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 eased back into some gate training with Whistler Mountain Ski Club on a gorgeous day at Whistler.
At the top of Whistler Creekside gondola,
A leisurely ski down to Garbonzo chair to meet up with WMSC on the Ptarmigan run on Whistler....
And this scene at the top of Garbo, which was actually the start area for the 2010 Olympic Men's Downhill race
After a couple of runs through a long and challenging race course, Cory's focus was to learn how to produce turns of a shorter duration to avoid being on his ski edges as his skis crossed the face of the mountain. It's a matter of starting his turns earlier than he is used to, using a lot more exertion to get the turn completed just as he passes each gate. Here, his turns are finished several feet past each gate.
If he can master this skill, it will significantly improve his race speed.
Whistler was a busy place with such great conditions so Cory managed only 6 runs through the race course on this day, with long waits at the Garbonzo chair. But a really good day nonetheless to start his final 8 weeks of preparation for the National Winter Games.
Next week, Cory will rejoin his teammates with Special Olympics Vancouver at Cypress Mountain in North Vancouver every Monday for the rest of the season as well as a return to Whistler for a day-long Gatebusters session.
With a base of over 10 feet of snow on Cory's home mountain - Cypress Mountain in North Vancouver - it's time to get back onto snow as he prepares for Special Olympics' National Winter Games in Newfoundland in March 2016.
But with fresh powder, this day isn't about gates, but instead Cory just enjoyed some free-sking on his rarely-used powder skis.
He has started his gate training though, albeit just one day so far - with his Team BC teammates at Sun Peaks in late November.
And of course there's been 3 months of dryland training, which becomes rather tedious so this day on fresh powder snow is a therapeutic one too!
In addition to working out with his National Games Training Coach every week, Cory has been training with his Special Olympics Vancouver alpine ski coaches, following a series of exercises to help improve his agility, endurance, balance, and strength.
And he's also in the basketball program with Special Olympics British Columbia Delta, which is a summer sport so that he also has the opportunity to compete at the next Provincial Summer Games if his team were to qualify.
But there's also time for a bit of fast-moving fun!
As the new year rolls in, it will be time for Cory to ramp up his on-snow gate training on Cypress with Special Olympics Vancouver as well as the Gatebusters program and Whistler Adaptive Snow Programs at Whistler.
Cory has begun his preparation for Special Olympics National Winter Games next March in Newfoundland by attending a 5-day summer race camp with Whistler Mountain Ski Club. This is the second time he has been to a WMSC Summer Camp, the last one in 2011 as he prepared for the last National Games in 2012.
Cory continues to be the only athlete with a disability to ever train with Whistler Mountain Ski Club - where many World Cup champions have trained.
The Aspens, our home for 5 nights...we've stayed here several times now, great location for summer training as it is right next to the Wizard Chair, the first chair we need to take each morning.
The next morning - Monday, June 22 - and the sun is shining on Blackcomb as we prepare to leave the condo...
As Cory learned at his first ever summer camp on Mount Hood in 2007, summer training is a lot of gear schlepping...
The Aspens is a convenient location with just a short walk down to Wizard Chair at Blackcomb...
And early morning starts to take advantage of harder snow before the sun softens it...
Training will take place on Horstmann Glacier at the very top of Blackcomb Mountain. It requires 3 chairlift rides, with a bus ride connecting two of the chairs. Wizard Chair is first, and alpine flowers make for a colourful ride up.
And then we've arrived - to a spectacular venue! Cory will be training on the section to the left of the Horstmann T Bar in the middle of the photo.
After a couple of warm-up runs, Cory gets right to work, starting with a hands-in front drill. The goal here is to keep his hands in front of his body while he uses the bottom half of his body to turn. While Cory is quite good at this lower-upper body separation, it is a good drill for him to start with as he had developed a bad habit last winter of dropping his inside hand as he turned, as you can see in this photo taken at the Provincial Games last March.
By dropping his hand, Cory is allowing some of his weight to move backwards rather than be forward which reduces his ability to carve properly. Plus, it forces him to turn further away from the gates then he would otherwise.
In fact, this is Cory's goal for the week - to eliminate his habit of dropping his inside hand as he turns.
