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.
The Law Enforcement Torch Run is one of the most important fund-raisers for Special Olympics. We will never forget the several hundred officers who entered the stadium together at the National Summer Games in London in 2010.
Cory participated in the local leg of the Torch Run today, running here with other Special Olympics athletes and law enforcement officers.
Traffic in Ladner's busiest intersection came to a halt as the Torch Run made its way to Delta Polic Station. Cory stands out by being the only runner in a blue shirt, but has a friendly wave for us too.
Next, Cory will do some summer training at Whistler Blackcomb, later this month. We will update then.
Cory returned to visit the Canadian Women's Soccer Team after their final practice in Vancouver before the start of the Women's World Cup in Edmonton on June 6.
Thanks to Simon Eaddy, an Assistant Coach with the Canadian Women's Team, Cory had visited them last winter to match his Bronze Medals from the 2012 Winter National Games to their Bronze Medals from London 2012. He promised a return visit hopefully to help inspire the team to match his Gold Medals from the 2015 Provincial Games with Gold of their own at the World Cup.
A chance for a close look at the official FIFA Canada 2015 ball....
It was a cold very wet day and the team just wanted to get inside to warm up after a 2 hour practice, but they took a few minutes to congratulate Cory and take a close look at his Gold Medals.
But not too close of a look...athletes can be a superstitious lot and some of the team preferred not to touch the medals. Goalkeeper Erin McLeod was willing but notice she is holding the medal by the very tips of her fingers.
We wish to thank the team and wish them the very best of Canadian good luck!
It's official now. Cory received this letter yesterday confirming that he has been selected to represent Special Olympics British Columbia in Alpine Skiing at the 2016 National Winter Games in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. There Cory will try to qualify for Team Canada to compete in the 2017 World Winter Games in Austria.
So a time to celebrate and to enjoy the moment, with a few weeks to relax, and then starting in mid-May, time to start training again for this very special opportunity, A lot more hard work lies ahead.
Cory brought home some silver from Silver Star Ski Resort near Vernon, BC, last weekend. Two silver medals in the Western Canadian Paralympic Championships.
The Paralympics are a separate entity from Special Olympics, but are much better known due to their close association with the regular Olympic Games. But at events like these, the Paralympic group are willing to include racers with an intellectual disability, even though participation is not sanctioned by Special Olympics. Gotta love the politics of sports organizations! But we are grateful to BC Adaptive Sports for their spirit of inclusion.
A group of about 25 athletes participated, from several places in BC and Alberta, several of them familiar faces from Special Olympics, but many of them with physical disabilities so we see them only at these events. The Paralympics division by disability, so sit-skiers compete against sit-skiers, blind against blind, intellectually disabled against intellectually disabled, etc.
So Cory was competing against Special Olympics athletes as well as other intellectually disabled athletes who are not in Special Olympics. Phew, hope you can all follow that...
It's about a 5 hour drive to Silver Star from our home in Tsawwassen, BC. It's a drive we've made many times before and this time there was no hurry, and so with good weather, we took a detour along the Douglas Lake Road between Merritt & Vernon.
Looks like a nice place to stop for lunch....
Selfies always make Cory laugh...
The historic Quilchena Hotel...
And then the historic Douglas Lake Ranch...
We drove for miles through the huge ranch, cattle everywhere...
with plenty of calves...
and protective cows, one worried about her wobbly legged baby...
We eventually make it to Silver Star and find our rented condo right next to the ski hill, and still in its Christmas colours.
But the next morning brings fog, clouds, rain, and wet snow...
But since those are often the ski conditions on the BC south coast, Cory is well prepared for a day of training in the wet with his Karbon poncho...
But the rain stops and he's back down to his Whistler Mountain Ski Club jacket to tackle the slalom race course
But the weather deterioriates, the snow softens up a bit too much making training more dangerous, so the organizers call it a day after only 3 runs through the course for Cory. He usually gets 7-8 runs in a normal training day. But it's an outdoor sport and we just have to prepare for racing the next day....and a visit to the hot tub too of course.
The next morning visibility is even worse, but at least there's snow falling, and falling heavily, a rare sight for us on the west coast this winter.
Keeping warm and dry as best as he can, with fellow Special Olympians Joe Grubweiser (#7) and Ron Greenhorn (#9)....
Cory's first slalom run of 2, and he's the man to beat as he posts a time of 51.81 seconds. One of the other racers who is not a Special Olympian and is usually much faster than Cory missed a gate and had to climb back up the course, so Cory has a 5 second advantage.
But the other racer nails a terrific second run, and Cory's is considerably - and inexplicably - slower, almost 4 seconds slower. Still, Cory earns a silver medal which really was his expectation going into the weekend, but there was no doubt he was a bit disappointed.
So we head back to the condo at the bottom of this hill, and into the hot tub to relax and prepare for the Giant Slalom the next day.
