Mel Pemble
Special to the Record
The sun was glistening, my heart was pounding, the races had begun.
Feb. 2-3 on Mount Washington was the first race of the season for DSABC. But before the race came the training. Coached by Sue Greenberg, ‘Building our Best’ was two wonderful sunny days of focused ski development; Day 1 focused on Slalom and Day 2 GS. For the race, athletes came from all over, including Silver Star, Whistler and Grouse.
The training days went by fast and soon it was race day. Day 1 was an early start and my favourite – GS. The course was open for inspection and it was nice and rhythmic too. The sky hadn’t brought snow for a couple of weeks so it was fairly icy and with lots of marbled snow bringing the need to sharpen edges and wits. I was one of the early racers with bib No. 7 and as I skied down I heard my name being called.
At the last few gates I saw the finish approaching. I tucked, shaving those few hundredths of a second off. When I passed the blue line I started slowing down and then finally stopped. My breathing was deep with excitement, making it seem like I hadn’t breathed for the whole two runs.
Day 2 was Slalom which is tighter and more technical. As usual I was a little nervous, but I didn’t let that take over. Like the previous day it was fast-paced and not a lot of waiting at all; which I liked. My first run was great; I focused on what my coaches had said and my goal was to make all the gates, which I achieved and got silver. The second run my pole got stuck under my ski at the start gate and flipped my ski off! But the rest of the run was great and I got the bronze.
By the time we had finished it was still only noon and it was time for the buffet and awards. At the buffet there were loads of yummy food and desserts. Sue our coach, gave everyone that did the ‘Building Our Best’ camp an individual report card with a photograph, and the Silver Star, Whistler and Grouse athletes all said their goodbyes.
Another great first race of the season for Mount Washington.