Mont Ste-Marie QC, Saturday January 16, 10

Patrick

Active member
Staying local, but outside of the local Gatineau hills.

Race day, not for myself, but for my daughter. After my best race ever on Wednesday night, it was time for my daughter for a first race ever.

Wife got home sick the previous day, so I decided to sleep on the couch. Everything was ready for the next morning early start. Plan time to be at the hill was 7:30am. Oh yeah, Morgane mentioned that her skis weren't sharp and it would be great if we would had the chance to get them tuned. Hey hey hey, I can tune skis. She was happy and actually when to bed at 9pm. So after getting everything set and sleeping 3 hours, we tried to leave at 6:15am. MSM is about 90km (55miles) from our home and about 1:15 drive. Made up good time and we're at the hill 5 minutes late. Morgane slept until we got into the parking lot. A number of car were on the road, I guess we all had kids in the race.

This was the first Nancy Greene race of the season (4 races). NG racing level (named after Canadian and two-time World Cup and Olympic Nancy Greene) is like an introduction to ski racing, there are programs all over Canada and existed when I was a kid. It involves kids approximately kids from 5-12. Nothing too serious and skiers race as team, not individual. No individual time are posted.

The race was on the bottom part of the Outaouais Trail, I did a few Masters' finals on that run. This trail is the finest of the ski area, it's a nice twisting trail and number of topographically changes. No long flats (except maybe getting to it) to deal with like many of the others runs at MSM. Morgane totally frooze last week as she started skiing at -21c, today the temp was 0c when we got to the hill. Temperature was going to remain around freezing for the entire day. Sky overcast. A couple of kids had a hard time dealing on the slink pitch prior to the start hut. Conditions were definitely not as great as the last couple of outings. After a few runs, we definitely needed some edges today as it never soften up.

Morgane skied real well. Dad is real proud. She missed the next to final gate on the other side of the drop at the finish, she was focus and concentrating in going faster and was going to fast when she saw that gate. I'm proud none the last. The kids finished their two runs and went to eat. It's was 10:39am. :shock: Started inspection for the afternoon around lunch with a schedule start at 1pm. I did one run down Outaouais then moved to ski Betsy (straight steep run), but long flat to get back to the lift afterward. 12:37am at the top of the hill, with the HSQ, I decide to go down the other steep, Formidable (another double black). Damn, I should have sharpen my edges at the same time as I did my daughter. :lol:

In the chair, I noticed the first racer in the gate. Crap...My daughter is 16 on the starting order (team alternate and start together on the grid). Skied fast down Outaouais and got to the start hut (reverse order in bid of the club)...Bid 64 moving in the hut, Morgane is 66...I think I just missed her 3rd run. ](*,) Now I know that if everyone is ready, they can start early. ](*,) ](*,) Oh well, I'll know that for the next race in two weeks. Man, they run these races fast. Took a few pics for her 4 runs (filmed her first 2).

My daughter and her new race friend were done pretty early, Team medal presentation was at 3pm. They hadn't free skied all day, however I told her that she fortunate as the vertical from the top of the lift to the start hut is greater than entire vertical of the highest of the other local hills (230+ meters). Girls skied Betsy (named after a local World Champ) then back up to get skied down to the other mountain (Vanier) in front of the chalet. One run on this side (as I got the lunch bag in the Lodge) and up I went. I saw them coming down, but didn't see them afterward. One of the coach mentioned that they were skiing and we should make sure they didn't take the lift again, so another dad and myself kept an eye out for them. Waited and waited...after a number of minutes, we saw our kids come out of the Lodge, my daughter with a Slush Puppy (brrrr...). Girls only did one run on the Vanier side, so they were already inside when the coach talked to us. Lifts are fast here and so are the girls. :mrgreen: Oh yeah, the Edelweiss Ski Team came in second place. \:D/
 
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