Pique Magazine, published 10-01-05

A new year has begun, the holidays are over, and it’s back to work on the ski hill. The holidays were great, quick, but great. I spent the time in Europe, as did a good part of the Canadian team. I had three days off at Christmas, which was nice, and then another three at New Year’s. It went by quickly and I’m not quite sure exactly where the time went!

There has definitely been a lot going on in the world of ski racing and I think I will begin with Thomas Grandi’s wins in the Giant Slaloms before Christmas. His first win came in Alta Badia. I’m sure most of you saw the results in the paper, but here’s what we were doing on that day...

We were in Innsbruck that morning and were traveling to St. Moritz. In the morning we watched the first run on TV and then decided to drive part of the way before stopping to watch the second run. We were on the road and couldn’t find a place to stop that had a TV. So, instead we called Jim Pollock, who was already in St. Moritz, to give us the play-by-play action. We were two vans driving on a mountain pass, waiting to hear how Thomas would finish. The last to leave the start in the second run was Kale Pallander. He was ahead at the interval and then he was out of the course… Thomas had won his first Giant Slalom of his career. Well, we started honking the horns, yelling out the windows, then more honking, more yelling. There was absolutely nobody else on the road; it would have been funny to see us, and all our excitement from the outside. And, to top it off, JP Roy had the best result of his career with a 5th place finish. It was an exciting day!

That result seemed to get this rolling for the men’s team. In the following race in Flachau, Austria, Thomas came through with another win, also just as exciting to watch. In the slalom the following day the men had three in the second run, my brother, Ryan Semple and Thomas.

The best part about seeing Thomas win those races has been to see him work so hard over the years, struggle to get results a few years ago and then now start to perform at his potential. It’s absolutely inspirational. He is also a great teammate and shares his experiences with the younger guys. They will start to believe that they too can finish in the top group of racers and their confidence will grow.

The most recent races this past weekend also saw top finishes from the Canadian team. The men were in Chamonix, France and the women in Santa Catarina, Italy. On Saturday we had five qualify for the second G.S run and on the men’s side there were three starting in the top 30. Overall it proved to be an exciting day. I had tears in my eyes as I watched with joy as my teammates Genevieve and Allison stood up onto the podium together. On the men’s side Jeff Hume, a local to Whistler, had an amazing run and skied to 6th place; the best result of his career. Manuel Osborne-Paradis also had his best result, finishing 12th overall and Eric Guay right behind him. Wow, another exciting day!

Last week marked the halfway point in the season. The night before the G.S race our coaches sat us down and told us that we needed to start to produce top results. The World Championships are just around the corner and there is no better time than now to get it going. Jim Pollock has been working very hard with us everyday towards getting those goals. Our training is very focused and well planned and he challenges to always strive towards our best. He is a great coach and puts so much passion into his work everyday. It is great to work with someone like that. A lot of the credit goes to Jim for providing us with a great program and a great support staff to work with.

This coming weekend there are more races, both men and women’s. I am taking a brief break for five days and the next race for me will be in Zagreb, Croatia for a night slalom.

Keep watching the results, the year is already proving to be a new one for the Canadian team. Hope the holidays in Whistler were great, I hear a little more snow is needed though!