Hi all, welcome back to the Snowboard Community Update. My name is Mia Clift and I’m excited to be bringing you the update for September.

First, a little bit about me and how I got my start in snowboarding… I was lucky enough to grow up in a snow sport loving family. We lived in Mt Buller for the winter seasons and went to school there so I was exposed to all the skiing and snowboarding disciplines from a young age.

I started snowboarding full time when I was 9 and that was when I really got into snowboard cross and started competing in the Australian races and then went to America a couple years later for my first international races.

I love the places snowboarding takes me around the world and the people I get to hang out with because of it. But mostly, I love just getting to snowboard as much as I do and riding new courses.
 
We just recently finished a great month of racing and training in Hotham. It was my first race back in just over 18 months so it was great to be back racing after a long rehab from having ruptured my ACL. It was an honour to win the FIS JNR SBX [powered by the Chumpy Pullin Foundation] race in Hotham, in the name of Chumpy. With it being my first race back it was super special to get that result but also win a race that carries on Chumpy's legacy.

Thanks to the Chumpy Pullin Foundation for supporting the FIS JNR series. Also thank you to my coaches Harald and Jan for being so supportive over the past two years and for all the hard work you do for our whole team, we appreciate you so much.
 
The next few weeks I will be focusing on my strength and conditioning before we head over to Europe late October to begin a few training camps in Italy and Austria and then start the World Cups in early December!

All the best,

Mia

Images courtesy of Chris Hocking

Mia Clift made her Snowboard Cross World Cup debut at the age of 17 in 2021, racing against World Champions and Olympic gold medallists including Eva Adamczykova (nee Samkova), Michela Moioli, Charlotte Bankes and our own Belle Brockhoff.

Weather may have stopped the scheduled running of the FIS JNR SBX Series this season, however in true “can-do” fashion, a creative way of holding the event was created.

Snow Australia recently hosted six invited athletes for a Para Alpine and Snowboard Development Camp in Perisher, from 7 - 11 August.

It has recently been identified that there is a possible gap in travel and medical cover that may see our members being responsible for Ambulance and Emergency Transport costs occurring during Competition or Training in New Zealand.