The Festival combines ski lessons and fun events over 5 full days of activities. Perfect for an off-year of race training for Cory, as the race program that he participated in at the Festival involved 3 days with 2 hours of gate training in the morning followed by free-skiing in the afternoon, followed by one full day of racing - 2 races of 2 runs down a Giant Slalom race course, and finally a full day of free-skiing. And there even were a few runs down a rolling, curvy ski cross race course.
So a great combination of training, racing, and free-skiing at a terrific venue. BC Adaptive subsidized some travel costs for those attending for the first time or participating in the race program.
We are welcomed to our first spectacular day at Sun Peaks with blue skies and fresh snow...
Prior to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the Austrian Ski Team built a race centre including a new run and a new chair. It is now called the "Nancy Greene International Race Centre" as Nancy Greene is a founder of Sun Peaks and continues to act as Director of Skiing there. Cory has trained and raced here before with both BC Adaptive and Special Olympics.
But this week is not all about racing...the vast - and snowy! - Crystal Bowl...
And Sun Peaks' famous snow ghosts...
Some spring-like warmth makes it easy to wear a race suit while training...
No sun appears the next day, but more snow puts a smile on Cory's face as he meets up with his teammates before heading to the Race Centre:
Sure has been a snowy winter...
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our rented condo...middle floor at the back, hot tub on the balcony of course!
the life of a racer....
and his dad...
Yet more snow the next day...
And with Cory off training, Dad enjoys some powder skiing....
Including some fun runs among the trees...
Day 4 is race day...and the sun begins to burn through the clouds....giving some great race conditions...
time to start warm-ups...
then course inspection....
the course is ready!
But is Cory? This will be his first race in over a year. He last raced in Newfoundland at the National Winter Games for Special Olympics Canada. He barely did any gate training this winter, only a few runs through a short race course at Cypress on Monday nights.
This is just a fun race, and his main rival at Special Olympics is not participating, so it will be interesting to see how he looks....
Some good speed here in the first run of the first race (1st of 2 races, 2 runs each), posting a time of just under 30 seconds...looking really good after such a long layoff!
Holds his tuck longer here in his second run and improves his time slightly to 29.06...
an even longer tuck yields an even faster time of 28.08....
and he finishes the day with another good run of 28.27 seconds...
And wins both races for the Cognitive Male Division!
Some good form here at the start, pushing off hard enough to lift his ski tails way up out of the snow and his ski tips into the snow...a new skill for Cory...
hands in front and high (Cory had a habit of dropping his "inside" hand but he's eliminated that now which helps to keep his weight forward) and eyes up, looking down the course...
hands even higher, good pressure on his downhill ski (in this case his left), nice and low and compact, something he is working on...
getting into a tuck, looking for speed, eyes forward...
and his signature move, a touchdown at finish to stop the clock as soon as possible..
"Hi mum....yes, I won them both!...AND....
I got to race in a ski cross course!....AND...
AND they named me the Adaptive Skier of the Year for 2016!! What a great week!!"
Blue skies back again for our last day at this year's CADS Festival...
Time to say goodbye...
to the snow ghosts...
but there's sure been a lot of fresh snow while we were here....
We gotta go now.....Bye...thanks for visiting our blog.....got a special visitor coming to ski with us at Whistler in 2 weeks....standby for an update about that soon!
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