In March the ex Olympic skier Alain Baxter visited the Ipswich ski centre for a business morning breakfast followed by a training session with the Vikings race team. Although it was on a Monday morning and a school day many of the team were still able to attend and had a great time with him, not often that sort of thing happens so was good for them.

For a report click here.

Last week I spent a couple of days in London with Natasha on the sightseeing quest. She doesn’t often get the chance to come down to London and it is something she wanted to do, so although I spend all my working time down there we headed back there together.

A man was arrested at the large Hadron Collider last Thursday, details here.

A while back Gloucester ski slope was put up for sale along with the nearby golf club. Details can be seen here. Last week was the time when the sealed bids had to be submitted and there are supposed to be a few that have been received. Hopefully it will not go to John Nike as that would be a great shame for racing and definitely sounds like there are some good other options.

Last year it was interesting to see what the attendance was like at some of the races in ERSA. Some were down others up. What was very apparent though is that we didn’t have any true stats to back up what the trend was. It’s also quite important to watch what the trend is like this coming year with so many changes happening. Last year and this year there are so many races to choose from. This year we have at least seven, possibly eight races in the region, but also there is a packed national scene.

One of the things that has been missing for sometime over the past few year in the summer ski racing is a central place or places where reports about various races can be viewed online.

During the final part of 2009 I published a survey on SkiZog to get some feedback from the summer racing season. I did it because there was no other way for people to feedback anonymously and be honest at the same time.

I’ve now summarised the results in the attached PDF file. Some very good feedback there and definitely worth following up and from an ERSA point of view will definitely take a closer look.

This is something that can easily waste many hours and is a good way of seeing places you would like to visit and get an idea of what it’s like. It’s also good to see what your own house looks like on there and be nosey about friends places (and anyone who says they don’t if fibbing).

The street level view is excellent and it has brought the maps to a new level especially now that they have rolled it out to much more of the UK can see so much more detail.

Last Sunday we held an ERSA Committee meeting and went through several topics. The minutes will be published shortly on the ERSA website but in the meantime a copy is attached here.

If you’re in London and fancy a brilliant Italian restaurant then try Sergio's, http://www.sergiosw1.co.uk/, it’s not expensive (unless you go for the specials) and the quality is fantastic.