The story of a 36-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 March 2025, Cory competed for Canada at the World Winter Games in Turin & Sestriere, Italy. And he won all 3 of his races, taking Gold in Slalom, Giant Slalom, and Super Giant Slalom!
A 3 Time Olympic Gold Medalist!
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 is now back to work preparing for the upcoming ski season. His goal this year will be to win his 3 races at Special Olympics British Columbia Winter Games at Sun Peaks on February 19-22, 2015, so that he can qualify for the National Games in Corner Brook, Newfoundland in 2016.
He is now a member of the ski team with Special Olympics Vancouver as the ski program with Special Olympics Delta was disbanded last month.
So it's time for some dryland training as the season approaches, working here with Coaches Mark and Heather.
Cory attended a Special Olympics performance camp, at Sun Peaks, on December 5 -7, his first time on snow this year. It may be a while before he's back on snow as the weather is unseasonably warm. We hope to update with photos & video from Sun Peaks soon.
Cory is used to high altitudes - Mt Hood in 2007 at around 9000 feet, then Loveland in Colorado in 2010 and 2011 at over 10000 feet - but that's always been going up in chairlifts and gondolas. So this was a first, just a few hundred feet, but in a hot air balloon!
He arranged it for himself and his mum as a birthday gift for her and it was something she has wanted to do for years. Here they are waiting for the balloon to be unloaded...
And it's huge!
Helping out with the inflation process...
A peek inside...
A few more bursts of flame, and....
...the balloon begins to rise...
Here they go!
Up, Up, and Away!!!
The view from up there, and a close brush with a blackberry thicket on landing...
As the summer of 2014 fades away, and with an important qualifying race coming up in February, Cory will soon be re-focusing himself on his ski racing. But before that, Cory will spend a week in Mexico in early October. Then it will be time to get serious again about qualifying for Special Olympics National Winter Games in 2016 in Newfoundland.
We ended the season with a day at Whistler Blackcomb. It was a lovely day at our favourite mountain, but the warm weather did make the snow a bit grabby.
But certainly nice to spend a day on a mountain with jackets open.
And a last look at Blackcomb, before...
Heading down to Whistler Village for a pitcher of Okanagan Springs Pale Ale and a toast to the end of a successful season where Cory qualified for Special Olympics Provincial Winter Games in Kamloops, BC next year.
Cory attended his first ever Canadian Association for Disabled Skiers Annual Festival at Kimberley Alpine Resort in March 2014. It was also his first ever visit to Kimberley.
Kimberley is close to the US and Alberta borders, so it's a long 12 hour drive from Vancouver. We chose to take a couple of days to get there and drove through the US via Spokane, Washington and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. It was a picturesque drive through the Cascade mountains until we arrived at the Holiday Inn in Coeur d'Alene where we were greeted by a special front desk clerk:
Upon arrival at Kimberley, we quickly saw that the drive had been well worthwhile:
We had clear blue skies, great smooth, fast "racer" snow, and terrific terrain that we seemed to have all to ourselves. Cory worked with a new race coach - Jamie McCulloch from Rocky Mountain Adaptive Sports Centre in Canmore, AB - and Jamie turned out to be one of Cory's best coaches ever. Cory wanted to work on his starts as well as learning how to take a more aggressive line through a race course. And in just the 3 half-days of training that he had at Kimberley, he improved significantly. So we hope to work with Jamie again soon!
Here's Cory getting a more powerful start under Jamie's guidance, and then he takes a much more aggressive line than he has before, much closer to the brushes and stubbies that he hits many of them with his shins as he goes by:
Time for a lunch break...
with this view from that chair:
Then back to work:
But the CADS Festival was more than just about work....
some snow bocce....
...a chance to try a sit-snowboard, a prototype that is believed to the only one of its kind in the world...
Then there was the mystery of the lost ski...."where did it go???"
gotta be in here somewhere....
ok, found it! now to get it out...
ok, got it now....Cory laughed through the whole thing...
We had the opportunity to meet Krystina and David, from the Czech Republic....she was training with us and is a sit skier who had to withdraw from the Sochi Paralympics due to injury, but she hopes to compete at the 2018 Paralympics in Korea. They told us that if Cory does qualify for the World Games in Schladming in 2017, they will see us there!
A final run back down to our rented condo....
a last minute tip from Coach Jamie, trying to get Cory to move his hips more to the side when he's turning at speed in order to get more carving pressure.
and a final look at Kimberley, we certainly hope to return soon!
A brief rest stop on our way home, sporting our new CADS hats....
And, barring perhaps one day in Whistler this spring, brings an end to our 2013-2014 ski season. Next season will include Cory's 3rd Provincial Winter Games, and that will be his chance to qualify for his 2nd National Winter Games, in Cornerbrook, Newfoundland, in 2016.
Feel free to leave a comment about your visit to our blog, and we'll see you soon!