And for the next couple of hours, Cory worked with Coach Jordan on body position as well as trying to keep his hands - his right hand in particular - from dropping:
And comments from Coach Jordan to end Cory's first day....
and the ride back down starts...
After lunch, it's time for a leisurely bike ride
And of course, what's summer camp without a beer in the hot tub back at the condo??
Next morning...
well our home computer crashed....and only a few videos saved thanks to Whistler Mountain Ski Club....thank goodness it was just training and not video from the National Games next year!
Cory started the next morning with the boot touch drill. After working the previous day on keeping his hands up and in front, now it's time to work on his torso position, This drill forces the skier into a deep knee bend in order to touch his boots. Cory tends to touch the front of his boots a bit, forcing the upper part of his body forward. The preference is to touch the side of each boot, making the upper body bend down sideways, not forward, forcing the skis to get up on edge while keeping the body centred over the boots and skis.
Then working through a fairly tight slalom course, with commentary from Coach Jordan. Loading the ski with pressure into a turn,
June 24 (Happy 37th Anniversary to Cory's mum Jenni!)
Into the next day with more slalom gate training, like all sports repetition is critical for muscle memory. Cory learned that in 2010 in 5 pin bowling when he bowled over 200 games over several months to prepare for the Summer National Games that year. Skiing is no different but getting access to race courses - in safe conditions with good snow - is certainly more difficult that driving to a bowling alley. So each run through a race course is gold - or at least hopefully it will lead to gold.
Cory does something at the end of this video that he worked on last winter - putting his hand down near his boots at the finish line in order to stop the clock as soon as possible. So muscle memory is working here!
More commentary from Coach Jordan. It's a good reminder that racing is about skiing fast and sometimes too much attention to detail can actually slow a racer down. And sometimes there's just no such thing as pole planting too early. It gets a turn initiated and completed sooner so that there is a fraction of a second longer for a ski to remain flat entering the next turn...a flat ski is a fast ski.
Starting the next day with tuck turns. A good exercise for Cory to keep his hands up and forward while using his lower body to turn the skis. The idea here is to keep those hands pointing at the finish line so that the upper body doesn't turn with the lower body and keeping his hands from dropping to his sides.
Then into a Giant Slalom race course, really concentrating on keeping his hands forward and not dropping down by his boots. Good work for sure!
Here he does a great job keeping his hands up early in the course but they drop once he gets past Coach Jordan.
Then on our last day on snow until probably December...hands looking good...Coach Jordan likes it too...
Hands look terrific here, much better, mission accomplished!
So good in fact that I showed Cory this video later back at the condo....there is a definite similarity in the hand positioning here....hands out for balance in between gates, then up and in at each gate to allow for a tighter line, but not quite at light speed like Ted!
And then a good little video from Coach Jordan explaining how the position of the brushes on the course can be a good training tool to learn to initiate turns early, a very common error and something which Cory will need to work on.
But that's about it for a few months. Cory will begin dryland training with a Special Olympics Training Coach in August or September so we may update when that happens.
The Law Enforcement Torch Run is one of the most important fund-raisers for Special Olympics. We will never forget the several hundred officers who entered the stadium together at the National Summer Games in London in 2010.
Cory participated in the local leg of the Torch Run today, running here with other Special Olympics athletes and law enforcement officers.
Traffic in Ladner's busiest intersection came to a halt as the Torch Run made its way to Delta Polic Station. Cory stands out by being the only runner in a blue shirt, but has a friendly wave for us too.
Next, Cory will do some summer training at Whistler Blackcomb, later this month. We will update then.
Cory returned to visit the Canadian Women's Soccer Team after their final practice in Vancouver before the start of the Women's World Cup in Edmonton on June 6.
Thanks to Simon Eaddy, an Assistant Coach with the Canadian Women's Team, Cory had visited them last winter to match his Bronze Medals from the 2012 Winter National Games to their Bronze Medals from London 2012. He promised a return visit hopefully to help inspire the team to match his Gold Medals from the 2015 Provincial Games with Gold of their own at the World Cup.
A chance for a close look at the official FIFA Canada 2015 ball....
It was a cold very wet day and the team just wanted to get inside to warm up after a 2 hour practice, but they took a few minutes to congratulate Cory and take a close look at his Gold Medals.
But not too close of a look...athletes can be a superstitious lot and some of the team preferred not to touch the medals. Goalkeeper Erin McLeod was willing but notice she is holding the medal by the very tips of her fingers.
We wish to thank the team and wish them the very best of Canadian good luck!
It's official now. Cory received this letter yesterday confirming that he has been selected to represent Special Olympics British Columbia in Alpine Skiing at the 2016 National Winter Games in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. There Cory will try to qualify for Team Canada to compete in the 2017 World Winter Games in Austria.
So a time to celebrate and to enjoy the moment, with a few weeks to relax, and then starting in mid-May, time to start training again for this very special opportunity, A lot more hard work lies ahead.
Cory brought home some silver from Silver Star Ski Resort near Vernon, BC, last weekend. Two silver medals in the Western Canadian Paralympic Championships.
The Paralympics are a separate entity from Special Olympics, but are much better known due to their close association with the regular Olympic Games. But at events like these, the Paralympic group are willing to include racers with an intellectual disability, even though participation is not sanctioned by Special Olympics. Gotta love the politics of sports organizations! But we are grateful to BC Adaptive Sports for their spirit of inclusion.
A group of about 25 athletes participated, from several places in BC and Alberta, several of them familiar faces from Special Olympics, but many of them with physical disabilities so we see them only at these events. The Paralympics division by disability, so sit-skiers compete against sit-skiers, blind against blind, intellectually disabled against intellectually disabled, etc.
So Cory was competing against Special Olympics athletes as well as other intellectually disabled athletes who are not in Special Olympics. Phew, hope you can all follow that...
It's about a 5 hour drive to Silver Star from our home in Tsawwassen, BC. It's a drive we've made many times before and this time there was no hurry, and so with good weather, we took a detour along the Douglas Lake Road between Merritt & Vernon.
Looks like a nice place to stop for lunch....
Selfies always make Cory laugh...
The historic Quilchena Hotel...
And then the historic Douglas Lake Ranch...
We drove for miles through the huge ranch, cattle everywhere...
with plenty of calves...
and protective cows, one worried about her wobbly legged baby...
We eventually make it to Silver Star and find our rented condo right next to the ski hill, and still in its Christmas colours.
But the next morning brings fog, clouds, rain, and wet snow...
But since those are often the ski conditions on the BC south coast, Cory is well prepared for a day of training in the wet with his Karbon poncho...
But the rain stops and he's back down to his Whistler Mountain Ski Club jacket to tackle the slalom race course
But the weather deterioriates, the snow softens up a bit too much making training more dangerous, so the organizers call it a day after only 3 runs through the course for Cory. He usually gets 7-8 runs in a normal training day. But it's an outdoor sport and we just have to prepare for racing the next day....and a visit to the hot tub too of course.
The next morning visibility is even worse, but at least there's snow falling, and falling heavily, a rare sight for us on the west coast this winter.
Keeping warm and dry as best as he can, with fellow Special Olympians Joe Grubweiser (#7) and Ron Greenhorn (#9)....
Cory's first slalom run of 2, and he's the man to beat as he posts a time of 51.81 seconds. One of the other racers who is not a Special Olympian and is usually much faster than Cory missed a gate and had to climb back up the course, so Cory has a 5 second advantage.
But the other racer nails a terrific second run, and Cory's is considerably - and inexplicably - slower, almost 4 seconds slower. Still, Cory earns a silver medal which really was his expectation going into the weekend, but there was no doubt he was a bit disappointed.
So we head back to the condo at the bottom of this hill, and into the hot tub to relax and prepare for the Giant Slalom the next day.
And he can still enjoy his silver moment with his teammates:
The next morning brings a smile to Cory's face with blue skies, excellent visibility, and good hard racer snow...
Silver Star's colourful village...
with a great view at the top...
Cory has two excellent and consistent runs, just one hundredth of a second between the two. He has been dropping his hands as he pole plants which forces him to stay too far away from the gates in order to clear them. In his second run, he does a much better job of keeping his hands forward, and as a result he slices his 1st run deficit from over 3 seconds to just under 1 second in his second run! A great way to end his race season and something to build on for next season as this will allow him to cut much closer into each gate.
