It was one of those days were Mother Nature can really try your patients. You’re up, your ready, and you can’t see a bloody thing! These were the conditions that met the Canadian SkiCross team at the Airwaves Games held at, the usually beautiful, Tignes Resort in France. Just over the pass from Val d’Isere, Tignes boasts year round training in the high alpine and is a customary two-week stop for many of Canada’s junior racers come summer training season. This week however, it played host to one of the biggest “X-game” style events in Europe providing the best spectacle around for all things extreme.
Tuesday had been scheduled as the day for all the competitors to train on the course and familiarize themselves with the terrain and features. Wednesday was to be an inspection, qualifying and the race day. However, at the conclusion of Tuesday’s training it was decided that some changes needed to be made to the features on the course.
Wednesday morning saw amostly overcast day with periods of snow and the mercury hovered around 0 degrees Celsius. It was a new day and a new course that faced the competitors today. The changes that took place the day before resulted in a condensed schedule that included another session of training, giving the athletes an opportunity to re-familiarize themselves with the course. By all reports, the “new & improved” course was demanding. Bigger air, changes to the rhythm and a packed schedule all made for a long day of racing.
Being an invite only event, based on last seasons results, the Canadian Ski Cross team was running with 6 out of the customary 10 athletes for today’s event with the 4 new members already training in Les Contamines, France, the site of the first FIS event of 2008. The format for the Airwaves event is identical to the format used during the X-games, each heat sees 6 athletes in the start and the top 3 from every round advance. This differs from the FIS or Jeep Tour events that have just 4 competitors in the start and only the top 2 advancing to the next heat. In the start today for the Women was Anik Demers-Wild and Ashleigh McIvor. For the Men were Stanley Hayer, Chris Del Boscoe, Davey Barr and Brian Bennett.
For our women’s team,today’s race was an exercise in maturity and restraint. Anik Demers-Wild along with the coaches decided that she be withdrawn from the race given the poor visibility. The light did improve for Ashleigh McIvor’s run, however, she was flagged during the training run and was not given the opportunity to challenge the biggest feature on the course. When it came time to qualify this would be her undoing. Unable to find her line inshe was forced from the track and did not finish the run. Both athletes were frustrated but physically fine.
On the men’s side, all 4 athletes were off to a strong start with everyone qualifying in the top 10. Thanks, in part, to the dynamic tuning duo of Josh and Willi Wiltz, and their tireless efforts in the wax room.
The quarter-finals saw Hayer and Del Boscoe in the 1st heat and Barr and Bennett in the 3rd. Hayer was able to find the hole shot and won the run while Del Boscoe got pinched out the back of the pack and had rally his way back into contention by making a series of miraculous passes to end up in 3rd spot and advance to the next round.
In the heat with Barr and Bennett, Barr was able to grab third spot off the mark and held it to the finish, Brian Bennett settled into 4th spot off the mark and was unable to gain any ground ending the race in 4th spot and out of contention.
The semi-finals saw Hayer and Del Bosco matched again in the 1st heat with Barr running in the 2nd heat. Through a series of tangles out of the start both Del Boscoe and Barr found themselves out of the top 3 and out of contention. Del Boscoe finished the day in 7th place and Barr ended in 9th. There were no injuries and both athletes walked away unscathed. Hayer managed to finish in second spot and secured himself a spot in the final.
By all accounts the final was tight. Michael Schmidt of Switzerland squeezed the hole shot from Stanley out of the gate and maintained his lead throughout the race. Stanley, in a fierce battle for second place that went right down to the wire, was able to fend off Casey Puckett of the United States to hold on to second spot.
“Given the nature of the course and the weather conditions we had to contend with, we had a pretty good day,” said Eric Archer, Head Coach of the team. “We’re really happy with Stanley’s performance and the other guys fought a good fight, we are also really proud of Anik and Ashleigh for having the wisdom and maturity to make the tough decisions, it’s never an easy one to make when there’s pride on the line.”