AST 2019 Athlete Journal: Claire Timmermann
Hello all! It has been a busy and cold one recently. Ever since the new year kicked around, I have found myself racing non stop, which comes with a lot of ups and downs. In early January, Tora and I met Leslie out in Collingwood where we had a week of NORAM racing. Tora and I both had our glory moments, our grappling moments, as well as our eye opening moments. Once those were over, Leslie and I dropped Tora off at the airport as she needed to go back to studying the books, before we took a road trip to Quebec where I raced another week. As I slowly got over a sickness I was battling, results started to show.
After a frigid, wonderful week in Quebec we jumped on a plane to go back west. I got home early morning of the 16th, and raced Lake Louise from the 17th-20th. All I can say is that, yes being busy is draining, but when you’re doing what you love you never want to stop being on that ‘go go go’ program.
(Photo by: Mikey Stevenson Photography)
Before leaving to Jackson, Wyoming for another NORAM week on February 1st, we had 10 days for some training and down time at home. Unfortunately, during this time, Tora caught a bug so she couldn’t join Ashleigh, Leslie, and I down in Jackson. Down in the states, we had an amazing slalom training day and a few of the best powder days of our lives before racing got started. I was going into those NORAM races coming off one of my best days of slalom training, and I couldn’t have been more hungry to charge. However, when racing came around it was a completely different story. When I couldn’t perform as I wanted, I was frustrated. For some they strived and boogied, but for myself, I struggled that week. Despite not achieving what I hoped down in Jackson, AST walked away with some things to be proud of; one being that Ashleigh tied for 1st on a GS NORAM run which resulted in her best score ever (woohoo!!).
Shortly after we got home we headed to the west coast for the classic grouse and whistler races, where we earned a lot of hardware as a team, overcame some fears, and ingested probably way to many Chic Pea cinnamon buns (mmh). I picked up not only my first win of the season but my first GS win since u12, so I came home on a high note.
When we got home, I finally had some time off after a hectic but enjoyable 7 weeks of racing. We began skiing again at the beginning of this week at Nakiska, where we were lucky enough to train and watch some of our upcoming Albertan stars in the Canada Winter Games. It should also be mentioned that it was also super nice to have Tora back on the slopes with us after a tough sickness that kept her in bed for 4 weeks.
In the upcoming months, the team will split ways again, going in three different directions with some to vail, some to red, and some to NORAM finals, before being back as a team in northern Quebec for Canadian National Championships! Afterwards we go to Eastern Spring Series and then Western Spring Series before our final race at Nakiska to finish the 2018/2019 season…. Where did the season go???? Seems like it went by in a flash.
Also shoutout to Rob McCloskey, who has been working non-stop to help Alberta Alpine reach full potential. This includes applying for the Parks Foundation Calgary Grant, on behalf of AASA & 14 other Calgary-based member ski clubs, that awarded us with $150,000 and some Flames tickets to help us reach our goals. (Please go check out to see what they do: https://www.parksfdn.com ). And too Gavin Preziosi, who has been in the forefront of putting on an awesome three days of racing at Nakiska Ski Resort for the Red Deer 2019 Canada Winter Games where U16 racers go head to head. Team Alberta had many podium results in all 3 disciplines.
Anyways, goodbye for now! Enjoy the snow while it lasts (can’t believe it is already March) Lets pray for some warmer weather !!!!!
Cheers,
Claire