Monday, December 16, 2013

Copper Speed Week

This past week was the Copper, Colorado Nor-Am Speed Week. Over the course of the week, I competed in 3 downhill races followed by 2 super-g races. By the end of my training camp here in November, I was finally starting to put down some fast times in the speed events, so I was excited to start the Nor-Am speed season! The first Downhill race was the US National Championship. Although the National Championship has no effect on Nor-Am points, everyone tries to send it as hard as possible because having the US Downhill Champion title to your name is pretty sweet. I started Bib 1, and had a clean run, and ran an aggressive line. My result wasn't quite what I expected, with a 30th place. My friend and teammate Bryce Bennet ended up taking the win. I wasn't totally sure what went wrong, and to be honest, I still don't know. But, that's how ski racing is sometimes and you just have to put it behind you, and that's exactly what I did, or tried to do. The next 2 downhills were Nor-Am races. I started 22nd in both of the Nor-Am downhills, and unfortunately, the later start number didn't help me score any top 30's. For the first time in over a year, I failed to score Nor-Am points in a Nor-Am cup speed event. I couldn't figure out what was going wrong. It was frustrating to me, my coaches, and my technician. Sometimes some people ski faster on certain types of snow/hills and this week was just not my week for downhill. I put it behind me, and moved onto the super-g's. 

Luckily, I got my slow ski racing out of the way in the downhills. I started both super-g Nor-Ams with bib 3. My goal was to finish top 15 to start racking up some Nor-Am points, and maybe even get some FIS points. I finished both super-g runs decently clean, with some aggressive tactics. When I got to the bottom of my first race, I was just hoping that it wasn't another clean and slow run... and it wasn't! I finished both super-g's in 8th place overall, and was the top Junior (under 21 years old) in each race as well! The first race was a career best 8th position as well as a career best super-g FIS score of 16. I was excited to see myself follow up some of the worst skiing I have done in a while, with career best races. I hope those downhill races were just a fluke, and I can get some good results over in Europe next month. But for now, I am gearing up for Vail, Colorado Nor-Am Tech series this coming week (2 SL, and 2 GS)!

Here is a picture of me on top of the junior podium. Teammate Brian McLaughlin in second, and Canadian ski team member Chris Steinke in third. 



Sunday, December 8, 2013

Beaver Creek Downhill

For the past week I have been for running the Beaver Creek World Cup races! I was able to run the all new Raptor/Birds of Prey Downhill course 3 times, and then for ran the Super-G this Saturday. It was an incredible thrill, as it was the most gnarly DH I have run in my life. It was definitely a great warm-up/ prep for this coming week's Nor-Am Speed week in Copper, Colorado. It's kind of like how baseball players use weights on their bats while warming up to make the bat feel light when they get to the plate. Running the World Cup Downhill will make this week much easier with more confidence. Tomorrow is the first training run, followed by 2 Nor-Am Downhills, the Downhill National Championship, 2 Super-Gs, and a Super-Combined. Big week coming up with a lot of races!

On another note, here is my rally that I have started to raise money to fund my season. Huge thanks to everyone who has donated already! If you are not in a position to donate financially, I am asking if you could share my rally through email or social media to help spread the word. Thank you!