I am a month into the first half of the racing season and I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel; one week to go and I will be home.
It’s funny how we count down the days until we go home when away on the road — why do we do that? I enjoy being away and I enjoy the travel, but there is something about home. No matter how hard you try, the countdown always ticks down in your mind.
But I must say that last season the countdown was happening much sooner than it has this year and I am pretty sure that’s due to the fact that I’ve had a few good results this season and I’m enjoying every part of my job right now. It’s amazing how that works!
For the past two weeks I’ve been in Lake Louise racing and staying at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise — another good reason why I haven’t been counting down the days to go home. The racing was great and the snow even better, although from what I have been hearing maybe not as good as Whistler.
The races were my first in Lake Louise since 2000 and I was reminded just how much fun it is to race on home turf. I saw so many familiar faces from the Whistler race crew and felt their support on the sidelines from start to finish. The weather for the week of the World Cup was chillingly cold but we survived with our face masks and mitts. The Europeans definitely didn’t like it.
I am skiing more speed events this year and have left slalom on the side for now. Apparently it has been a good decision. It felt really good to have some top-30 results, in three consecutive World Cup races, right at the beginning of the season, and in Canada.
But, enough about me, how about the results from the rest of the team — wow! The guys win two podiums in Lake Louise and then we step up and have four girls in the top 12 and a podium in super G.
On the same day my brother produced his first World Cup podium in slalom and with Thomas Grandi there were two of them in the top five!
I don’t know if the team has ever earned so many World cup points in one day… And I have a feeling that there is so much more that is yet to come.
I was talking with the new head coach for the men’s tech team this morning and he was commenting that it seemed like everyone on the team, men and women, are feeding off of each other’s results. “Are you guys close?” he asked.
Put it this way. When Grandi won his first giant slalom races two seasons ago each of us on the women’s team called and congratulated him. I also had a feeling inside of me that said, “hey if he can do it then so can I.”
It also works the other way — the guys always give us a call when we do well, and that’s how we stay connected. Two weeks ago when the guys stood on the podium in Lake Louise our coaches said to us, “well girls, the bar has been raised and now it’s your turn to perform — no pressure.”
Our results show that we rose to the challenge, and I have no doubt that it is because we are feeding off each other. It’s a great feeling. We are close. The whole team is close and we have friendships that allow us to rally as a team.
I am finally off to Europe now. There still isn’t much snow but it is reported that the Austrians are making things happen. I hope we don’t get any more races cancelled this year because right now the Canadian team has great momentum and I think it will be pretty hard to stop us.
I will end by saying keep watching, and keep cheering us on… and please leave some fresh snow for me because I think I’ll be needing some good powder runs when I get home to Whistler for Christmas!
