The latest from Atlas

Monday 18 November 2013

Checking in with the Atlas Athletes - Adam Barwood

Podium finish - Adam in the top spot 
We were happy to support a few local athletes over the Winter season so we thought we'd check in and see how their respective season's went and what the snowy North has in store for them. Next up, Adam Barwood who is now skiing and competing over in Colorado as this post goes online. 

Hello Adam, how's things? 

Good, thanks!


Give us a little summary of your 2013 NZ Winter Season. 

My New Zealand season was pretty full-on with lots of gym work before on snow training started. To start off I had a couple of days at Coronet mid-June before heading up to Mt Hutt for a week of technical training. It was a busy season of races with about 20 starts altogether. My first races were held at Cardrona and Treble Cone. The season also saw me over in Australia, skiing in for four day in slalom races at Thredbo in the ANC Continental Cup. After this it was straight back to Coronet for Winter Games. 


Tell us what was your highlight of the Winter was and is there an achievement that you are particularly proud of?

All up if was a pretty successful season for me, achieving a few goals and personal best results. I won the National Championship titles in slalom, giant slalom, overall men and also took out the Snowsports Alpine Athlete of the Year award. One of my highlights was gaining a personal best result in slalom and it just happened to be my 21st birthday too!


What countries will you be visiting this NH Winter? What are the places you look forward to in particular? Are there any events you are going to that you haven't yet skiied?

I left NZ on the 1st November and started training at Loveland. It's really cold and the high altitude (over 10,000ft) takes a bit of adjustment at first. One of the main races I have coming up will be some of the NorAm Cup races, these races are part of the qualifying criteria for the coming Olympics. The ream I'll be racing in will be made up of Australian and New Zealand national team members and we'll be training and racing in Loveland until we head to Austria, arriving there on Christmas Eve. Whilst I'm in Europe I'll go to Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Croatia and Slovenia. I'm on the shortlist for the Sochi 2014 Olympics so I might even get to Russia!


Describe your best run of the season. 

It would have to be the race at Treble Cone on my birthday. Steep course, hard snow, a fairly clean run and a personal best!


As someone who travels a lot you must have a few tunes on your iPod to help you pass the time at airports. What are you listening to at the moment? Have you got any guilty pop secrets?

I seem to listen to pretty much anything that fits the moment. If I had a genre it would probably be rock or alternative. Lately I've been listening to a little Mumford and Sons and The National.


Do you ever get nervous before events? How do you get in the zone?

I do get a little nervous at times but I'm also getting used to it after competing in so many races. I have a bit of a morning and warm up routine to help get me in a good state of mind.


Final question: You're heading to Atlas for a feed, who would be your four dream people to accompany you to dinner? Can be anyone dead or alive.

1. Dalai Lama, 2.Hermann Maier, 3. Will Ferrel, 4. Steve Jobs


The best of luck from all of us at Atlas for your Northern Hemisphere Winter season! Would love to see the Dalai Lama at Atlas too...