The sun was glistening, my heart was pounding, the races had begun.
That was the feeling Mel Pemble was getting while on Mount Washington last weekend during the first race of the season for Disabled Skiers Associaton of B.C.
But before the race, came the training. Coached by Sue Greenberg ‘Building our Best’ was two wonderful sunny days of focused ski development; Slalom and GS. For the race, athletes came from all over including SilverStar, Whistler and Grouse.
The training days went by fast and soon it was race day.
“Day 1 was an early start and my favourite-GS,” Pemble says. “The course was open for inspection and it was nice and rhythmic too. The sky hadn’t brought snow for a couple of weeks so it was fairly icy, bringing the need to sharpen edges and wits. I was one of the early racers with bib number seven and as I skied down I heard my name being called. At the last few gates I saw the finish approaching.”
Pemble tucked, shaving those few hundredths of a second off. She won two gold in the GS.
Day 2 for Pemble brought the Slalom, a tighter and more technical race.
Despite the nerves, Pemble stayed strong won a silver on her first run. She then won the bronze in her second run despite a challenging start.
“The second run my pole got stuck under my ski at the start gate and flipped my ski off, but the rest of the run was great and I got the bronze.”
