Pique Magazine, published 26.10.04

Last weekend the first G.S World Cup in Solden kicked off the new 2004/2005 race season. Prior to the race we were training in Austria. Last weekend for the first time there were nine Canadian women at the start of a World Cup G.S. It was exciting.

While preparing for the first race we did lots of on hill training, and lots of fitness maintenance off hill. We had some excellent training in Pitztal, Austria. It’s the next valley over from Solden and is absolutely beautiful. It’s also a place where almost all teams go to for training at this time of year. The Germans were there, the Americans, the Norwegians, the Slovenians, the Swiss, the Austrians, the British...it gets a bit crazy.

To get up to the glacier everyone rides a train from the valley. It takes about eight minutes and then you are on the glacier, it’s pretty neat. But, there’s one thing I will never miss and that’s all the pushing and shoving that goes on to get onto the train. Nobody casually walks onto the train. No, instead everyone has to be competitive and push their way to get on and to the front. This is not the part of the day that I like! To ski we ride a tram which consists of four gondola cabins. We take it around every run from midway and ski the top half, as it is the steepest. Pitztal is great for Super G, G.S and slalom training. The busiest day last week had about 5 Super G courses set down the hill and then 8 G.S courses lined up one next to the other. So, as I said, it can get pretty crazy!

The race on the weekend was not only exciting because we had nine girls at the start but also because we were ready to race. I’m not sure if you caught the results but Gail Kelly had the fastest time in the second run and finished 11th overall. Gen Simard also had a solid race. At the start, along with myself, was Brigitte Acton, Sophie Splawinski, Emily Brydon, Allison Forsyth, Christina Lustenberger and Anna Goodma. The nine of us have been training together all summer. We push each other to the next level, and if Gail’s result shows anything it shows this: the rest of us can do the exact same thing, and we will do it.

For me, Solden was not a great race. I expected more and wanted more. But, on the other hand, I know that my skiing is there, it’s been there in training and it will continue to be there. I now have three more weeks of training to bring it to the next World Cup.

The men’s race on Sunday was just as exciting. Bode Miller had the fastest time but Thomas Grandi was not far off the pace. He had a great first run and matched it with a great second run to finish 7th overall. The other Canadians at the start struggled and didn’t qualify or didn’t finish, but I have heard that they are skiing strong and that will show in the races in a couple of weeks.

On a side note, we had some excellent fans cheering us on. Four coaches from the east decided to stick around after their ski camp and stayed to watch the women’s race on Saturday. They painted their faces with the Canadian maple leaf in red and covered the rest of theirs faces with white around. They had a big Canadian flag and a loud horn and made as much noise as possible. We do know how to cheer, must be the hockey fans in all of us. It was great to see some strong Canadian fans in a big Austrian crowd.

I am now in Italy for the remainder of the week but as you read this I will be on a plane back to Canada for some time at home. Five of us have stayed after the race last weekend to train some slalom in Val Senales. As I write this on Tuesday, we have so far had two days of training and have put in lots and lots of runs around lots and lots of gates. Oh, and up on the glacier today we counted thirty-two courses set! Once again, it can be crazy! We are being fed delicious pasta, al dente of course, and the capuccino’s very tasty.

I hope the snow is starting to fall up on the mountains because soon things will be white and I will have a lot more racing to write about.