PROVINCIAL CHAMPION! Part Three

This is Part Three of our posts covering the Disabled Skiers Association of British Columbia (DSABC) Provincial Championships on Whistler Mountain, on April 25, 2009. And Cory's big win and his new title of Provincial Champion.


The race is over, but as in many races, the racers are not always aware of the results. There is a scoreboard posted, but since there are two runs, the coaches suggest that the racers not look at the results of the first run, as this can sometimes put on some additional pressure. So Cory did not know the results, though he seemed very pleased with his 2 runs.

Even though we knew he had won, his mum and I decided to wait until the official announcement at the awards banquet. Unfortunately, he bumped into one of his coaches on the way back to our condo from the racecourse and the couch implied that Cory had won. It was quite funny as I watched a big smile develop over Cory's face, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see that smile just get bigger on his face the whole time we walked back to the condo.


So, we then we get to the banquet and the results are on every table - here's Cory finding out officially that he was a Provincial Champion, that smile is even bigger now.





A few congratulatory words from Coach Carley:




And a handshake from Guest Coach Paul (Paul is the Head Coach of the Whistler version of Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports):




Then a photo op with rival (and role model) Mark - an interesting fact about Mark - he skied 107 days in a row this winter!!! 107 days!!





Rather oddly, there was no dessert served with our dinner, and well, how can you properly celebrate a Provincial Championship without a bit of ice cream! So off we go to Cows - an ice cream shop in Whistler Village.




Mark with Cory and Coach Roger, too intent on his ice cream to smile for the camera:





And a group of Blue Streaks with families:





So, that's the end of a marvelous couple of days, and the next morning we're back on the Sea to Sky highway returning to Tsawwassen, our home near Vancouver. The Sea to Sky is under a lot of construction in preparation for next year's Olympic Games, so construction can sometimes slow traffic down. But with a hard-earned gold medal in Cory's possession, none of us really mind. Besides, even in slow traffic, there's always interesting things to note along the way:










So that's pretty much the end of Cory's 2008-2009 ski racing season. We did visit Whistler-Blackcomb one more time after the Provincial Championships for some free skiing and our next update will show some cool pics and video from that day.

We didn't update during the summer last year, but this year we will - let's just say we'll be back by popular demand.

There are some things that we want to add - a review of Cory's story so far - the first posts are now well "hidden" in the archives on the right, so we'll likely do a summary of the highlights - we just had a photo of Cory's first day ever on skis scanned, so we'll post that this summer too.

Cory's in the Provincial Games for Special Olympics British Columbia in July in Abbotsford, BC as a member of our Region's 5-Pin Bowling team, so we'll review the results of that in July. At stake is a trip to represent British Columbia at the National Games in 2010 in London, Ontario.

So we have a few things to post so keep checking in, and please leave a comment - tell us you you were here, what you like about our blog, even if there's something you don't like...let us know. Click on "comments" below and add your voice to our blog.