Technical Report 2017

Irene Collins & Jules Lajoie, 05/02/2017: This year I was not able to come to the east to see the races. I can comment on a few races in the West: Silver Star, Kimberley and Nakiska. From a technical approach the races were set to Masters’ standards which are set by our Canadian Masters and FIS International Ski Competition Rules (ICR). With the Over the Hill Downhill (OTHDH) held at Silver Star, there were issues with the snow the day of the qualifier so the Chief of Race (RoC) and Technical Delegate (TD) had everyone go in all their clothing to meet the required standards of downhill; You are required to come out of a timing start and be registered with an “Official training time” for the Downhill race. Without an official training time they are NOT allowed to race in the Downhill. This training day was not without many issues, such as NO electricity on the hill due to someone hitting a power pole with their car. You don’t realize that without power, there is no hot water, no food, no coffee, and no lights in the hotels. This added to the many things that might have derailed the race, but with good area management and race organization people, the training run went off a little late but everyone raced the official “Over the Hill Downhill” races the next day. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) races, held at Kimberley, were excellent with great people, from the Hill Management and Race Organizing group, to the international coaches and athletes. It is amazing to see the IPC race with the Masters; you realize that if you are having a bad day, just look at the IPC racers. These races are made very safe due to the athletes already being in a handicapped situation, not to say they are not challenged! The Masters helped make these races safe by going first, and then being the slip crew to maintain the track; a Win-Win situation. This was a great compromise by the Race Organization group, with us going first instead of the Masters going after the IPC racers completed their runs. It appeared that we were going to lose the Super G races (due to lots of snow), but with great help by ALL, we were able to put together a VERY aggressive schedule the next day, with two Super G races and two GS races in one day. This would not have been possible without the help of both the very tired Race Organizing group, and the Masters’ athletes. Oh yes, we also got off a night slalom on Thursday with all the new snow, that went from a first run soft track, to a very firm frozen track for the second run. They used the Brower timing that caused a few problems, but these timing issues can happen with any race.