Kimberley – Canadian Nationals

The season is unfortunately coming to an end but there is one more race to go, The Canadian Nationals. This year they are been held in Kimberley where I have been training most the season. Like Sean Rose in the World cup races earlier in the season I am beginning to consider Kimberley as my home slope so want to put in some good results.

With it been the Canadian Nationals competition will be fierce from the Canadians with some Olympians from the past coming back to see if they still have what it takes to make it to one more Paralympics on their home ground. A few days before the races some of the competition arrives and I know the races are going to be tough. Josh Dueck one of the Canada’s best up and coming skiers is out to impress.

            In the first Super G I could have been more aggressive but was very pleased with my position of 4^th 5 sec behind the winner the 2^nd super G was a different story. I struggled with the conditions and course and had a minor slip but everybody else struggled as well and I finished 2^nd. My first Podium and I liked the feeling definitely something I want more of next season. I gained another 4^th in the GS and on the last day of the races I put in a strong race to come 3^rd in the slalom after the combined times. This made up for my disappointment in Silver Star and was a great way to finish the season. (Luke Donavan you were missed. Next year mate!!)

 

Silverstar

Well after the last couple of weeks of just pure powder and bump skiing and not really getting any gate training done, all that fresh snow has finally got skied out and the race track nicely groomed and slipped smooth for us to get back in to the serious training for the next couple of races coming up.

After another all day drive this time to
Vernon in BC and our race at Silver Star. (
Canada is a Big place) We have not had as much gate training as I would have liked in the last couple of weeks, but we must go on regardless. We arrived a day early to get a day of practice on the race slope in the bag. It had rained for the entire journey on leaving
Kimberley so we were not expecting the conditions to be great. It had rained the day before and with a freeze overnight made the conditions very icy. Something Id not skied on having left the ice and bad conditions in
Europe (but it had caught up with me eventually)

            After a days training on the ice the races started.  As expected there was a strong Canadian contingent with a couple of World cup skiers and some of their strong development members for the Brits to go up.

The three days of races were made up of two Giant slaloms and Slalom on the last day. On the day of the slalom I had never skied in such bad weather and rain.  The races didn’t quite go the way I wanted but I still achieved a 5^th and 6^th in the GS’s and unfortunately failed to finish in the slalom, a race that was up for the taking, and I should have been up there despite the weather.

In the end Silverstar belonged to two members of the Canadian development squad Josh Dueck and Luke Donovan