Mount Washington Teck Coast Zone Finals 14-15 April 2012
Respectfully submitted by Ken Doraty, Whistler Mountain Ski Club K2 Coach
What an amazing cap to an already stellar year. With a small but mighty group of K2 girls, the Whistler Mountain Ski Club descended with fire on the sleepy mountain resort of Mount Washington for one last chance to show their mettle to the zone. Weather was warm and sunny both days and the course workers had the gigantic task of setting a race arena under full spring conditions. Kudos to the race organizing committee at Mount Washington, and their team of Marmots, for putting on an amazing event and working tirelessly to make it a real success.
With the success of Whistler Cup fresh in their minds the girls set about to show there was plenty of fight left their tired legs. Giant slalom was the order of the first day and early morning hard snow gave way to soft grippy, and then to slushy by noon.
After the first run Esme Mctavish sat in 1st, Chantal Deane 2nd, Cassidy Deane 4th, and Gabby Smith 6th. Shelby Slay was just outside the top ten in 11th.
The second run saw some big changes to the top ten. Esme had a spectacular crash while clearly attacking the course. Many brows were raised as she set a blistering pace. I remember as I watched her pull out of sight that one of the jury members in the start made a comment about how much faster she was, visibly, in comparison to the other racers. Almost immediately I heard a jury radio say “racer # 6 would not finish” My heart sank because I knew this was an important opportunity for Esme to shine.
She had to hike a gate, after getting late on her line, she then subsequently hit a gate, and went down hard.
After a long “first aid” course hold racing was continued. She returned to the start with an ice pack on her eye, bandages on her chin and cheek, and a fat lip, but a smile on her face. Once our racers were all launched from the start I went to see how she was. She smiled, laughed, and told me the only way she was going to miss the SL on Sunday was if her eye swelled shut, and that was going to be debatable.
At the coaches meeting twice members of the jury, asked me “how Esme was doing” and “whether she would race on Sunday”. Those comments reminded me of the feeling of “family” that is experienced often, not only on Vancouver Island but in the racing community as well.
In Sunday’s slalom there were some scores to be settled from the previous day with Claire Baragar, Shelby and Esme looking for redemption for their DNF results from the previous day. After both runs the results were in and 5 out of 6 girls finished in the top ten with Esme taking a commanding win of more than 4 seconds over Gabby Smith in 2nd, and more than 3 seconds over the fastest K2 boy.
Esme’s father Brad was also moved by the experience: “To have complete strangers come forward to me as her father and express their concern as a parent and tell me how worried they were when they saw her in the start gate the next day was very special. Most went on to express how proud they were that she won in the fashion she did and how gracious she was even though their children were her competitors. It was a nice way to end the season and help reaffirm my belief in our ski racing community.”
Even on the podium Esme maintained her sense of humour when she stepped from the podium and held her hands up and said, “Sponsored by Band-Aid”
Esme is a team player that supports her teammates with respect, and is cheerful, friendly, and approachable. She is a valued member of our team and days are seldom cloudy when she is on the hill.
Respectfully submitted by Ken Doraty, Whistler Mountain Ski Club K2 Coach