On The Road to Schladming (it's a long road...)

Cory took the first steps on the road to the next Special Olympics World Games to be held in Schladming, Austria in 2017.  It's a long road, in 2010 he started on the road to the 2013 World Games in Korea, but didn't quite complete the journey when he finished 3rd at Special Olympics' Canada National Winter Games in 2012.  The 1st & 2nd place finishers were selected to go to Korea but Cory was not.

So he has rejoined his former race team with Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports on Grouse Mountain and yesterday was his first day back on skis since last season.  It was a foggy drizzly day at Grouse, but the early-season snow was surprisingly good.

The base at Grouse decked out for Christmas...

Cory now in his red Whistler Mountain Ski Club team jacket waits his turn for...

Just a short gentle run through a few stubbies on Day 1, just to get used to gates again, then we did have a few good free-skiing runs too to finish off a short but enjoyable first day back on snow.

It will be another less-intensive year of training for Cory.  He will compete at the Regional Qualifying races in Kelowna, which will automatically qualify him for the 2015 Provincial Games in Kamloops.  He'll train with the Blue Streaks throughout this winter and participate in a few fun races, the first one is scheduled for December 29, and then we'll see how he does against some of his main rivals in the first race of the year. 

It's a Bronze Medal for Cory and his SOBC Delta Basketball teammates at the 2013 Special Olympics British Columbia Summer Provincial Games!  Having qualified last year as a 'C' Division team, they have improved enough since then to move up into the 'B' Division.  That's the good news, the bad news is of course they met some very strong opposition.  It was certainly a weekend of learning to deal with much more aggressive opponents playing a much faster-paced game then they had ever faced before.

The weekend started out with a couple of seeding games, and the team easily won its first game against the Surrey Cyclones 14-0, with 6'4" Matt scoring most of the points, though Cory did chip in with 2 points of his own.  But then they met their first bona-fide 'B' Division team in the form of the North Shore Wildcats, and fell 14-2.

They then played a mini-game against Coquitlam to determine final seeding and won 6-4, pushing the team into the 'B' Division.

Even though the Games were held in neighbouring Langley, at Provincial Games all athletes travel and stay together throughout the weekend.

So it was mid-day on Thursday that the boys joined Coach Andy to load the bus and head to the Langley Event Centre for the Opening Ceremonies later that evening.

Athletes from Region 4 arriving for the Opening Ceremonies...Cory waves at the sound of the bell which he was expecting to hear....sitting with his Region 4 teammates.....the lighting of the Special Olympics Flame...Elvis gets the athletes rocking....

Cory in action....teammate Alex misses, Cory's there to put in the rebound...

Passing the ball around to teammates and chasing rebounds....

And grabbing a great hard pass from teammate Jeff and just beating an opponent's challenge for 2 points:

The team takes the floor to receive their Bronze Medals:

With the 2014 National Games right here in Vancouver, it's disappointing that Cory's team will likely not qualify.  So it's time to enjoy the rest of the summer, with some surfing in Mexico, and then prepare for the next Basketball season starting in October and of course preparing for the downhill skiing winter Regional competition in Kelowna next March.

Almost time for 2013 Summer Provincial Games

Just 2 days to go until the Opening Ceremonies of the 2013 Special Olympics British Columbia Summer Provincial Games in Langley.  Cory started playing basketball just 3 years ago and his team qualified for the Provincials last year.  The Provincial Games are the qualifier for the 2014 National Games to be held right here in Vancouver.  Cory participated in the last Summer Games in 2010 in London, Ontario, where he won both Individual and Team Gold in 5 Pin Bowling.

Cory has been practicing with his Basketball team every week since last October.  Cory and his team have come a long way since they started back in 2010, and his shooting is quite good....

But it hasn't been all work...there was time to enjoy the local fair too, at the Ladner May Days...



And to participate in a few Special Olympics fundraising events...like the Law Enforcement Torch Run...

We'll update again with results from the Provincial Games basketball tournament.

Silver Finish to Cory's Season!

It was the Rotary GS and SL races at Whistler this weekend and Cory finished in 2nd Place in each race.  These races are open to any ski racers with a disability, not just Special Olympians.

Cory with gold medalist Mark and fellow Special Olympian Jesse.

It was a weekend of very changeable weather, one minute very springlike, the next definitely wintry.  For the GS on the first day, the snow was quite soft on the Ptarmigan run, which is now the National Training Centre as a legacy from the 2010 Olympics.  It is one of the best runs in my opinion on Whistler, with marvelous terrain changes that make for some fun and fast skiing.  Now that it's the National Training Centre, it is generally closed to the public, so we are indeed fortunate to have such a terrific training and racing venue for our private use.  Cory has trained and raced there several times now, with Whistler Mountain Ski Club, the Kokanee and Gatebusters programs, as well as these Rotary races that are organized by Whistler Adaptive Snow Programs.

With soft snow for the GS, we took the time to apply some flouro powder to Cory's Volkl race skis just before the race, and he completes his run just .2 seconds ahead of Jesse, his main rival at Special Olympics.
For the 2nd run, as he often does, he shaves a second off his time and takes 2nd place by just over 1.5 seconds.






For the slalom the next day, the snow had hardened considerably and it was an icier race course.

Cory's 1st run put him in second place again, 1.7 seconds ahead, and he really sped down the slalom course on his second run, 3.5 seconds ahead of Jesse.

(check out the speed training happening on the course to the right...towards the end of this video a racer training Super G very quickly catches up to Cory's slalom racing...)






