Stowe Derby

Yesterday started off with a bang, as I almost missed the start of the Stowe Derby. My day started off a little late and with some bad driving conditions to registration. I arrived at registration at 9:30...with a 10am race start time. On my drive I figured this would work out great and I wouldn't be sitting a the top of the mountain freezing waiting for my start. But when I arrived at registration I found out I had a very high seed...number 33...with all the fast men. The pressure was on, not only to race fast but to get to the start on time. I would say this is where my warm up started...I sprinted to my car, and drove as fast as I could to the mountain(rally racing in the wrx). Once I got to the mountain I stripped down to my race suit and sprinted to the lift line, once I made it to the lift I knew that if I didn't make the start now it was out of my control. Lucky me, arrived with three minutes before the start of the 75th annual, 2009 Stowe Derby.

At the start I felt good, my skis were very fast and tracked through the deep snow really well...especially at high speeds. I tucked in behind two men, at the start and I let them pull me down the hill, we raced together very well through the fast turns. I managed to make it down the toll road, with only one crash!

Then the climbing starts, and we all know that all the time is made and the race is won, on the climb and the flats. Yesterday was a good day for me, as I kept up with the men in the climbs and drafted as long as I could, powering hard with V2 on the flats. Before I knew it I was skiing on my own, dropped by two of the top skiers in my start but no one in the waves be hind me catching me. I took the fact that I wasn't being passed as a good sign and kept skiing as hard as I could. I finished strong and started to get worried about the girls behind me...I knew I was the first girl to start and that there were a few really fast ladies in the waves behind me. To ease my nerves, after the race I headed straight back to the mountain for some downhill skiing. The powder was AMAZING!

It's an honor to have a Derby win...one of the biggest, funnest races in North America! The best part of the Derby, by far, are the stories, of crashes, wax, broken equipment, snow conditions, other athletes and fans along the way.

One last note on the Derby; THANK YOU to the helpers out there that made this race possible!

Off the MAP

Where have I been these past few months?

WORKING

On a good note, I still have a lot of work to do and it doesn't look like it is going to slow down anytime soon.



Don't worry, I still have my out of control hobbies and interests, that I am working on. When I am not at work I am keeping busy with my coaching, ski racing (all for fun now) and photography. I will have some skiing updates after the Stowe Derby next weekend, so you'll have to wait out for that. If you check out my Flickr you can see what I have been up to, a little shooting of some Biathlon races, ski races, work in New Orleans and shooting a bowling birthday party bash!

yikes

It has been a long time...working to hard and not skiing enough. As for interesting things going on in my world; I just got back from New Orleans, you can check out some of my shots here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilkevg/