Challenged Athletes Foundation

As I wrote in my previous blog I have been approved to recieve a grant from the challenged athletes foundation. This grant will help me pay for the necessary training camps. I’m very excited to be a part of the challenged athletes foundation family and to share in their mission, that participation in sports at any level increases self-esteem, encourages independence and enhances quality of life. For me personally sports play an important role in my life and it definitely improved my life, for instance it improved my walking a lot. To be able to walk the way I do you need to be fit and have a very strong core. And besides that I have met some incredible people through sports.

CAF grant distribution statistics for 2012:

More than 1,689,273 dollar distributed to 1,102 individual grant recipients in 27 countries.

The Challenged Athletes Foundation® (CAF) is a world leader in helping individuals with physical challenges get involved – and stay involved – in sports. CAF believes that  participation in sports at any level increases self-esteem, encourages independence and enhances quality of life. Since 1994 , more than 36 million dollar has been raised and more than 6,100 funding request from challenged athletes in all 50 states and dozens of countries have been satisfied. Additionally, CAF’s outreach efforts reach another 60,000 individuals each year. Whether it’s a grant for a handcycle, helping underwrite a carbon fiber running foot not covered by insurance, or arranging enthusiastic encouragement from a mentor who has triumphed over a similar challenge, CAF’s mission is clear: give those with the desire to live active, athletic lifestyles every opportunity to compete in the sports they love. To learn more log on to www.challengedathletes.org

I want to thank CAF and their sponsors for approving me this grant and giving me the chance to ski next season. 

Pizol, Swiss nationals

Last weekend I went to Pizol for the Swiss nationals and I ended my season there. That said I didn’t reach my goal for this season which leaves me disappointed and I do have some explanations, but I believe losers have an excuse and winners have a plan. So I made a plan for next season, or at least the structure is there. I decided to write this post just about the Pizol trip and let the season recap wait so it can sink in a bit more, so I’ll get back on that.

On the other hand there is also some very positive news, I did get the grant from the challenged athletes foundations which is great! I’ll also write a post about this because it deserves a post so I’ll get back on that as well.

Back to Pizol.

We arrived in Bad Ragaz (Pizol) on Thursday March 29. The hotel we stayed was under construction but otherwise fine, I mean they had towels ;). On Friday we wanted to ski but there was thick, thick fog, we went for one run and I couldn’t see anything, just feel. So because of safety we skied only one run. The afternoon I spent in the spa and prepping my ski’s. Next day, Saturday was the GS race, because of a missing start list the start was delayed for about 90 minutes. It was already pretty warm and sunny by then so the course was soft and a bit slush. I still had a descent first run and was sitting in third place just a little bit behind. The second run I wanted to charge and I knew where I lost most time in the first run. The course was much softer in the second run so it was a tough race, I didn’t make any big mistakes but it was a bit slow and I ended staying in third place.

 Are they trying the new GS radius old scool or did they miss ski regulations (and helmet) all together?

I didn’t got a podium because the next Suisse girl got “my” price. To my surprise I lowered my points by 10, this wasn’t nearly as good as the unofficial Sestriere result but still a nice surprise considering the penalty was 187,76! That night we had a party in the restaurant on the mountain, what a view, it was nice and I enjoyed myself.

Sunday we woke up with a clouded sky again, and on the gondola ride the visibility decreased. We had a slalom race so I still had some hope they would run it. Also because I had a good feeling about this race and still wanted a result in slalom. The Russian team was competing now and they have girls with pretty good points so that would lower the penalty a lot. So all in all I really hoped we had a race, all though deep down I felt that it wasn’t going to happen. When I was putting my boots on in the restaurant  I heard people from the organization talking and a minute later we got the message that the race was postponed. After about an hour and a half they cancelled the race because of the fog. When standing in the course they weren’t able to see the next gate, so yeah this was the good decision. After I changed clothes and shoes we went down in the gondola and in the valley we saw on a screen that the fog on the hill was now completely gone. Well that sucked big time. But it happens it is an outdoor sport and weather can change our plans.

So off we went, heading home.

And now it’s time to rest up and time for summer training, back on the bike. I wrote last time that I started at a cycling club I really like it over there, training twice a week. This week I also got the news that I was selected for the national talent plan for cycling, which is really cool. Next Saturday we have our first training day together.