And he can still enjoy his silver moment with his teammates:
The next morning brings a smile to Cory's face with blue skies, excellent visibility, and good hard racer snow...
Silver Star's colourful village...
with a great view at the top...
Cory has two excellent and consistent runs, just one hundredth of a second between the two. He has been dropping his hands as he pole plants which forces him to stay too far away from the gates in order to clear them. In his second run, he does a much better job of keeping his hands forward, and as a result he slices his 1st run deficit from over 3 seconds to just under 1 second in his second run! A great way to end his race season and something to build on for next season as this will allow him to cut much closer into each gate.
He is also learning to tuck more often and in both of these runs, he tucks through the flat section at the bottom of the pitch, while his competitors did not.
And concludes his 2015 race season with a triumphant weekend of silver at Silver Star.
Cory will return to Silver Star this weekend for a performance camp with Special Olympics and hopefully we will know soon whether his participation in the National Winter Games next year in Newfoundland has been confirmed.
It was 2 Golden days for Cory at the 2015 Special Olympics British Columbia Provincial Winter Games at Sun Peaks Resort near Kamloops.
Under excellent race conditions with mostly sunny skies & terrific racer snow, Cory took 1st place in the top Advanced Division in Super G, Giant Slalom, and Slalom.
The Golden weekend started last Thursday as Cory loaded his gear onto the team bus to take them to Kamloops:
With Coach Chris
Later that night, it's the opening ceremonies at the Tournament Capital Centre in Kamloops:
And Cory's team enters the arena, but unfortunately the organizers decided to keep the lights off during the athlete parade but Cory is in here somewhere!
The flame is lit and the Games are open!
And a smile from Cory as his team leaves the ceremonies:
It's a nice clear racer-friendly morning as we drive from Kamloops to Sun Peaks.
The first race of the weekend would be the Super G with a practice run first:
And then Cory's timed run:
And it's his first Gold! but it was close, a margin of only .51 seconds, though still unofficial results...
Our thanks to Edward Tai for these photos:
looking for speed...
Cory is very definitely Canadian and yes, he's wearing a Team USA suit, but hey, he likes blue! And he won't wear a Canadian suit till he's earned one...well, he's now taken a big step towards just that.
A winning run, but those hands could be higher in your tuck, Cory!
This photo courtesy of SOBC; carve baby, carve!
And then his winning Giant Slalom run, in spite of a little slip near the top of the hill, but he takes a great line from the 2nd last gate straight to the finish line:
And unofficially wins by 1.03 seconds
A little off balance here, it was a relatively challenging race course and it doesn't have to be perfect, just fast!
(photos courtesy Edward Tai)
About to pole plant to start his next turn...
Close and in tight against this gate, one inch closer and it's a straddle, but that's the way to race!
\
The next day is Slalom day and the sun continues to shine
And so does Cory - nailing two terrific slalom runs and unofficially beats his rival by an amazing 14 seconds - a rival that only 8 years ago had beaten Cory at his first Provincial Games. Because I knew he had a huge lead after his first run - but he didn't - you can hear thinking out loud..."easy, easy"...as I was concerned he might miss a gate or crash if he was going too fast, and be disqualified...but that wasn't going to happen on this day!
Then onto the plaza at Sun Peaks for the medal presentation, waiting with his new teammates from Vancouver, Vancouver North Shore, and Whistler.
where Cory would hear his name called to the podium 3 times, so those Golds are now officially his!
Gold #1
#2
And #3
And those medals sure are shiny! Cory's medals gleaming in the Sun Peaks sunshine...
And one for mum, one for dad, one for Cory.....well, if only for a moment...
Heading back home to the coast...
to greet the team bus early the next morning...
A very tired Cory somewhat reluctantly lets go of one medal for a moment to thank Coach Chris
but the handshake is genuine and heart felt..
So Cory has likely completed the next step in his quest to represent Canada at the 2017 World Games in Austria, pending the confirmation of his selection to Team BC within the next 2 months. We'll post as soon as we know for sure that he will attend the National Games in Corner Brook, Newfoundland on March 1 - 5, 2016.
Cory plans to compete in the Western Canadian Paralympic Championships at Silver Star near Vernon, BC in mid-March and he has been invited to return to Silver Star to attend his second high performance camp with Special Olympics BC in late March.
But first, he will enjoy a well-earned vacation on the beaches of Puerto Vallarta.
Our thanks to Chris Vanderwel, Whistler Adaptive Sports Programs, the Gatebusters program at Whistler Blackcomb, and to Heather, Mark, and John, his coaches at SOBC Vancouver, all of whom helped Cory to prepare as best as he could under very difficult weather conditions during this unusually warm winter with no snow in our local mountains.
It was a true team effort, and we will hope for similar success next year too.
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