It's been a long "Road to Sochi" but the British Nordic skiers are finally there have safely arrive at the Olympic Village ready to compete for medals and a place on the podiums.

 

One interesting aspect of the selected athletes is that all four skiers hail from within 20 miles of each other – each being a protégée of the Huntly Nordic Ski Club, based at a council run outdoor centre in central Aberdeenshire, Scotland.  The skiers of Rosamund (aka Posy) Musgrave and brother Andrew Musgrave (aka Muzzy) both from Oyne, Andrew Young from Huntly and Callum Smith from Inverurie.  The support team going out with them is Head Coach Roy Young from Huntly, Finnish Coach Thomas Ramstedt and wax technician Bengt Hjort from Sweden.  A big shout out to those that didn't make it there particularly Fiona Hughes and Alex Standen who put a tremendous amount of work and effort to try and make the high qualification standard set by the British Olympic Authority.
 
All the athletes started as youngsters in the sport and developed technique and balance with games, fun challenges and skiing on artificial grass matting under the direction of the coaches from the British Nordic Development Squad.  This group of volunteers and parents have made it a mission to rejuvenate British Cross Country skiing at international race level through a graded training programme of young athletes - we think they they've worked marvels.

 
The selection of 3 athletes for Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, first athletes since 1994, and now 4 for Sochi reflects the successful vision and inspiration of these dedicated volunteers and their adaptability and skilled management with extremely limited funding alongside a huge and enthusiastic support from the wider international XC ski community.

 

This drive and support has enabled a large group of young skiers to benefit from summer training camps, winter snow training and race competition throughout Europe and Scandinavia.

 

We wish all our athletes the very best of luck for the games and we hope to be reporting success in the next couple of weeks.  For the very latest, please follow updates on Facebook and Twitter - details on the home page.