Successful First Step To 2013!

The first step to the World Winter Games for Special Olympics in 2013 took place on March 13, 2010 at Silver Star Mountain Resort, near Vernon, BC. This was the Regional Qualifying races where racers compete to see who will advance to the 2011 Provincial Winter Games.

In spite of an error on Cory's part (and a lesson learned) - and no photos or video due to a lost camera! - it was a successful race day for Cory and he will qualify for Step Two - the British Columbia Provincial Games next February.


Two races were held - a Super Giant Slalom and a Giant Slalom. Under beautiful sunshine skies, 65 athletes raced down the Big Dipper run at Silver Star. In the first race of the day, the Super G, Cory was the third last skier to race. That meant a two-hour wait while the other 62 athletes completed their runs.


In the start area of a ski race, there is a spring-loaded "wand" that is pushed by the racers legs as he/she starts down the race course. This activates the electronic timing device that determines each racer's time.


Here's Cory in a start, showing the wand in front of his shins:






Well, it looks like the 2 hour wait made Cory eager to get going. As I watched him prepare to start his race, I noticed he nudged the start wand a bit, then moved again and pushed it open by about two inches. A few seconds later, he started his race, but by then the clock had already started. So he finished with a time of 53.32 seconds, which turned out to be about 7 seconds behind his main rival Jesse. Cory and Jesse usually have similar race times, so it does seem that he started the race clock when he nudged the wand, well before he ready to go.


As a result, he was bumped from the 1st division in Advanced to the 2nd division, though he did finish in first place in that division.


In the Giant Slalom race later in the day, Cory had the best time of all 65 racers, 29.62 seconds, just under 2 seconds faster than Jesse. I was pleased that Cory put the disappointment of the Super G race out of his mind quickly, and focused on having a great race in the GS. We'll never know if he could have had the best overall time in the Super G as well, but the main thing is he was good enough to qualify for the Provincial Games next year.


There's still some racing to be done this year - a Giant Slalom at Whistler on April 17 where he will again compete against Jesse - so there is still some training to be done.


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Cory Enjoys the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games

Cory took a break from his race training to enjoy the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. We attended two skiing events, hung around downtown to enjoy the incredible atmosphere, and we even were lucky enough to attend the gold medal presentation to Alexander Bilodeau, Canada's first athlete to earn a gold medal on Canadian soil.

Arriving in downtown Vancouver on February 15, we discovered a great place to watch some big screen action - the German Fan Fest building - not to mention a delicious bratwurst and tasty German beer. Here's how everyone reacted to the highs and lows of snowboard cross as Mike Robertson of Canada is edged out of a Gold Medal so close to the finish line:

Then onto BC Place stadium for the Alexandre Bilodeau medal ceremony:

"Ticket please"

Inside the stadium, time for a photo or two before the ceremonies begin:

Gotta wear red!

And then, Alex is introduced to the roar of the crowd:

That historic gold medal goes around his neck:






The Maple Leaf rises as the crowd sings Oh Canada:

After the ceremony, a walk to the waterfront to see the Olympic torch:

A couple of days later and we're off to Whistler to see the Ladies's Super Combined - one downhill run + one slalom run.

A 5:30am bus to Whistler meant a 3:30am rise - but after all, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend Olympic Games in your home town!

Weird feeling...on a chairlift with no skis!

It's Official - Cory's first ever Olympic event!

And the finish line with the ladies Downhill course above to the right and the mens' Downhill course on the left. Cory has skied them both and they are a blast!

And we'll be sitting right there....so if you watched it on TV, you saw us!!

See, there we are...no we're not Games volunteers, they just happened to pick the same blue as our Blue Streak jackets:

Cory's 15 seconds of Olympic fame!






The sun rises on a gorgeous Whistler day:







Having met Canadian Olympian Nancy Greene at Sun Peaks just a couple of weeks ago, now it's Canadian Gold Medal winning ski racer Kerrin Lee Gartner (she won the downhill at Albertville in 1992):






Race time - with the crowd enjoying Canadian Emily Brydon's run:





But this day belongs to Germany, with Maria Riesch on top of the podium:








A few days later, and it's the Ladies' Giant Slalom, also at Whistler. But the weather isn't quite as good...





Time to mingle with some visitors...first Italy




then Germany







And a chance to get up close to some Olympic athletes after they've completed their course inspections. Don't know who you are but thanks for the smile!








Now, waiting for the second run, in a weather delay...having a look around...Austrian fans in grey & yellow...a flagged Finnish fan....and our Italian friends now bundled up in black jackets:





Well, the fog sticks around and eventually the 2nd run is postponed till the next day. So up again before dawn to board our bus, but first a greeting from a host of Games volunteers...that's Cory in the middle:

At Whistler, we discover this odd choice of location for a long line of porta-potties:

Cory congratulates Chirine Njein, an Olympic skier from Lebanon:

And the world's best ski racing fans, the Swiss... they carry these huge cowbells to races all over the world and they love to ring them. For the entire run of each Swiss racer, plus they'd ring them for Canadian racers too. But complete silence for the Austrian racers (their nemesis) and the same for the Germans and Italians. And when a Swiss racer has the lead, they'll ring those bells every time another racer finishes behind the Swiss racer. If your volume is up, you may wish to turn it down before you play this video:

We also spent a lot of time in downtown Vancouver, enjoying all the Oh Canada's, the colourful uniforms of so many different countries, the tremendous pride that was so obvious everywhere, and just an incredible experience. Once-in-a-lifetime for us for the Winter Olympics. Could there be a Special Olympics World Games experience for Cory in 2013? Well, for that to have any chance of happening, he must get back to work. Training at Whistler and Grouse this week, some weight training in there too. Then next week, the Special Olympics Regional Qualifying race at Silver Star near Vernon. This race determines who will compete at the Provincial Games in 2011, which in turn could lead to the National Games in Alberta in 2012 and then of course the World Winter Games in 2013. Next week, it's that first step at Silver Star, so we'll update this blog then.

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