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Posted on Saturday April 10th at 6:09 p.m.
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Hello Everyone,
Well its has been an up and down few days since I last updated my blog.
It started off on Tuesday the 6th of April with a mixed result in the second North American WSF Adaptive Snowboardcross World Cup at Copper Mountain, Colorado, USA. After a great build up and placing 2nd in the Canadian World Cup, the USA World Cup proved to be challenging on many levels. With variable weather conditions and a talented international field I came in 4th position. I just missed the podium by 0.01 seconds. It was very hard to swallow, especially after all the hard work I have put in and the dedication Adam Dooney has contributed towards my development. I would like to congratulate Tyler Mosher of Canada for coming in first closely followed by Evan Strong, USA and Ian Lockey of Canada in third.
After the boardercross I regrouped and focused on the next two races at the USASA (United States of America Snowboard Association) National Championships. Slalom on Thursday and Giant Slalom on Friday.
Thursday would see me line up in the Slalom, racing against some of the best adaptive riders in the world. I woke up in the morning feeling confident and ready for the challenge. I ended up winning GOLD with a combined time of 52.77 seconds, almost 3 seconds ahead of second place, Evan Strong, USA with a time of 55.62 and Tyler Mosher, Canada in 3rd with a time of 55.77.
Yesterday was the Giant Slalom and hoping to continue the momentum from the day before. After coming in 0.07 seconds off first place after my first run I knew in the second run I would have to step it up. I lined up in the gate with some insightful advise from Adam, "smooth and fast". And thats exactly what I did. A fast clean run saw me finish with a combined time of 77.54 sec enough to win my second gold of the USASA National Championships by almost 2 seconds over Tyler Mosher, Canada with a time of 79.49 sec. Ian Lockey, Canada had the bronze medal with a time of 80.49 sec.
To sum up, it has been a great Northern Hemisphere campaign with a silver medal in an able-bodied snowboardcross event at Crested Butte, Colorado, second place in the WSF Adaptive Snowboard World Cup at Mont Tremblant, Canada and two gold medals at the USASA National Championships along with a 4th place in the World Cup at Copper Mountain, Colorado USA.
Double gold medals and a second place in the first World Cup is totally awesome. Putting in the hours and hard work paid off making this my most successful trip in the 3 years I have been in competition.
I can not thank everyone enough for all there support and help in getting me to North America this season. I am so happy with my results and can't wait to improve on them for next year.
I also would like to give a huge thanks to Adam Dooney, my coach and good friend for helping me out and taking his own time to work with me and my riding. Without his coaching and friendship I am sure I wouldn't have achieved my goals for the 2009/2010 season.