March Races, Part 1

Our March calendar was completely full. I've been running purely on adrenaline since.... November?

Anyway, a recap:

First weekend, Sarah raced at Rabbit Hill, a river valley hill outside Edmonton. The big thrill at that race (besides being all slalom events, which is Sarah's favourite) is that we get to go out for dinner at the West Edmonton Mall. And, of course, we had the pleasure of hosting Nana and Papa for the big event! They even got to stay in the Edmonton Airport Super 8 Hotel next door to Sarah, Rustle and I. Now isn't that just living it up?

If it will post, the video of the Rabbit Hill runs:

Castle Mountain

In the deep south-east corner of Alberta is a ski resort called Castle Mountain. Two years ago, Bob and Sarah went there for a race and came back gushing with praise about the place. This year, Alison went to the Terrain Event at Castle, and oddly enough, Bob insisted that he be the one to take her.

The West Castle Mountain Terrain Event has the kids doing all sorts of events around the mountain - there were downhill and GS races, a jump competition, moguls, and even skating. The kids entered as a team and traveled about the mountain, attempting all of the exciting activities.



Alison was thrilled to be a part of the Gold Medal Winning Team of 9 year olds! The Lake Louise 10 year olds also took top prize in their age group. What an exciting weekend!

Maybe I'll get to go someday...

K1 Westerns

Sarah was very excited about going to Westerns this year after her first race at Nakiska had gone so well. This race, however, held some disappointment for our girl. She had to hike in the slalom (her favourite) and lost a lot of time. The next day, she had a crash in the Kombi and got her first ever Did Not Finish. She pulled herself together a bit for the GS race on the Monday and managed to finish 16th on the day. Even though Mom compared her to Lindsay Vonn crashing in the Olympics, it was hard to cheer Sarah up.

Her teammates had a much better weekend. Her friend Alex was 11th in the Slalom, also crashed in the Kombi, and was seventh in the GS. Cleodie got two Most Improved medals and made sure she received them at the top of the podium! Tristen, who has always been a great skier in training, finally put together some good runs and got his best-ever finishes in the slalom and kombi, but broke his hand on a gate in the first run of the GS. He'll be racing this coming weekend with a cast on his hand that the doctor fit around his ski pole!

It's a crazy sport. Good thing she loves it.

Kicking Horse

Both girls were training with their teams, so the grown-ups got to try out a new ski area. Here we are at Kicking Horse, in Golden, B.C., up above the clouds. Or is it the ocean?

Training

If you ever wondered, "Does Sarah actually enjoy the countless hours she spends training for ski racing?" I think this picture will answer you.

Jasper

Alison had her first race as an official racer at Jasper's Marmot Basin at the end of January. She had a great time!

"I have enough fingers!"

to count her position in the Alberta Alpine K1 rankings. Our girl is 9th on the list of the top female 11 -12 year old ski racers in the province. Woo Hoo! Sarah is very excited. We are all very proud.

Speed Camp

Sarah had an opportunity to train for the Super-G this past weekend. Yep, going really fast on long skis, including jumps and rollers.

It's hard to get good pictures when they go that fast, so here's one of her friend Alex (the only one I managed to get in the air off the jump) as well as team shots.

WooHoo!!

Two top-ten finishes for Sarah this weekend. I only have video of her zipping down the course, but here are photos of her in her well-drawn bib (2! The course is perfect if you draw 2!) and collecting her ribbon for her 6th place finish.



Way to go!

Happy New Year

I was going to try to catch up on missed posts. But the fact of the matter is, we've interrupted skiing with very few other activities in the past month.

Here's a couple of shots from Sarah's birthday party. She had some friends over for a Wii Fest and pizza, and managed to bite her own tongue. She is 12 now. Maybe she'll learn how to eat now.


Bob got a camera for Christmas. We took a picture of the fantastic blueberry pie Alison made for Christmas Dinner dessert. She's been watching the Food Network lately and she's inspired.



But mostly we've been skiing. Here's a shot in the lodge, where only part of the fun happens, and a shot of Sarah receiving her First Place cookie for her victory (over one competitor) in the Candy Cane Challenge. Woo Hoo!