Zoe Gillings, Britain's No 1 Olympic snow sports athelete and entrepreneur finished in 10th place at the opening World Cup Snowboard Cross event held in Telluride, USA, yesterday. The format for the World Cup event has taken a dramatic change this year where 24 athletes now qualify for the heats instead of 16, and each heat now has 6 athletes racing in it instead of 4. Zoe qualified in an impressive 9th position out of 30 on thursday ensuring 3rd lane choice in the heats the following day. Zoe went into her first heat full of confidence and finished a solid race in 3rd position ensuring progression into the World Cup semi finals. The semi final didn't quite go to plan with Zoe catching her edge over one of the rollers and crashing out effectively ending her bid for a medal. Zoe finished the competition in 10th place confirming her World ranking as 10th. Zoe commented after the race, "I'm obviously dissapointed that I didn't bring home a medal but I had a solid competition, I qualified 9th out of 30 and enjoyed some fantastic racing in the heats. The training I have been doing over the summer has paid off and I know I just made a silly mistake in the semi final race. I'm really looking forward to the next World Cup in Badgastein, Austria, in January." Zoe turned entrepreneur in May 2011 when she learned that all her funding had been cancelled despite obtaining the results required for UK Sport Podium funding. Zoe set up www.IsleofDeals.com in the Isle of Man and in only 8 months, IsleofDeals has become the Isle of Man's largest daily deals website which offers discounts of between 50% to 90% off the best things to do, see, eat and drink in the Isle of Man. Zoe is running this business on a daily basis and has just advertised job applications to take on her first full time employee. IsleofDeals.com together with her major sponsors BMW, Optimal payments, Pokerstars and IOM Sports Aid are the only reason Zoe is able to represent her country at an International level. Despite being Britain's no 1, Zoe recieves no world class funding whatsoever. Zoe is now fuly in charge of her own World Cup program and as such has now secured her most comprehensive and professional World Cup training program of her career to date. Zoe, using her business skills and years of World Cup sporting experience, negotiated a deal with the Dutch national snowboard team giving her access to a world Class coach, assistant coach, physiotherapist, technician and Team manager - everything she needs to progress in her sport. Zoe commented, "I can't explain what it felt like when I learned my World Class funding had been cancelled and it was even worse when I found out why. My career was falling apart in front of me despite obtaining the results I needed - this even included 8th at the Olympics, 7th at the World Championships and a podium (3rd place) at the World Cup finals - yet it was cancelled for reasons beyond my control that had nothing to do with me or my results. I wasn't going to let this stop me though, no way. I immediately saw a gap in the market for a business in the Isle of Man and knew I needed to raise a large amount of money... and fast with the season approaching. With solid sponsorship backing from Pokerstars, IOM Sports Aid, Optimal payments and BMW I then also launched www.IsleofDeals.com. In just 8 months IsleofDeals.com has featured over 150 businesses, saved Manx consumers over 1/4 million pounds and sent over 10,000 customers to these businesses with our daily deals. Our customer base in the Isle of Man is well over 11,000 and growing every single day" Zoe also showed particular business flare by securing a partnership early on with the Isle of Man's leading radio station - Manx radio - who broadcast each and every deal on the radio several times a day completely free of charge for the business being featured. IsleofDeals.com has now become the No 1 place for businesses to advertise their products and services in the Isle of Man as it is completely risk free and can send 100's or even 1000's of new customers to a business in just 1 day. Zoe commented, "Despite launching a business career, UK Sport podium funding is essential as it doesn't just provide financial backing but also specialist services such as strength and condiitoning, physiotherapy, nutrition etc, all of which are required to become World No 1. UK Sport have so much experience and have a World Class research and development unit which I used just before the Vancouver Olympics but if given the opportunity again I would like to start work with them a lot earlier before the next Olympics. I know I have achieved the results required and can't do anymore than that, so I hope that UK Sport will reinstate the funding soon. I know first hand they are vital if I'm again to become World No 1. Zoe now heads to the next world Cup competition in Badgastein, Austria, on the 10th January. Until then Zoe will be training hard every day and running IsleofDeals.com on a daily basis. Zoe finished, "I'm in a great place right now, training and competition are going well, I'm feeling fit and strong, business is booming, and Chritstmas is right around the corner. I'm especially looking forward to getting home on Tuesday because as a BMW brand ambassador I have a brand new BMW X3 waiting for me which will be perfect for travelling around the ice and snow covered roads of Europe as I travel between competitions and training." ENDS