Waxing their boards: The secret behind Meribel snowboarding success

The BFBS Snowboard Cross has wowed crowds at Meribel, but what's the secret to being successful in the event?

While control and skill are important, Forces News reporter Claire Sadler dug deeper to find out one unexpected key ingredient to triumph – the amount of wax on a snowboard.

"It's just to make you try and go quicker," revealed RAF snowboarder Corporal Sam Brown.

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"It starts actually in the evening. We will look at the weather, see what the snow temperature and the air temperature is, and that depends on what wax we will use.

"That gets placed on with a hot iron, left on overnight and then when we come out just before we qualify or race, we will scrape it off to be able to get the better slide across the ice, essentially."

But what type of wax was perfect for the conditions this year?

Cpl Brown revealed he used the yellow wax which works best from 4° to -6°.

He also explained when a snowboard waxing is finished and what could happen if it's done incorrectly in the video explainer above.