We drove to Whistler on the evening of Thursday, April 23, and Cory trained on Whistler on April 24.
Now it's Race Day!
This is the race of the year for all members of the DSABC, the race that all skiers prepare for all year long. Cory finished second in this race last year, behind his Blue Streak teammate Mark. Cory and Mark have been training together a lot this year, on many Thursdays during the winter they would ski just the two of them from 9am to 5pm on Grouse Mountain, then with the remaining Blue Streaks from 5pm to 8pm, and then again with the Blue Streaks (and me!) all day Saturday. Cory and Mark are rivals but good friends too. And the best thing about this as Cory's dad, is that Mark is older and an excellent role model for Cory.
There are 44 racers registered for this race, in 7 categories, with Cory participating in the Cognitive/Development Disability Male category, with a total of 17 racers, including his Blue Streak teammates - Mark and Jesse, Cory's Special Olympics rival.
Cory will be wearing Bib #37 for this race, which means he will be one of the last few skiers to start.
Race registration on yet another gorgeous day at Whistler:
Cory's coaches Carley and Roger discussing race strategy perhaps, or maybe just wishing they'd had time for more coffee...
The Blue Streaks with Coach Carley & Coach Roger (now known as Coach 'Sunkist' for obvious reasons!) getting ready for their first warm-up run:
And ski with me here with Cory and the Blue Streaks on their first run on Race Day:
And what a beautiful day it is! You know, there are some photos that no matter how often you look at them, you can still marvel at the beauty that you see in them every time...
Then back up on the chair and Cory's first look at the race course, a Giant Slalom with 30 gates. Temperature at the start of the race was a very comfortable minus 2 degrees C.
And now it's time for course inspection. This is an opportunity for the racers to familiarize themselves with the race course, try to remember where some of the "hidden" gates are (those that may be placed just over the crest of a hill making them hard to see until a racer is right on top of them), see where the gates may be set closer together than the rest, see where the hill develops a steeper or icier section, and generally get a feel for the course. This is still a new exercise for Cory but I can tell that it is starting to sink in and he is learning more and more about course inspections each time he races.
Racers are not permitted to actually ski the race course, they must "slip" it, sliding down sideways, or snowplow it as you see Cory doing here. This photo also shows how steep some sections of the race course are.
Often, during course inspections, Cory has appeared confused and doubtful, but this time he really seemed to be sure of himself. When I saw him looking as focused and confident as you see in this photo, I started feeling really good about Cory's chances on this day.
And yet not so focused that he can't smile for yet another of his Dad's photos, this time with rival Jesse right behind him. Focused, confident, and relaxed - a really good sign.
And then this...Coach Carley takes the Blue Streaks back up to the top and asks the team if they'd like to do a free run just for fun, or do another course inspection. Mark and Jesse both say a free run, but Cory says he'd prefer to do another course inspection. So the team splits, with Mark, Jesse, and a couple of others doing a free run, and Cory with the rest of the team and Carley returning to the Jolly Green Giant for another course inspection.
First, Cory sometimes has difficulty making decisions on his own. Second, inspite of his main rivals saying they wanted to do a free run, Cory listened to his own "inner voice" and said he wanted to do another inspection. And for Cory, more inspection means more confidence, more confidence means a more aggressive approach to the race. I truly believe that this was a key to Cory's success on this day - making a mature, responsible decision to give him the best chance to do what he came to Whistler to do on this day, to win. A beautiful day, with excellent snow conditions, made it tempting to do a free run, but Cory, with no direction from me or anyone else, chose to do a course inspection. And then he just went out and won his race.
Back at the top of the course now, time to get ready to race:
And a Blue Streak photo op to capture the moment "c'mon guys, it's for the blog!"
Much warmer than last year's minus 22 degree weather, but still a good idea to keep that Blue Streak jacket as long as possible:
And time to take a good close look at Cory's new skis - until now he's been much more confident in his Slalom Racetigers, these are his Giant Slalom Racetigers, so it's his first time racing with them. And our thanks to Greg at Snowcovers in Vancouver/Whistler for getting Cory a good deal on some world-class racing skis.
Now a moment of visualization - more just having fun with this, but Cory is learning from this too. Just closing his eyes and trying to visualize what the course looks like, using his hands to guide himself through the gates.
And now, race time...Cory's 1st run. (Unfortunately, I was using a new camera for the first time and since I couldn't see the screen due to the bright sunshine, I didn't notice most of sequence is out of focus):
Here's the leaderboard after the first run. Cory's time of 45.25 seconds is almost 5 seconds behind the leader Mark, and just under 2 seconds faster than Jesse.
And his 2nd run
And the leaderboard after the 2nd and final run. Cory is in 1st place with a time of 44.83 seconds in his second run for a total of 90.08 (or 1:30.08), just edging Jesse at 90.98 (or 1:30.98). Mark did not finish (DNF) as he missed a gate and did not complete the race course.
Here's where Mark missed his gate - and you can tell by the "ugh" sound he makes that he knows he's about to miss it:
So Cory is the DSABC Provincial Champion for 2009!
Next post we'll cover the celebration and the drive home after the biggest race of the year.
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