Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

End of a season

The last WOrld Cup, back in time for nationals

The 2010/2011 race season has come to a close - not to be confused with the winter season, because looking out my window it seems that it's still going strong. I've been home now for about four days and I am still doing laundry - how is that even possible?

But, nonetheless it is nice to be home and to be able to unpack my bags, tackle the piles of mail, and to once again be able to go to the grocery store, shop and then make something that I want to eat. Yes, life on the road does get a bit tiring at times. I'm not saying that it isn't nice to have someone make your food and serve it to you and then do the dishes, but there is something to be said for being able to go and do it all yourself.

That said, this past weekend I decided to go to mom and dad's and eat there. I couldn't possibly just jump right back into things, I need to ease my way back in.

My season finished with the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland and then National Championships in Nakiska. I was qualified to race the downhill and super G at Finals, but the super G was cancelled due to weather and snow conditions. I also raced the team event, which is becoming more and more popular.

After finals we always have a bit of a party and they hand out silly awards. This year World Cup overall winner Ivica Kostelic got up and played with the band for a bit and sang - something none of us knew he could do. It's always a great way to wrap up the World Cup season to go out and have a little bit of fun with everyone. And also great to see everyone a little more relaxed after a long season on the road.

The GMC Canadian Championships, held in Nakiska, were also pretty relaxed. It's always tough to get up for these races when you come back from the World Cup season because all you want to do is get home and stay there for a while. But the champinships are very important and a great opportunity for the younger racers in the country to get a chance to race against the World Cup teams. Nakiska has put on a great race series the past two years and this year, like Whistler, there is a lot of snow. Conditions were fantastic with great, hard winter snow and when the sun came out it also felt a little bit like spring!

At nationals there isn't a lot of pressure for me and it's much more laid back than a World Cup, but when I get into that start gate the only thing that comes in to my mind is "win this thing!" I'd say that I'm not competitive but clearly that is not the case. That's probably why I walked away with titles number 14 and 15 at the Canadian Championships with wins in both the downhill and super G races. When the announcer called me up to the podium, he said "and for her 15th title..." I felt like saying, "Shhh, you'll make me look really old next to all these 20 year olds!"

All in all it was great fun and it truly wrapped up the season well. I love going to nationals for that reason. You see people that you never see in the regular season because we're overseas most of the time.

All the best, thank you for reading and maybe I'll see you out on the slopes. Time for me to try and get in some powder skiing before it ends.