Cory was invited to speak once again, this time at the Sports Celebrities Festival in support of Special Olympics British Columbia.

It was a memorable evening, Cory did a great job and the audience seemed to enjoy it with laughter and applause.  The event raised over $440,000 for SOBC.

Cory's preparations for the 2024 National Games will soon move from dryland training to being on snow, with 4 days of gate training planned for mid-January at Sun Peaks, as well as our weekly sessions at Cypress beginning early next month.

In the meantime, enjoy his speech.

 

Cory was invited to speak at a Special Olympics fundraiser at the Mayfair Golf Club in Richmond on June 15,2023. His speech was a big hit with plenty of laughs and applause and he helped raise over $60,000 for SOBC.

 

 It is official - Cory has qualified for his fourth consecutive Special Olympics Canada National 
Winter Games, to be held in Calgary next February!

The Games also serve as the qualifier event for the 2025 World Winter Games, to be held in Turin, Italy.

While waiting for that good news, Cory participated in BC Adaptive's All Mountain Camp at Sunshine Village, near Banff, Alberta, - a four-day camp featuring gate training and free skiing.  It's an excellent combination of training and fun skiing, in a spectacular and still wintry setting:

This camp is for everyone....

Working with Alpine Canada Coach Mark:

Ready to Go!

Sitting in his Special Olympics 2023 Provincial Winter Games souvenir shirt, our last day at Banff Sunshine is likely Cory's last day of this unforgettable season.  Training for Calgary 2024 can wait...

This eventful ski season isn't quite over for Cory yet. Last week, he participated in the Canadian Adaptive Snowsports (CADS) Annual Festival in Kimberley, BC. Under sunny blue skies, Cory did some gate training in the mornings for 4 days in a row, with free skiing in the afternoons, plus a final full day of free skiing. It's a format that Cory really enjoys - a good combination of work and fun - and it's an event that he has been attending since 2014, when it's been held in western Canada, as it alternates with Eastern Canadian venues.






While not as large as Whister Blackcomb and Sun Peaks, Kimberley still offers a lot of fun terrain and is rarely crowded, even on weekends. It's one of our favourite places to ski. The race course was on a run called Dreadnaught, the yellow circle here...





We stayed in a rented condo at the base of the hill, where we may have discovered a good omen. There were several framed prints of ski hills around the world, including one for Sestriere, Italy. If Cory qualifies for Team Canada again next year in Calgary, he will ski for Canada at Special Olympics' World Winter Games 2025 in Sestriere.

Our arrival at Cranbrook airport, plenty of sun and snow in the mountain peaks...

In full Special Olympics Team Canada uniform for this week...

And proudly showing the telltale signs of taking tight lines through the race course, hitting gates with his forearms as he races by them....

Time for lunch...

Hungry athlete...

Next month, there is BC Adaptive's All Mountain Camp - a similar format to the CADS Festival - in Banff. Cory hasn't decided yet whether he will attend.

 We are now well into year two of the current 4 year Special Olympics cycle.  Cory just competed in Special Olympics British Columbia's Provincial Winter Games at Sun Peaks.

But for a few days, it didn't look like he would be able to compete at all.  With the Games looming in early February, back in mid-January one of Cory's training team mates crashed into him, resulting in a diagnosis of broken ribs.  No skiing for 6 weeks.  It was a devastating development, he'd have to wait another 4 years until the next Provincial Games to try to make it to Team Canada again.

A few days later, an x-ray showed bruised ribs, not broken.  Painful but not dangerous to resume skiing.  But no gate training.

So Cory would get a chance to qualify for the 2024 National Games, but would likely have to race in pain.

Then on the morning of the first race at Sun Peaks, an emergency medical issue required his father be transferred to hospital in Kamloops.

In spite of it all, Cory raced to 3 silver medals, one each in Slalom, Giant Slalom, and Super Giant Slalom.  Truly his most golden moment.  Racing with no training, in pain, and worry about his father..

He was also able to walk into the Opening Ceremonies in Kamloops with his fellow BC members of Team Canada 2022.  The Team never got the opportunity to do that at the Worlds in Russia as they were cancelled so it was a great moment to see the Team walk in to loud applause.

With his local team mates, two of whom were also on Team Canada...

on the podium in Giant Slalom...

podium in Super Giant Slalom

So now we wait several months to official hear whether Cory has qualified for the National Games next February in Calgary.  Which in turn is the qualifying event for the World Games in Italy in 2025.

But with 24 points from 3 silver medals, there are only two other male skiers with more points, and there are usually 5 or 6 male skiers selected.  It looks good for his 4th consecutive National Games after Jasper in 2012, Newfoundland in 2016, and Thunder Bay in 2020.

Next up is the CADS Festival in Kimberley, BC in March.  Look for an update then.