The story of a 35-year-old man with autism and a passion for ski racing, and his dream-come-true of representing Canada at Special Olympics World Winter Games. In 2020, Cory qualified for Team Canada and was due to compete at the World Winter Games in Russia in January 2023. Those Games were cancelled. Cory then had to restart the 3 year qualification process which culminated at the 2024 National Winter Games where Cory qualified for the next World Winter Games in Italy in 2025.
Welcome to Race with Cory and thanks for visiting our blog.
If you wish to read the story from the beginning, click here http://racewithcory.blogspot.com/2007/09/beginnings.html. When you're done, click on "2007" in the right column, then "September", then on "Special Olympics Ski Racing, From Beginner to Racer" and go from there.
Cory was invited to participate in the Sports Celebrities Festival last week, which is a major fundraiser for Canuck Place and for Special Olympics British Columbia. This was the second time he's participated in this event. Each member of the Vancouver Canucks was paired with a Special Olympics athlete and this year, Cory was paired with David Booth, the newest Canuck who had just arrived via a trade a few days earlier.
Before dinner, Cory played video games with a couple other members of the Canucks, and here he is in serious competition against Cody Hodgson...
A couple of days later, during a Hockey Night in Canada telecast, David Booth was interviewed and he talked about the event and meeting Cory....
But now, with less that 3 weeks to race camp at Loveland, Colorado, it's back to serious dryland training to prepare not just for the 11,000 feet of altitude there, but also to get a great head start to Cory's race season.
With 4 weeks now till Cory is back on snow, he continues to do some dryland training 4 or 5 times per week. He has increased the intensity of his routines now, focusing on building his leg strength and developing quicker feet.
At the end of last ski season, one of Cory's coaches - Sammy Kent - suggested that he work on building his strength during the off-season so that he can maximize the use of a skill that he developed well last year - a more dynamic body action.
A dynamic downward-moving body places more pressure onto the skis, providing not just more edge pressure for cleaner carving, but builds pressure under the ski, which when released at the end of a turn, propels a racer forward. Race skis are very stiff so when pressure is applied downward, the skis bounce back. Just like a trampoline.
So for dryland, he's been doing some Wall Jumps to build leg strength...first on both feet,
then adding weights, and then switching to one foot jumps:
Onto some Cone Hops:
And finally the gruelling Leg Blasters:
Cory now plays basketball once a week and does some weight training with a Special Olympics coach once a week as well. And with an important bowling tournament coming up in mid-March - the first step towards making it back to the Summer National Games - he continues to work on his 5 Pin Bowling too. But the main focus is certainly on 2 days in early March, where all this dryland work, and his on-snow training starting in four weeks, will hopefully culminate in a National Championship and a ticket to Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2013.
Next stop - Loveland Colorado, at Bob Vial's Hurricane Race Camp.
