Monday at OFSAA

The one thing I just hate it people giving timing a bad name. Today was a case of timing doing what we like to call " a complete train wreck ". As a concerned parent and having worked with the girl doing the timing I offered to help and after some realignment of eyes and software setup the race actually ran smoothly in the afernoon. It looks like tomorrow will run smoothly.
Trevor ran the slalom course today and it was a lot longer course than he is used to. |He sees maybe 24 gates in a slalom run in North Bay, on a tame slope. Her they ran 55 tight gates on a pretty steep grade. I don't think Trevor ever had his legs burn after a race as much as today. He finished the race but we don't know the results yet. Tomorrow is the GS race and it shouldn't be such a leg burner.
I might even get a chance to take my camera out and get some good pictures.

While I'm talking about starts

I commented in my last post that knowing not to lead out with a certain leg is good for your start. I sit here in the evening watching the alpine race starts at the Olympics and shudder at every start. If you have ever done a start at our club, you know that once the racer is throught the start, you can pull the gate back in position ready for the next racer. I always wondered why when Swiss Timing ran the timing at a race they didn't pull the start wand back in position until the racer is set in position. By watching the starts I think I figured it out. First, Swiss Timing uses their own start wands that are not approved by FIS. How they get away with it I'll never know. But as the racer starts you can see that as soon as he touches it, it springs open, which goes against the FIS specs totally. I watched a youtube video from Wengen where there was actually a delay from when the wand popped open to when the racer actully moved forward. It seems the Swiss are above FIS.
So did the results accurately reflect what actually happened on the hill. I have my doubts.

If this is Sunday, it must be Collingwood

Today was a really long day. Trevor and I were up early and got on the road by 7 am. We had to get to North Bay and pick up some paperwork that would allow Trevor to participate in the OFSAA Alpine championships this week. Onc the paperwork was picked up, fresh cloths exchanged for old, and we were off to Collingwood to make the 4 pm registration deadline. We made it with 15 minutes to spare.
Since there was no coach for trevor and the teacher advisor didn't want to come down, I was signed up as his coach. As the blog indicates, I'm the timing guy, not the coaching guy. But I can offer Trevor three pieces of advice that will help. The first is to make sure not to lead out of the gate with the leg closest to the wand pivot. The second is to make sure you know which finish eye is the primary eye so you make sure to hit it with your hand and not your leg. The third is to go really really fast. And since I'm the coach he has to listen to me.
I'm off to the coaches meating and for a change I'm not the guy doing the bib draw. Should be interesting.
I have a couple of pictures to put up tonight. The first is Matty heading out of the gate. The second is the whole gang lined up.
I hope all the kids had a good race today and maybe someone can let me know how they did. I can be emailed at ken@portcredit.net
Cheers for now.

Spring Skiing

Last year at the Mealey I spent time doing hand timing at the start and froze my hands as the temperature was about -20. Today was Sunny and Warm, with the temperature hitting somewhere about plus 2. Everyone was basking in the sun. I managed to get a few pictures on the hill today and got a good shot of what the start corral looks like at the start of the race. I also managed to get a shot of Cindy and Bailey watching the start before the men's race.
This is my last post from the Mealey as I have to head out early tomorrow morning and drive to North Bay and then to Collingwood. Trevor has qualified for the OFSAA Alpine races so he has to be there tomorrow and race Monday and Tuesday. Hopefully the parents will let everyone know how we do tomorrow.

Friday at the Mealey

Today was an interesting day and for most of our kids it was a new type of race.They started the day with a Super G run, which wasn't anything new but the route down the hill was a bit different and they threw in a jump which was a bit intimidating for anyone who hadn't seen it before. You could really tell who had done the speed camp training where they teach you to have confidence in the jumps. Thanks to our tuning guy, as opposed to our timing guy, we got some good picture today of the jump area.
After the Super G race they ran a Super combined which meant the racers has to change their mind set from speed to technique between runs. It's not an easy thing to do as shown by the Olympic version where Lindsay Vonn crashed on her Slalom run. Since the calculation of results for the Super combi takes a bit of manual labour, the results won't be out until tomorrow. I'll post the results tomorrow as they come in.
Rumour has it that Mike Walker and I have developed a nick name of sorts.People are calling us the Dream Team of timing. I don't really think that we warrant that kind of attention, but we do like to add as many bells and whistles as possible. Anyone can do a start and a stop to time a race, but if you can add some interesting side effects such as interval timing and remote display boards it really gives the race some character. And it's not that hard to do. Being an Electrical Engineer does help at times.
I've added two pictures today. The lower one shows Trevor coming over the jump doing it right. He has good form just like his training in Huntsville. The top picture shows how not to do it. The racer is unknown but you get the idea. Tomorrow is a relatively easy day with two runs of GS. I'll put the results up as soon as I can.

Final thoughts for today

I couldn't end the day without putting in a word for the support staff who help make the kids go fast. I sat here watching as Rob tuned up many many pairs of skis so that the kids could get to bed at a reasonable hour and not have to work on their skis. As you can see in the picture , there are a lot of skis behind him and that's only some of them. Remember that the racers need both GS and Slalom tomorrow. Rob will need to sleep in tomorrow.

Race Day

Today was the first day of official racing and all the kids got a taste of racing on a fast course. and they came away with some hardware to proove they are a force to be watched. Jenna got three gold in the K2 division, Matty got two gold and a silver in the K1 division, Hanna picked up a bronze in the K2 division and Alex got two bronze in the K1 division. It's pretty amazing when you consider the hill that they train on.
Tomorrow the kids do a super G in the morning. they do a Super Combined. This is the same race that the Women did at the olympics today. They do a single run of Super G then they do a single run of Slalom and the combined time is used to get the winner. It really tests the racer's versatility. If I can remember tomorrow I'll get some pictures. I was busy today with volunteering on the hill so didn't get the camera out to take pictures.
I set up some display boards today at the start so the racers and coaches could get the times of the other racers as they finished. It got a lot of good viewing from the crowd. And it all worked first time.
And I just have to mention that our parents stepped up and did a great job of helping on the hill today. Jacky, Cathy and Cindy did the scribbing on the score board at the finish, Rob did an amazing job of slipping the course, and I think he is ready for the big time. Lake Louise here we come.
For those spouses trying to contact their other half on a Rogers phone, forget it. Only Bell works here and it's pretty poor, at least for data.
It's time for the hot tub and a cold one so more to come later.

The Mealey speed week

The racers finally get a chance to get out the Super G and GS skis and see how fast they can go. The snow conditions are great here at Searchmount and the racing is going to be good. The racers got in two good training runs today. Tomorrow there is going to be three races. Since the Super G race is a one run race theure is suppose dto bey are able to get in more races per day. All the skis are tuned for tomorrow and the temperature is supposed to be mild so the runs are going to be very dependant on wax.

The accomodations this year are in a four bedroom chalet. Yes it has four bedrooms but each bedroom is not much bigger than thethe bed they put in it. The kids had to come up with a unique way of storing their suits and helmets as can be seen in todays picture.