CTV Vancouver Interview

the link to CTV Vancouver's feature on Cory




https://bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-skier-wins-gold-after-beating-cancer-1.4866483


Special Olympics Canada tweet

A Long Wait

With the impact of the coronavirus crisis being felt in all areas of our lives around the globe, the selection process for both Team Canada and a new venue for Special Olympics' World Winter Games will likely take much longer than normal.

So staying optimistic and looking ahead to next year, and staying at home as much as possible, we'll start giving Cory's race skis a fresh coat of wax after having them tuned. And wax and wax and wax.

Triple Gold but it wasn't easy!

Cory's dream of representing Canada in Alpine Skiing took a HUGE - and painful - step forward last week at Special Olympics' National Winter Games in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

After dealing with a very sore jaw earlier this winter due to a tooth extraction, he was diagnosed with a severe case of plantar fasciitis just three weeks ago.  Up until last week, he had felt little pain while wearing ski boots.

But that changed dramatically in Thunder Bay.

All was fine on departure day, an early morning start at Vancouver Airport.  No, the Team's not flying "priority".

Via Toronto, where Team BC Alpine gathers for a photo, then onto Thunder Bay.

After a day of rest in Thunder Bay, there would be a day of training before competition started on February 26.

Loch Lomond Ski Area would be the venue for the Alpine Skiing events.

By the time we arrive, Cory has already started his training day, and spots us as he rides the chair back up.

Cory would wear bib #239 for these Games...

And all looks fine - if not particularly speedy, no need to take any risks in training.




 
So off to the Opening Ceremonies we go, at the Fort Williams Gardens...where we await Team BC's entrance...

And there they are!  With Cory in front of the volunteer in red...

It's a large team so they are not seated in the usual spot on the floor, but in the stands...

and in a quieter moment, I ring my bell, and Cory finds us...he's just above the toque on the person standing in the aisle..

And with the lighting of the torch...

Our Governor-General - and former astronaut - Julie Payette opens the Games!

The next day would be 2 Giant Slalom runs for the purposes of divisioning and a 2-run Giant Slalom race.

Divisioning runs are used to place the racers against other racers of similar ability in Advanced, Intermediate, and Novice categories.  In Jasper in 2012, and Newfoundland in 2016, Cory was placed in the top Division in Advanced, same division as the World Champion from Quebec.  In 2012, Cory won Bronze in all 3 races, then in 2016 Cory earned 3 Silver medals.  This time he was shooting for gold.

and everyone would see who we were there to cheer for!

Cory always does an intense course inspection, giving the course a really good look to help plan out his strategy...here with teammates and Coach Mark...

Team BC in the background at the top of the race course...getting ready to race...

In the first divisioning run, Cory seems to be in no hurry to get to the finish line, staying far from the gates and not carrying much speed.  It's not a race, just divisioning, so maybe he's just being prudent and not risking a crash.




But by the 2nd divisioning run, it's clear that something is wrong...he's staying away from the gates and starting his turns late, or as his mother says here in the background..."he looks slow as molasses!"




he just doesn't look right...standing up straight...

And his combined time of 1:05.17 puts him in 8th place overall, 14 seconds behind the former World Champion from Quebec, far below his silver medal performance in 2016.

While parents have limited access to racers during competition, I get permission to speak with Cory for a few moments and discover that his plantar fasciitis is really hurting his foot.  He is concerned that if he gets too close to the gates that he may hit one and make his foot worse.  He had not experienced foot pain in his ski boots before, so he is really worried.

So we talk about the 4 years of preparation for this moment, and that somehow he has to find a way to overcome that foot pain and still race at his best.

We also talked to the medical staff and agreed to provide Cory with Tylenol a short period before each race.

On the bright side, Cory gets dropped a division and will not need to go head-to-head with the former World Champion any longer.  It's a lucky though definitely painful break.

So back onto the racecourse, where there would be two runs to determine the winner..Cory's first run is fastest in his division, though a main competitor from Ontario had a crash, with a time of 1:02.22...



and in perfect form as he approaches the finish...something Cory had been working on, keeping his hands high up by his chin to push the wind around his body...

Cory's 2nd run is a bit slower at 1:03.27 and he is beaten by the Ontario racer who had crashed...



But he has the fastest combined time for the 2 runs and he has now won his first ever Gold medal in Alpine Skiing at the National Games! (he won Gold in 5-pin bowling at the National Summer Games in 2010).  He's a National Champion!  With a combined time that is fast enough to be 3rd behind the World Champ and another Ontario skier!

So a terrific result in spite of the foot pain, and he's all smiles on top of the podium!

The next day, February 27, is the Super Giant Slalom, 2 runs with the first run being only a training run, and only the 2nd run counting towards the medals...

We awake to find this on the front page of the local paper...

It's another cold day, sunny but much windier than the previous day, with the wind driving straight up the race course...will the wind affect the results?  Cory's perfect tuck form could make the difference on this day...

Cory tells me his foot is much better on this morning, and his training run shows it, the 3rd fastest overall and 3 seconds faster than anyone else in his division...




And for the 2nd run - the one that counts - it's a closer race, an Ontario racer stops the clock at 57.76, just .75 seconds slower than Cory's 57.01, which is faster than any other skier but the world champion, just like 2016.  GOLD #2!