So a very satisfying end to Cory's ski season, a season very different from the previous few with less than half of the usual training and racing sessions.  Next year is the Regional Qualifying year, which will allow Cory to compete at the next Special Olympics BC Winter Games in Kamloops in 2015.  He will need to continue to edge out his rival if he hopes to get to Corner Brook, Newfoundland for the National Games in 2016.

For now, it's a renewed focus on basketball as Cory's team prepares for Special Olympics BC Summer Games in Langley in July - the qualifier for the Provincial Summer Games in 2014 right here in Vancouver.

We'll update again soon.

Riding The Waves

Cory is back from a week in Hawaii....

where he met a new friend.....

enjoyed a dance....

and stole a kiss....

But he's says the best part was when he tried surfing for the very first time.  The camera mounted on the front of his board gave us a good look....Coach Bob Vial would no doubt be proud of his "athletic stance"!



And a really cool photo too...

Add a little theme music...




The next race - ski race, not surf race -  for Cory will be the Rotary GS at Whistler on April 19 & 20.

Crash!

In a Kokanee Giant Slalom race, Cory experienced his first ever crash during a race.  Fortunately, after a checkup at the Whistler Medical Centre, the only injury is two bruised knees.  It was a warm, rainy day and there was a lot of soft snow on the race course.  Over 25 racers started the race, and by the time Cory started his run as the second last racer to go, deep ruts made for a bumpy ride.  One of those ruts caught the edge of his ski, twisting his leg back, and down he went.

It had been a miserable start to the race proceedings as rain poured down on us during course inspection.   Later Cory cheerfully waited for the race, trying to stay dry in the start tent...

But the rains did stop, the skies cleared somewhat, and Cory was ready to race...

He was racing well, looking good and fast, and then at the end of this video...."down he goes"..




A closer look....




Crashes are part of the sport, and in some ways are an indication that the racer is progressing and looking to push the limits of his or her abilities.  Fortunately, no real harm came from this one and Cory will now be able to enjoy his week's vacation as he departs for Waikiki this Sunday.  But for a few moments there in the wet snow on Lower Cruiser on Blackcomb Mountain, both racer and dad had a bit of a scare.

Next up are the season-ending Rotary GS races at Whistler in mid-April, where he'll once again compete against his Special Olympics colleagues and rivals.

Some Good Results

It may be an off-year for important competitions, but Cory is staying in tune with a few races during the season. This time it's a fun race organized by Special Olympics British Columbia at Crystal Mountain in Westbank, BC. This has been a regular venue for Special Olympics ski racing, having been the location of the last Provincial Winter Games in 2011. As Cory knows very well now, ski racing involves a lot of
baggage handling....loading the bus for departure....



 


And then unpacking at the Green Bay Bible Camp, our home for a couple of days...

 

 which is located on the shores of Okanagan Lake....

 


 a bit of broken cloud to start race day...

 


 But first some breakfast, where Cory shows he can be as quick-moving in the buffet line as he is on a ski
hill!

 

Then it's on to the race course...

 

 where he joins his old rival Jesse for a first look at the race course...

 


 It will be two races on the day, each with two runs. Cory has not trained very much this year, compared to the last few years, and in fact it is only his 3rd time in gates all season. So we're very curious to see how he does against Jesse who has continued with regular training. And in the first run of the first race, Jesse shows that his training is paying off by beating Cory by 1.4 seconds, quite a significant margin. Cory's run, which actually looks pretty good...

  

 So we have a chat on the chair back up to the race course and while we wait for Cory's second run.  He knows it's not an important race, not a qualifier, so he doesn't mind that he's not winning.  It did cross my mind that he does have a way of upping his intensity and performance during important competitions, so perhaps there is no reason to be concerned about the disparity with Jesse's time.

But Cory does crank things up in his second run and beats Jesse by 1.7 seconds for a win with an overall time advantage of .28 seconds.




In the second race, well Cory seems to crank it up even more, scooting through the slalom race course with an excellent pendulum motion of his legs so that his upper body stays pretty much in a vertical line right to the finish...two excellent runs and Cory wins by a rather astonishing 6.65 seconds...







So two races and two wins, and a comforting reassurance that the time off from training isn't hurting Cory's performance at this time.

Next up is a Kokanee race - the ones that include a free beer! - and then Cory is off to Hawaii.  Definitely not for ski training, but maybe some surfing!

It's an off year training-wise for Cory, but there's still some racing going on. For the first time ever, Cory got to be a forerunner, this was for an under-16 Super G race at the National Training Centre on Whistler Mountain. A forerunner is a test racer to ensure the race course is properly set for a safe race and most races have 3 or 4 forerunners. It is considered a bit of an honour to be a forerunner.

Sunrise on the Sea to Sky highway to Whistler foretells of a nice sunny day...

 


And that's just the way it turns out as the racers prepare...

 


It was Cory's first experience with a World Cup-like starting clock...beeping at 10 seconds to alert the racer, then every second down from 5 seconds when the racer can begin...as shown here:


 


 Cory moving into the start hut in his 'F' forerunner bib:

 







And further down the race course, Cory shows pretty good form and speed, considering it's only the second time he's done gates all year. The "woo-hoo-hoo" comes from Jeff Mclellan, a Whistler Mountain Ski Club coach who has worked with Cory and was impressed with his speed.










This coming weekend Cory will be racing at Crystal Mountain in Westbank BC in a Special Olympics event where he'll be facing his biggest rival Jesse in both a slalom and a giant slalom race. It's just a fun race, nothing at stake, but it will be interesting to see how Cory compares to Jesse in a year where Cory has done little training. We'll update next week.