These Provincial Games are Cory's fourth. He won 3 Bronze medals in his first Games in 2007, then 3 Golds in each of the Provincial Games in 2011 and 2015. The Provincials are the Qualifying races for the following year's National Games, so there is a lot at stake at these events.
Cory was the only athlete from Region 4 (Burnaby, Richmond, Delta) competing in Alpine Skiing. The others competed in Floor Hockey, Curling, Bowling, Snowshoeing, Cross Country Skiing, Figure Skating, and Speed Skating.
After the Opening Ceremonies on the night of arrival, Giant Slalom and Super Giant Slalom were scheduled for the next day, with Slalom the day after.
It's snowing lightly as we arrive at Silver Star.
But by race time, it's definitely a snowy cold race day. With bib #19, Cory does some uphill running to keep warm as he waits his turn.
And then it's time...4 years of preparation and one mistake could prevent him from qualifying and moving on. Looking ready in the start gate with eyes focused on the race course ahead...ready for the first of 2 Giant Slalom runs...
It's a short race course, only about 14 gates for this GS race. Cory had recently trained on a 50-gate course at Whistler. Short courses makes for tighter races, small mistakes can be costly.
Here he goes, looking good and fast, though with a small wobble as he goes out of camera range, but hopefully not enough of a mistake to cost him some time...
This run's terrain is misleading. It looks flat and even uphill yet it's a fast race course. Cory is doing things that he has recently learned here...at Whistler a couple of weeks ago he caught his hand caught up in a gate as he tried to push it away...here he brings his hands toward his body and lets the gates hit him as he goes by, much less risky and keeps his focus on the following gate not the one he's skiing by. And he is putting more pressure into his edges earlier in his turns, a really important skill he learned just over the last month or so thanks to Coach Tomio in the Gatebusters program at Whistler and Coach Rachael at BC Adaptive's All Mountain Camp at Sun Peaks.
Race officials wisely decided to use the Giant Slalom runs to review divisioning so results were not released until the next day. So we had to wait until the next morning to learn that Cory had won the Giant Slalom by 1.8 seconds over a racer from Whistler. That's a significant margin in a race course that was only about 20 seconds long.
Then onto the Super G which would be an even quicker race, and snow had been falling all day long, 18 cms of it, which can make a race course more dangerous for faster skiers with so much soft snow making it easier to catch an edge. There would be two runs, but the first one would be a practice run and only the second run would count. And that turned out to be a very good thing for Cory, as he missed the last gate on the course, something he almost never does!
He nails the 2nd run...keeping his hands high in front of his face, something else he has just learned to do regularly this year...
Again, the results were not released until the next day, so it was several hours of suspense - in such a short race impossible to know if Cory was fast enough. But he was, winning .49 seconds, a slim margin but against two heaver skiers. A good indication that Cory is using good technique (hands in front of his face in a tuck, for example) and tactics (taking the correct line to maximize his speed throughout the race course especially at the start and finish).
The next day, it's Slalom, Cory's specialty event. We now knew that he had accomplished two thirds of his goal. Just 2 more good runs so things are going really well. A bit more snow but nothing like the day before so it's looking good for Cory on this day. Until....
Cory takes medication twice a day to control seizures. But he still experiences them now and then. They are relatively mild, lasting about 30 seconds, and he is aware of them happening and can communicate a little even while they are happening.
He was the second last skier to start on this day. About 15-20 minutes before he was to get in the start gate, he experienced a seizure. The rules state that if a racer is not ready for his start, he is subject to disqualification. 4 years of preparation and waiting for this moment. I immediately told the chief of race about Cory, hoping we would be given an extra few minutes to prepare if Cory needed it.
Cory recovered but appeared frightened as he often does after a seizure. He was not yet fully ready. So we talked about how at Mount Hood in 2007, he was terrified of missing a gate while training on a hill with several different race courses yet he nailed his run. I reminded him of how he overcame those fears and showed he had the heart of a champion. He smiled, his body relaxed, and within a few minutes, he was back in race mode. I told the chief of race that Cory was good to go.
And was he ever! I hope you will pardon the over-dramatization of my commentary here, but it was a stressful, emotional moment.
Cory turns in a time of 43.62 seconds for his two runs, 2.89 seconds faster than the 2nd place finisher from Whistler. Gold #3!
Onto the medal presentation...
Top of the Podium Giant Slalom...
Top of the Podium Super Giant Slalom...
Top of the Podium Slalom...
With Officer Debbie Mcleod of the Delta Police Department who presented Cory with his medals. Delta Police - like police all across the country - help to raise funds for Special Olympics with the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run, which Cory participates in when it comes to Delta.
So a hugely successful though for a few moments, very stressful, weekend of racing for Cory...as our bus leaves Silver Star, which for Cory turned out to be Golden Star.
We will have to wait until mid to late April to find out if Cory has officially qualified for the National Games next year in Thunder Bay. But as the only skier to have earned 30 points with 3 Gold Medals, it certainly does look good for him.
In two weeks time, he is off to Mexico with friends for a well-earned vacation. Though he looks to already be in celebration mode at the closing ceremony party!
We will update when we received official confirmation of his qualification.
No comments:
Post a Comment