Report from the “Control & Comfort Camp” in Apex!
Why do they call it a speed camp? That was definitely not a name that a mom chose. I’d like to think of the Apex Downhill Training Camp as a “Control and Comfort” camp. After watching these young racers for three days, working up to a full run, I’m feeling more comfortable and I think many of the racers are too. It’s not super fast but it’s fast enough and there are jumps. I loved Rob Boyd’s description of the second jump as a “low flight”. What a great description. I would be snowplowing to spill speed, myself but these kids go for it. I overheard one girl yell, “Oh God”, just before she hit this second jump. Now, I’m not sure that girl had ever gone to church in her life, but she was not taking any chances.
As a mom of a daughter who loves going fast, I prefer not to think about the risk. It’s just better not to think. If it’s not this, they will find something else equally or more risky. It definitely helps to go and watch and learn the process of introducing speed to these young racers. The way it works is the run is broken into sections. They do the sections then they combine sections until it adds up to a complete run. The process takes three days. Some of them are clearly scared to death initially but after some tender loving care with some of the finest speed skiers in the country, Rob Boyd and Kerrin Lee-Gartner passing on their love and knowledge of the sport, these kids are running the entire course with confidence by the end of three days. I was so impressed by the level of caring that I saw from these ex-racers, I can’t possibly express it. Primarily, they seemed to respect all levels. At the end of the camp, all the racers where smiling! How proud are those racers, that they did it? How lucky are we to have such expertise from athletes willing to pass it forward. Thank you Kerrin and Rob and all the coaches that support our racers.
For the record, there was not one athlete injury that I am aware of during this camp. We did have a few go into the nets but skied off without incident. The course workers beat themselves up pretty good by setting up nets. If you’ve never carried a B-net down the hill and set one up, you can’t begin to imagine how much work it is to set up an entire downhill race course. These guys are the heroes that make it all happen. The funny thing is that they come back year after year from all over the province. Many have athletes racing but more don’t and some have never had racers in the family but there they are, taking vacation, doing whatever they can to make the course safe! Bravo to the Sun Dogs, the Weasel Workers and the Marmots! Thank you!
Signed,
(the other) Karen Gardner
Mom of Emma King, BC Ski Team and Whistler Mountain Ski Club
