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.
