the teams, as well as hosting an exclusive preview of the latest Warren Miller film 'Playground'.

The event, which was a great success, was attended by over 300 guests, including a wide range of media and was hosted by former Olympic Skier and BBC Presenter, Graham Bell. Interviews were given by many of the athletes on their hopes for the forthcoming season.

As ever, we'd like to thank our sponsors whose support is invaluable to the teams. Forcefield is now the official supplier of body armour for the British Snowboard team, in a new three year deal. Forcefield is an award winning brand and market leader in soft armour technologies and the team now has the best body protection available.

The Scandinavian expert in Nordic ski-wear, Craft, is also sponsoring the team with underwear and outerwear. It provides lightweight, great-fitting clothing which allow maximum performance and freedom of movement.

The team is also off to a flying start with Zoom Airways who is providing flights for the British Snowboard Team whenever they need to fly to Canada. This support will help the athletes to concentrate on their riding and help with vital preparation in the run up to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver 2010.

One of the latest sponsors to add it's backing to the British Snowsports teams is Lucozade.

Along with providing the athletes with sports supplements, Nick Morgan from the Lucozade Sport Science Academy will work closely with the teams providing education, workshops and nutritional strategies.

Sports science is of growing importance to athletes but very little research has been done on snowsports. With every competition the margins between winning and losing and even team selection are very small. The better the rigors and demands of the sport are understood, the more sports science can help aid training and performance.

The athletes will learn the basics of sport nutrition, understanding the demands of competitive training and how nutrition can help performance. It is recognised that the needs of demanding training and competition schedules cannot be met by food alone and that supplements must be part of the diet.

The British athletes will be receiving a range of Lucozade products manufactured and tested to the highest standards. They are tested by an independent laboratory for all substances banned by World Anti-Doping Agency WADA, so they are assured all products are safe to take.
Nick will work with the team and coaches over the season. They will look at what is involved in a training or competition day, such as battling ski lifts and carrying equipment, and how to counteract temperature and altitude. This will help to develop the best nutritional strategy and maximise performance.

If the building blocks are right then the athletes are on track to get the most out of training sessions and set themselves up for the best results.

Snowsport GB is delighted to welcome three new coaches to the Snowboard team.
Leo Addington from Canada will be coaching the World Cup Half Pipe team - Leo brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the team from his time coaching at the Canadian Olympic Park in Calgary, and with the Canadian Snowboard Team. Snowsport GB is delighted to have secured Leo's services for this season, and hopefully through to the Winter Olympic Games in 2010.
Leah Sill is the new Coach of the Snowboardcross Development Squad, and this new programme has already attracted 6 riders, who have not trained with the British Snowboard Team previously.
Sonia Shaw is an ex pro-rider and brings a wealth of experience, contacts and knowledge and will be coaching the Junior Team.

An exciting development for British Snowboarding is the launch of the new Junior Programme coached by Sonia Shaw, with fourteen young athletes aged between 13-16 have been invited to join the programme. The aim is to give them an overall grounding and transferable skills in all snowboarding disciplines, setting them on the perfect pathway into the Development and World Cup teams. The Youth Team is being sponsored by SnowZone which allows them free access to the indoor slopes for training.

The Development Team has also grown dramatically from three to twelve athletes across both freestyle and boardercross. It's all great news for snowboarding and we're looking forward to them winning lots of competitions in the future.

World Cup Snowboarding will begin on Channel 4 from Friday 30 November and will be shown every Sunday until the end of the season.