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
FIRST STEP - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Cory took the first step on the long road to the next World Games when he competed in the Regional Qualifier at a familiar ski hill - Crystal Mountain in West Kelowna, BC. Under cold but mostly sunny skies, Cory took first place in the top Advanced Division in all three events.
In the 2 slalom runs, he beat his main Special Olympics BC rival by 1.7 seconds. Here's his first run:
And his 2nd Slalom run:
The Giant Slalom was only one run but the timing mechanism didn't work for Cory's run so he had to do a re-run. He was wearing only his thin race suit and had to go back up the chair for his second run. He looked really good in that first run but a bit stiffer for the 2nd run - not surprising since he was likely cold by then - but won the race by nearly 2 seconds.
His two runs:
Unfortunately, the race organizers decided not to release results after the race so there was no podium presentations. But mission accomplished just the same, so now his next important race will be in February 2015 at Sun Peaks near Kamloops BC, where he will try to qualify for his second National Winter Games to be held in Newfoundland in 2016.
Cory took the first steps on the road to the next Special Olympics World Games to be held in Schladming, Austria in 2017. It's a long road, in 2010 he started on the road to the 2013 World Games in Korea, but didn't quite complete the journey when he finished 3rd at Special Olympics' Canada National Winter Games in 2012. The 1st & 2nd place finishers were selected to go to Korea but Cory was not.
So he has rejoined his former race team with Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports on Grouse Mountain and yesterday was his first day back on skis since last season. It was a foggy drizzly day at Grouse, but the early-season snow was surprisingly good.
The base at Grouse decked out for Christmas...
Cory now in his red Whistler Mountain Ski Club team jacket waits his turn for...
Just a short gentle run through a few stubbies on Day 1, just to get used to gates again, then we did have a few good free-skiing runs too to finish off a short but enjoyable first day back on snow.
It will be another less-intensive year of training for Cory. He will compete at the Regional Qualifying races in Kelowna, which will automatically qualify him for the 2015 Provincial Games in Kamloops. He'll train with the Blue Streaks throughout this winter and participate in a few fun races, the first one is scheduled for December 29, and then we'll see how he does against some of his main rivals in the first race of the year.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
It's a Bronze Medal for Cory and his SOBC Delta Basketball teammates at the 2013 Special Olympics British Columbia Summer Provincial Games! Having qualified last year as a 'C' Division team, they have improved enough since then to move up into the 'B' Division. That's the good news, the bad news is of course they met some very strong opposition. It was certainly a weekend of learning to deal with much more aggressive opponents playing a much faster-paced game then they had ever faced before.
The weekend started out with a couple of seeding games, and the team easily won its first game against the Surrey Cyclones 14-0, with 6'4" Matt scoring most of the points, though Cory did chip in with 2 points of his own. But then they met their first bona-fide 'B' Division team in the form of the North Shore Wildcats, and fell 14-2.
They then played a mini-game against Coquitlam to determine final seeding and won 6-4, pushing the team into the 'B' Division.
Even though the Games were held in neighbouring Langley, at Provincial Games all athletes travel and stay together throughout the weekend.
So it was mid-day on Thursday that the boys joined Coach Andy to load the bus and head to the Langley Event Centre for the Opening Ceremonies later that evening.
Athletes from Region 4 arriving for the Opening Ceremonies...Cory waves at the sound of the bell which he was expecting to hear....sitting with his Region 4 teammates.....the lighting of the Special Olympics Flame...Elvis gets the athletes rocking....
Cory in action....teammate Alex misses, Cory's there to put in the rebound...
Passing the ball around to teammates and chasing rebounds....
And grabbing a great hard pass from teammate Jeff and just beating an opponent's challenge for 2 points:
The team takes the floor to receive their Bronze Medals:
With the 2014 National Games right here in Vancouver, it's disappointing that Cory's team will likely not qualify. So it's time to enjoy the rest of the summer, with some surfing in Mexico, and then prepare for the next Basketball season starting in October and of course preparing for the downhill skiing winter Regional competition in Kelowna next March.
Just 2 days to go until the Opening Ceremonies of the 2013 Special Olympics British Columbia Summer Provincial Games in Langley. Cory started playing basketball just 3 years ago and his team qualified for the Provincials last year. The Provincial Games are the qualifier for the 2014 National Games to be held right here in Vancouver. Cory participated in the last Summer Games in 2010 in London, Ontario, where he won both Individual and Team Gold in 5 Pin Bowling.
Cory has been practicing with his Basketball team every week since last October. Cory and his team have come a long way since they started back in 2010, and his shooting is quite good....
But it hasn't been all work...there was time to enjoy the local fair too, at the Ladner May Days...
And to participate in a few Special Olympics fundraising events...like the Law Enforcement Torch Run...
We'll update again with results from the Provincial Games basketball tournament.
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.
