International Women’s Day – Clare’s Story

RAF Sport is proud to have many successful female athletes representing the Royal Air Force in their chosen sport. This International Women’s Day, we are celebrating the remarkable success of the women’s Telemark team through the story of Squadron Leader Clare Thomas’s inspirational ten-year journey.

A decade ago, only one female competed in telemark ski racing at the Inter-Service Ski and Snowboard Championships. Making history a few weeks ago in Meribel, HRH the Duchess of Edinburgh presented gold medals to the first female team to take the championship title, the proud RAF team whose picture hit Hello magazine!

From being the only female competing head-to-head with men to having broken new ground as the first Female Individual Champion, and then leading the RAF team to win the first-ever Female Inter-Services Team Competition. Sqn Ldr Clare Thomas is a pioneer in her sport and has challenged the hierarchy to progress gender equality in Telemark competition. She reminisces on the RAF Telemark Ski Association’s ten-year plan coming to fruition following an incredible performance this season.

“The first year I pitched up to Meribel, I was terrified.  I’d only done a couple of days of telemarking and, if I’m honest, I hated it. I’d never ski raced before, and I was always at the back of the course as I was so slow, particularly compared to the Army and Royal Navy who were typically fresh from their Commando Telemark training. To make matters worse, I couldn’t spend more than a couple of hours in the boots as they hurt so much!

It begs the question of why I would want to continue, but there is something about the Telemark ski discipline that grips people! Some claim it’s the perfect combination of art and sport, then there’s the obvious camaraderie between all telemarkers that transcends the Services, whilst others relish in the variety of the sport as you get a ‘three for one deal’. Within one race you get to experience gates much like an alpine giant slalom, a jump, and a skate section at the end – akin to cross country. So, Telemark really is a complete ski experience.”

So how did Clare go from not wanting to put on the boots, to being the first female Inter-Service Telemark champion?

“That first season was a tough one, if we couldn’t attract and develop an RAF team there was talk that Telemark would be cut from the ISSSC. We knew we needed to do something so a few of us came up with a ten-year plan. The two aims were to close the gap between the RAF men’s team and the other two Services and then exploit the strength that we felt the RAF had, which was to introduce females to the discipline and put the ISSSC Committee under pressure to establish a female competition.

Unsurprisingly, one of the biggest hurdles to growing a sport almost from scratch is resources. Particularly with successful disciplines such as Alpine and Snowboarding already competing under the RAF Winter Sports Association (RAFWSA). However, as support started to generate for the endearing Telemark team, funding from the RAF Central Fund made our plan viable. Equipment funding meant that we could try a different model of boot on the most up-to-date bindings and race on proper race skis.

It was a revelation. My feet didn’t hurt anymore, and I had women’s kit that fitted me properly. I was now comfortable when we went out on the mountain, which meant I could get so many more effective training hours out of every day we had. I could now enjoy the sport and that led to improving and gaining confidence. Being able to apply for an Individual Sports Grant from the Central Fund allowed me to customise my boots which, like many of the team, I would have unlikely have been able to manage without that RAFCF support.“

Another significant priority for the team’s development was instruction as the RAF barely had enough athletes, never mind any instructors. Financial contributions enabled the team to invest in world-class coaching, something that remains a key component of their success strategy today and has aided growth in overall participation.

“This year at the RAF Champs we had more people attending our ‘tele tasters’ than ever before. Thanks to RAFCF funding, we’ve been able to maintain a great kit so those trying telemarking for the first time can do so on the best equipment and in comfy boots! Due to an increasing number of those catching the ‘tele bug’, we’re also now sustaining our male and female teams.“

An obvious measure of success for any sport is results, and the RAF Telemark Ski Association has seen an incredible performance by both teams this season. After Clare won the first female championship title at the Inter-Services last year, all Services focussed on delivering female teams to the 2024 season so that the female team competition could be established.

“To have the full female Telemark competition established this season is a real milestone. Of course, I’m incredibly proud of our team for taking away the first female team championship title, but for me, it’s also been about how far the entire Telemark community has come. Having a female competition signals how much the entire discipline has grown across the military. I still vividly remember being the only female waiting to be last in the pack of about 20 men at the start gate. This year I happened to be the first racer of 12 women, and we all raced ahead of the men.  It’s exciting to see the potential of the sport as we work with the Army and Royal Navy Telemark communities to grow further and provide opportunities for all.“

Summarising what sport means to her, Clare said “Sport has been a big part of my life, the physical and mental resilience it’s engendered has helped me tackle all kinds of pressure domestically as well as professionally. Sport, powered by the RAF Central Fund, has helped me through the most difficult times of my life and enabled me to be a better member of the RAF than I would have been otherwise. It’s also opened up the most incredible opportunities and of course, been the source of great friendships.

With the results that we’ve seen recently and the opportunity for even more growth, it’s certainly an exciting time to be part of this spectacular skiing discipline.

We have a full indoor programme and long weekends to Holland over the Summer, which are great opportunities to come and give telemarking a go. You can find us on Instagram @RAF_Telemark or email me at clare.thomas994@mod.gov.uk, and we can have a chat!”

A massive congratulations to this season’s RAF Telemark women’s team, Sqn Ldr Clare Thomas (c), Sqn Ldr Emma Tadman, Wg Cdr Lex Smyth and Flt Lt Sarah Shave.