Author Mitch Gourley in action. Image - courtesy Mitch Gourley

Words - Mitch Gourley, Paralympic athlete

THE city of Vancouver basks in the glory of Canadian Hockey gold, and the athletes part ways as February draws to a close and with it the Games of the 21st Winter Olympiad. However, the month of March represents the culmination of much hard work and dedication for another set of athletes and their dedicated support staff.

The ninth Paralympic Winter Games will take place in Vancouver, beginning 12 March. Given the organisers' commitment to ensuring good conditions, there's no doubting the levels of entertainment will be high, despite the city being subject to a variety of unseasonably warm weather. However, preparation, for the athletes, is about the pre-competition too.

For the Australian Paralympic Team this has meant the 2010 World Cup. A mixed bag of triumphs and troubles that has more than prepared us for the challenge of the Games.

Early World Cup events

There were early season victories for the Aussies at the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) World Cup opener in Patscherkofel, Austria on 8 - 9 January 2010, with current Slalom World Champion Cameron Rahles-Rahbula winning the slalom event, with team mate Tony Kane in second.

Cameron Rahles-Rahbula. Image - Courtesy Mitch Gourley

The giant slalom results from the first day of competition were mixed for the Aussies, Cameron, struggled with his equipment in the opening run and Kane was to begin his first run in brilliant fashion only to then suffer a disappointing fall.

My excitement began with a spot in the top seed wearing bib number Ten.. I was well aware that the GS would give me my best chance to finish high up and I came through with a strong opening leg that landed me in seventh place, yet I remained only a few tenths of a second outside the Top Four.

Maintaining my own position in the second run gave me my equal best result at World Cup level and meant I secured some good WC points in the season opener. Cameron impressive second run moved him up from ninth to finish just a single place outside the medals.

Day two and I survived my first World Cup Slalom and, thanks to my Australian teammates, a grin remained throughout. A little distracted by the success of the other boys, it took me sometime to realise I was in in 10th place - A great result given that only year earlier I was ready quit Slalom for good.

Follow up World Cup wins

Two days later the team settled into the familiar surrounds of Abtenau and the Gasthof Post, a regular stop on the World Cup circuit, where Cameron continued his strong Slalom form whilst wearing the red Leader bib, rising to the challenge and taking home his second victory of the season with an incredible final run performance. Toby Kane was also in contention for the win before a mistake forced him out of the course. Personally it was not such a great day, I straddled about halfway through the first run and broke my last pair of Slalom skis. Bummer.

The remainder of the week in Abtenau was frustrating, beginning with the cancellation of the Super-Combined due to an extreme lack of snow on the Super G hill, and continuing with a series of low top ten place finishes. A third place finish in the GS for Cameron was all we could salvage from a week of productive skiing that promised so much.

Shannon Dallas performed admirably in the sitting class upon returning from major shoulder surgery, recording a series of top 10 results all week in his first World Cup races in 9 months.

All in all, it was a good beginning to the season and a set us up well for the following World Cups, and the Big One of course.

tags: olympic, feature, features, paralympic, photo, photos, mitch, gourley, ipc, tony, kane, cameron, rahles-rahbula

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