NATC Keeps Pace Up as Parents Run J1 Western Championships - Jeff Miles
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 2:40PM
I have to start off today by thanking all of the National Alpine Training Centre parents for a great race. Thanks to The Delta hotel and all other sponsors who helped in any way. Special thanks to everyone who was at my house for the early preparation meetings and all those who put their time towards the organization of such a smooth race. It was really great! Thank you all for your amazing hard work and your great dedication to making that race a success!
The conditions on the first day of competition were truly trying. 15 cm of wet snow overnight as well as snow flurries mixing with rain showers through out the day made for mediocre skiing at best. We were trying to run a super G for the women and a super combined for the men. Ultimately at about 10:30 it was announced that the women would not race due to the conditions. It was unsure about the men. I personally thought that it would get off, and I was eventually right. It was not an optimal super g course and it was a struggle for most of the entire mens field. The set did no allow any of the men to run out a turn like they usually would in a speed event. I struggled and only finished the day to get super combined points.
The next day we saw more snow but it was lighter and we could push it out of the way. We got one male super g as well as two super g races for the Ladies. It was a great day for both Zoe Hertz and Andrea Turner. In the first race for the ladies Andrea was fifth and Zoe was thirteenth. Andrea was also the top J1. They scored well. Thea Miles was close on their tails in sixteenth, and so was Megan Henkelman in twenty-first. In the second super g that day Andrea moved up to fourth but unfortunately Zoe crashed out. Thea moved into the top fifteen and megan pushed her way up to sixteenth. Andrea was second for J1's proving that she deserves a start at senior nationals. As for the men on our team it was unravelling as a disappointing series.
The third day of racing was really something for us as we had Andrea Turner atop the podium! she won her first F.I.S. race. It is really something. Zoe could not race thanks to her crash the day before but it was not serious enough that she didn't try. Thea had one really amazing run putting her in seventh overall. Megan had a spectacular crash into the timing system at the finish on her second run and as troublesome as it was for Norm our timing guy it was really quite funny. The sad part was that she did suffer shin bang that kept her from skiing the next day. Overall it was still a great day on the women's side for NATC.
The fourth and final day came with some good news. It was slalom! I prefer this event although there are some things that can just go wrong with no expectation of it happening. For me it was very near to the start of my run. I had just pushed out of the start gate and was just making my turn around the first gate when my tip caught the wrong side and I was out before I began it seemed. It was Really quite a strange sensation I must admit. My day was over on the race hill so I went over and ripped up the moguls with the K-Squad and their coach Mike. The girls however had a much longer day. The first run was won by Andrea much to the dismay of Terra Moran (NATC Alumni). In the end Terra won the race followed by Andrea. Thea was going so fast that she could not handle it and unfortunately went out. As for Zoe she managed to tough it out and ski on a hurting body. She still managed to cut her start almost in half, moving into eighteenth.
Although the scoring opportunities in the technical events were sparse since there were no ladies that were willing to give their points away and the opposite on the mens side with Trevor White and Paul Stutz winning by almost three seconds. It was still a good series for our team. The girls really stepped up their game and pulled through on the occasion. It was great to see.
Thanks again to the race organizing committee. You guys did really well and we really appreciate all the hard work that was put in!