Photo by Ken WatsonFor Winter Park, the season comes to a close on Sunday. You wouldn’t know that from looking outside as it has been snowing for days. That’s okay though, we need the snow. In some ways it’s hard to believe the mountain is closing but in other ways I’m ready for the break. It feels like it’s been a long hard season. I guess all of the changes and ups and downs, has just taken a toll on me emotionally.
Our racing season ended at Waterville Valley, NH with U.S. Disabled Championships. Because we couldn’t run the speed events they ran 1 Nor-Am race and one National race for GS and SL and then the last day we did a dual GS for fun and prize money. I skied well. I had two of my best SL races of the year and I actually beat my friend and teammate Liz Miller in a few runs of GS, which usually doesn’t happen. In the Nor-Am GS I took bronze. For the Nationals GS I came back from being behind first run to taking silver! The Nor-Am SL was a heartbreaker for me. After first run I was sitting 3rd. Second run the leader DNF and I won the run, but it wasn’t enough and I lost by .58 of a second- OUCH! For the nationals SL I was down by 2 seconds after first run, had another good second run and made up time but it wasn’t enough and I ended up 3rd. The final day was the duel GS and I had another good day. I skied fast in the qualifying and then throughout the day to take 4th place behind my teammate Laurie Stephens. Not bad.
All in all I had a good week but it was bittersweet. At the end of the week we had our individual meetings with our staff and made decisions about next season. The decision was made that I will not be part of the U.S. Disabled Ski Team next year. This was really tough and I wasn’t quite ready to deal with it. I think I’m going to take a step back and focus on training and maybe just local races, I don’t know. I’m not sure how everything will work out but I’m going to stay in Winter Park and WILL be training and racing. There are a lot factors that have affected my skiing but the bottom line is that I want/need to race faster, whatever it takes. Photo by Kurt Smitz
All in all I had a good week but it was bittersweet. At the end of the week we had our individual meetings with our staff and made decisions about next season. The decision was made that I will not be part of the U.S. Disabled Ski Team next year. This was really tough and I wasn’t quite ready to deal with it. I think I’m going to take a step back and focus on training and maybe just local races, I don’t know. I’m not sure how everything will work out but I’m going to stay in Winter Park and WILL be training and racing. There are a lot factors that have affected my skiing but the bottom line is that I want/need to race faster, whatever it takes. Photo by Kurt Smitz
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