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Posted on Tuesday May 4th at 3:13 p.m.
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It has been an incredibly busy few weeks leading up to the end of the northern winter.
Canadian senior National Championships was a great race series which was held at Nakiska, Alberta. This was the venue of the alpine events in the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. We were on the lift at 7.15am to ensure that the race could be completed while the snow was still in good condition. The first race in the series was the Downhill. This was held on a run called Mapmaker. It was a very basic course with a lot of gliding so good aerodynamics and fast skis were essential. There was only one training run as the second training run was cancelled due to very strong winds. I had an ok run in the race and managed to score a result, being closer to the leader than I was on the training day.
The next events were the Super G and Super Combined events. The Super G was held on a run called Whoop-up. The run had some challenging terrain and the course was set by a guy specialising in setting Super-Gs on the World Cup circuit. Unfortunately I didn't complete the Super G leg of the Super Combined. I was having a pretty good run and that was reflected in my time and placing in the intervals. In the Super G race I screwed up one of the big breakovers really badly and carried no speed on to the flatter section of the course. I was quite annoyed as I didn't perform to my potential in one of my favourite events.
The technical events were the last events at Canadian National Champs. The Giant Slalom was also held on Whoop-up. The snow was very variable as it hadn't frozen the night before. In my first run I managed to release my edge on the tip of a rut and flew in the wrong direction and missed the next gate. The Slalom was held on Mapmaker. Two of the National Team athletes decided to dress up as hula girls. It was really quite amusing to see the best downhillers in Canada racing Slalom wearing a hula skirt, coconut bikini and wig. I had an okay first run and moved up into the top 30 for second run. In the second run there was a long course hold so I undid my boots. Someone behind me said "don't forget to do up your buckles". I thought what the hell, who is telling me to do up my buckles? I turned around to see who it was and there was Britt Janyk. The icing on the cake was when she said "I'm sorry, it's just that I start behind Emily (Brydon) a lot and she always forgets to do up her buckles". That made me laugh, a woman who has won World Cup events still forgets to do up her buckles in a race! After about five minutes I had my run. It was pretty good and I placed 10th in that run, which was awesome as Slalom is the discipline that I find the most difficult.
After a day off I was back at Nakiska for spring series. These races were all held on Mapmaker. They included two Giant Slalom and two Slalom races. In the first Slalom I finished in fourth. In the second Slalom I straddled the 6th to last gate which was really annoying. The GS races didn't go so well and I didn't finish either of the races.
After a couple of days rest, I packed up all my bags and drove down to Wenatchee, Washington State for some spring series races at Mission Ridge. The series included Super G, GS and Slalom races with two of each discipline planned. The first Super G was lost due to really bad weather and poor snow conditions. There was a blizzard and standing at the first gate you couldn't see the second. There was also close to a foot of snow on the track. The second day was a Super G race. I had a terrible run and still made a small result. The next day they ran the first Super G that was lost to weather as well as a Slalom. I really screwed up the Super G. The first two gates were dead flat and you had to pole and skate until the second gate to get maximum speed. My pole slipped off the block so I fell out of the start. I also fell inside and almost crashed and hooked my arm and lost my pole all in one run. In the Slalom I was skiing ok and went out. The next day was the second Slalom. I skied the top section ok but made a mistake and hiked only to straddle the third to last gate. The last two days were the GS races. The first day I hooked my arm in the first run and made it down the second run. I didn't think it went very well but I still made a small result. The second day I had two pretty average runs and got another result in the 40's.
Once the racing had finished at Mission Ridge, I kept on driving down to Bend, Oregon to race Downhill at Mt. Batchelor. The track was pretty fun, and there were lots of rollers that kept you on your toes. I skied pretty well in the second training run but didn't bring it on race day. One good thing is that my jumping was much better in the second race than it had been for the rest of the series. It was a good learning curve and it was great to ski on another track.
After this series was finished, I drove to San Francisco to fly home. I was looking forward to some time off after a hectic few weeks!
I am now just about to resume my dryland program after a couple of weeks out of the gym. I am looking forward to the New Zealand winter, and to build on my improvements of the Northern winter.