He is also learning to tuck more often and in both of these runs, he tucks through the flat section at the bottom of the pitch, while his competitors did not.
And concludes his 2015 race season with a triumphant weekend of silver at Silver Star.
Cory will return to Silver Star this weekend for a performance camp with Special Olympics and hopefully we will know soon whether his participation in the National Winter Games next year in Newfoundland has been confirmed.
It was 2 Golden days for Cory at the 2015 Special Olympics British Columbia Provincial Winter Games at Sun Peaks Resort near Kamloops.
Under excellent race conditions with mostly sunny skies & terrific racer snow, Cory took 1st place in the top Advanced Division in Super G, Giant Slalom, and Slalom.
The Golden weekend started last Thursday as Cory loaded his gear onto the team bus to take them to Kamloops:
With Coach Chris
Later that night, it's the opening ceremonies at the Tournament Capital Centre in Kamloops:
And Cory's team enters the arena, but unfortunately the organizers decided to keep the lights off during the athlete parade but Cory is in here somewhere!
The flame is lit and the Games are open!
And a smile from Cory as his team leaves the ceremonies:
It's a nice clear racer-friendly morning as we drive from Kamloops to Sun Peaks.
The first race of the weekend would be the Super G with a practice run first:
And then Cory's timed run:
And it's his first Gold! but it was close, a margin of only .51 seconds, though still unofficial results...
Our thanks to Edward Tai for these photos:
looking for speed...
Cory is very definitely Canadian and yes, he's wearing a Team USA suit, but hey, he likes blue! And he won't wear a Canadian suit till he's earned one...well, he's now taken a big step towards just that.
A winning run, but those hands could be higher in your tuck, Cory!
This photo courtesy of SOBC; carve baby, carve!
And then his winning Giant Slalom run, in spite of a little slip near the top of the hill, but he takes a great line from the 2nd last gate straight to the finish line:
And unofficially wins by 1.03 seconds
A little off balance here, it was a relatively challenging race course and it doesn't have to be perfect, just fast!
(photos courtesy Edward Tai)
About to pole plant to start his next turn...
Close and in tight against this gate, one inch closer and it's a straddle, but that's the way to race!
\
The next day is Slalom day and the sun continues to shine
And so does Cory - nailing two terrific slalom runs and unofficially beats his rival by an amazing 14 seconds - a rival that only 8 years ago had beaten Cory at his first Provincial Games. Because I knew he had a huge lead after his first run - but he didn't - you can hear thinking out loud..."easy, easy"...as I was concerned he might miss a gate or crash if he was going too fast, and be disqualified...but that wasn't going to happen on this day!
Then onto the plaza at Sun Peaks for the medal presentation, waiting with his new teammates from Vancouver, Vancouver North Shore, and Whistler.
where Cory would hear his name called to the podium 3 times, so those Golds are now officially his!
Gold #1
#2
And #3
And those medals sure are shiny! Cory's medals gleaming in the Sun Peaks sunshine...
And one for mum, one for dad, one for Cory.....well, if only for a moment...
Heading back home to the coast...
to greet the team bus early the next morning...
A very tired Cory somewhat reluctantly lets go of one medal for a moment to thank Coach Chris
but the handshake is genuine and heart felt..
So Cory has likely completed the next step in his quest to represent Canada at the 2017 World Games in Austria, pending the confirmation of his selection to Team BC within the next 2 months. We'll post as soon as we know for sure that he will attend the National Games in Corner Brook, Newfoundland on March 1 - 5, 2016.
Cory plans to compete in the Western Canadian Paralympic Championships at Silver Star near Vernon, BC in mid-March and he has been invited to return to Silver Star to attend his second high performance camp with Special Olympics BC in late March.
But first, he will enjoy a well-earned vacation on the beaches of Puerto Vallarta.
Our thanks to Chris Vanderwel, Whistler Adaptive Sports Programs, the Gatebusters program at Whistler Blackcomb, and to Heather, Mark, and John, his coaches at SOBC Vancouver, all of whom helped Cory to prepare as best as he could under very difficult weather conditions during this unusually warm winter with no snow in our local mountains.
It was a true team effort, and we will hope for similar success next year too.
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