Slalom: GOLD!
Giant Slalom: GOLD!
Super Giant Slalom: GOLD!
But for at least one of the races, it was close, very close.
We won't know for a couple of months whether Cory will be selected to Team BC to compete in Special Olympics' National Winter Games in Jasper, Alberta next February. But he's done everything he could have to make that happen.
The 2011 Special Olympics British Columbia Provincial Games for Alpine Skiing were held on Crystal Mountain in Westbank, BC. About 60 athletes for around the province competed in the 3 events. Since Special Olympics athletes represent a very wide range of abilities, the racers are divided into Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced, with several divisions of up to 8 racers in each ability level.
In Cory's first provincial skiing competition in 2006, he competed at the Novice level and won all his races. The following year he was moved up to the top division of the Advanced level and earned Bronze medals in each of the 3 races. We knew of course that this year he would also be competing in the top division of the Advanced level.
So the athletes race against others of similar ability and earn points based on their finishing position with first place earning 10 points, second 8 points, etc.
Selection for Team BC to go to the National Games in 2012 is based on gender and age, with the top point earner in each age group in each gender having the best chance to be selected. But the number of athletes who go is based on a quota system provided by Special Olympics Canada.
So it's fair, but complicated, and it takes a few weeks to sort it all out. So now Cory waits for a phone call or letter to let him know if he's been selected.
The trip to Crystal Mountain began on the afternoon of Thursday, March 3, 2011, when Cory and other athletes from Delta and Richmond boarded a chartered bus.
Athletes and coaches were provided with meals and accommodation at Green Bay Bible Camp in Westbank.
The next morning we boarded the bus to take us to Crystal Mountain for the Giant Slalom and Super Giant Slalom races, each involving 2 runs through the respective race courses, so it was going to be a long and suspenseful day.
Cory has spent over 45 days this winter on snow, working on his technical skills during free-skiing, or gate training, or racing. His training and racing have taken him to Colorado and over a dozen trips to Whistler, where he has trained and raced on long steep race courses with up to 45 gates.
But our first look at the Giant Slalom course is anything but steep and long: only 16gates spread over moderate terrain. This is a good safe course to accommodate athletes of all abilities but it does make it a challenge for any racer to recover from a small mistake or to find a little bit of extra speed. And racing against other excellent racers on a short course will bunch the racing times very close together.
Here's Cory at the top and the finish line is by the red fence at the bottom on the right, a short race course indeed:
"Hundies Matter" is a racing expression that reflects the nature of ski racing where the difference between winning and losing can be just a few hundredths of a second. When hundies matter, everything must go right, no equipment problems, good wax and sharp edges, and most importantly, perfect technique combined with a line through the race course that maximizes speed, especially through the flatter portions of a race course where carrying speed from the steeps to the flats is often the biggest difference maker.
On this day, Special Olympics chose to not provide a scoreboard for some reason, so there would be no easy way to quickly get race results. And with Cory assigned bib #1he would be one of the first down the course, so after getting him organized at the top I skied down to the finish line to stand next to the timekeepers to hear the racers' times being recorded. I knew that Cory had only 2 main rivals and they were starting soon after him.
During course inspection, Cory decided he would look for speed at the steeper section at the top by taking a higher line rather than skiing directly towards the gates. This would enable him to make rounder turns and develop speed over the first section of the course that he could then carry through into the flatter sections. The alternative is to ski more aggressively, more directly at the gates, but this requires a very high degree of technical skill to edge properly and avoid braking when speed is developed too quickly in steep sections.
I watched Jesse leave the start for his run and he attacked the gates quite directly forcing him to make hard turns by the 3rd and 4th gates. I felt then that Cory had made the right decision to be less aggressive at the top, build his speed, and carry through to the finish.
And sure enough, that's exactly what happened. Except for a slight wobble just after the last gate before the finish line where Cory looked for a gate that wasn't there Cory finished his run 1.4 seconds faster than Jesse. The other rival was slower than Jesse so Cory was in first place after the first run of the Giant Slalom. Cory and I talked it over and we decided he would use the same tactics for the 2nd run since there seemed to be no need to be more aggressive.
Cory skied another clean run, made some nice round turns at the top, linking them nicely together and carried his speed to the end, didn't wobble at that last gate, and the Gold was his, 2.66 seconds faster than Jesse for the two runs combined.
The next event was the Super G and we knew this would be a close race with Cory, Jesse, and another racer, David, all having an excellent chance to win. David in particular is bigger and heavier than both Cory and Jesse and that's a real advantage in a speed event with fewer turns.
Here's Cory's first run, being watched carefully by the Provincial team coach. His time 22.15 seconds:
A bit later it was David's turn and his time: 22.17 seconds, just 2/100ths of a second behind Cory! So the Super G Gold Medal would be decided in the second run which would likely be just as close.
Cory and I talked about his first run and we decided he would tuck a bit sooner than he did in the first run. The last few gates had little offset so good turns weren't as critical, but a tuck would certainly give him more speed.
So in the second run here, you can hear me whisper "tuck now, tuck now" as Cory approaches the finish line and sure enough he does. His time of 21.73 is better than his first run so now it's a matter of waiting for David to complete his second run.
David crosses the finish line in 21.84, better than his first run too but not enough to catch Cory, who wins Gold by a total of 13/100ths of a second!!
So Day One ends with 2 Gold Medals and one more race to go, the Slalom, on Day Two. Jesse would likely provide Cory's biggest competition in the Slalom.
On a beautiful sunny morning, Cory completed both runs in 56.64 seconds, 2.56 seconds faster than Jesse:
So 4 years of preparation pays off with Cory stepping up from 3 Bronze medals 4 years ago to 3 Gold Medals this year.
Now, Cory has a chance to sit back and enjoy the moment, do some casual free-skiing as opposed to hard training, and wait for the announcement of the Special Olympics British Columbia Alpine Ski Team for the Special Olympics 2012 National Winter Games.
In the meantime, we'll start planning for the best and look at training and racing options for Cory between now and the National Games in February 2012.