Nice and close to the gates...

It's slalom for the last day of competition and it's a perfectly sunny day, but even windier than the day before.  And his foot is painful again.

His first slalom run is fastest in his division, but again an Ontario skier crashes...

And the skier who crashed in the first run beats Cory in the 2nd run, but Cory's combined time is again the fastest in his division, and 4th fastest overall.  TRIPLE GOLD!




Cory was the only racer who used a "touch-down" at the finish line, stopping the clock a fraction of a second with his hand rather than waiting for his knees to reach the laser - something else he has been working on.

on the podium with teammate Jordan in 2nd place...

With all the medalists from the entire event...just to the left of the Thunder Bay sign...

In 2010, when Cory won Gold in 5-Pin bowling at the National Games in London, Ontario, we celebrated with an ice cream cone.  Well, time to celebrate again, it's a tradition!

So, he's now a National Champion, in Slalom, Giant Slalom, and Super Giant Slalom.  Only 2 other racers won 3 Gold medals.  Selection to Team Canada normally takes a few weeks, and this year, now that Sweden has pulled out of the 2021 World Games, and a new venue has yet to be announced, it may take longer to find out if Cory will fulfill his dream of skiing for Canada.  But he's done everything he can to make that happen.

Team BC arrival back at Vancouver Airport....

Mission Accomplished?  Not quite yet...just one step - hopefully not a painful one - to go.  

And maybe, just maybe, the next update will include a Maple Leaf.

The Rocky Mountain Adaptive full-time race program proved so good for Cory back in December that he decided to return to Banff for 4 more days of some of the most intensive race training he's ever been a part of.  He had already planned to attend BC Adaptive's All-Mountain Camp at Sun Peaks, so what's another 6 hour drive, eh.  Each way.

So that means it's a 12-13 hour drive from home to the Banff area, and we wake up to a snow day in Vancouver, a relatively rare event which paralyzes the city.





We don't drive all the way to Banff and stay in Sicamous, about half way, and the drive is fine..even in avalanche country...





More snow the next day and in some places it's tricky driving...there's a road - and a truck - there somewhere...

But we do make it safely to our rented condo in Canmore, which is about a 40 minute drive to Sunshine Village Ski Area near Banff, where we will reunite with the Rocky Mountain Adaptive Ski Team.

Cory gets a chuckle when people tell him to "have fun skiing!".  It's always an early start - for this camp it's a 530am alarm, and on this day - January 17 - it's chilly:  -26C.

Then it's a lot of work doing a few warm up drills, working on technique, then a race course inspection and a slip to remove excess snow, before finally getting to ski the race course, maximizing the time allotted to get as many runs through gates as possible.  It's fun yes, but it's a lot of hard work to improve too.  And then there's all that coaching feedback telling him what he must do better!

8am at Sunshine Village...

By the time we are in the gondola, the sun is rising on a spectacular Rocky Mountain venue...

And it's terrific conditions for a Giant Slalom training day....here under the watchful eye of his coaches...Cory continues to work on more up-and-down body movement....



It's a beautiful but chilly morning so a few more runs through the course before switching to technical free skiing in the afternoon.



And it's up to the top of the mountain - above the tree line - for free skiing...where it's blustery and cold...

So it's a well-deserved soak in the hot tub for Cory to end his day...

The next day is certainly no warmer...check out that wind chill!

And due to the extreme cold, the chair lift up to the race course is frozen...but that won't stop Cory from getting in his training runs!

It's slalom on this day...



and though it doesn't look fast from this camera angle, following Cory down the course shows his speed...

Later, during the afternoon's technical free skiing, Cory's coaches work with him to improve his starts...

But shortly after, a touch of frostbite on Cory's nose means an end to his day.

And it's warmer the next day, January 19, warm enough for Cory to train only in his race suit.




The next day, January 20, gives us ideal race training conditions, cold enough for good hard snow but warm enough to train in a race suit.  And as always in race training, an early start...

The coaches with Rocky Mountain Adaptive have been terrific with Cory.  They understand that at this point - with about a month to go to the Nationals - that Cory's technical skill development is less important than just finding a way to higher speeds through race courses.  Coaches Gavin and Kirk start to encourage Cory to attack the race course with a straighter more direct line as they believe he has the technical skill now to do that.  This course is steep with hard snow at the top and Cory has difficulty making those perfect carves that add speed, but by the last couple of runs here he is clearly attacking the course more directly and hitting more of the gates.

Then it's onto Sun Peaks back in British Columbia for BC Adaptive's All-Mountain Camp.  This is a much less-intensive race program with race training only in the mornings.  But the head coach of the program is the head coach from Rocky Mountain Adaptive so Cory can continue working on just finding more speed.

Even in the fog...



And a first for Cory, he gets so close to a red gate near the end of this run that he has to move his head out of the way, a real indication that he is taking a much more aggressive line and shortening his race course.



No fog on the next morning, as Sun Peaks lives up to its name...

The All-Mountain Camp wraps up with Cory and Coach Jamie from Rocky Mountain Adaptive looking really pleased with Cory's progress.

Cory races at the National Games on February 26 & 27, less than a month away.  He may plan to do more training but we all feel that he is ready to take on that World Champion from Quebec once again.