More from the Whistler Cup!

The season has finally come to a close. I recently returned from the Whistler Cup. What an amazing experience! It was really great to be up there with 3 of my Aspen teammates and to meet the rest of the U.S.Team, and including SRD team members Sam Morse, Breezy Johnson, and Serina Kidd. I didn't really know what to expect, but the entire week was really incredible.

The first two days were time trials for the U.S. Team and I didn't ski my best. I blew out the first two runs of slalom and got banged up pretty badly in the first run of GS. Even though
I didn't do very well I felt that I could ski much better when it came to the actual races. Whistler is a really cool mountain and I wanted to free ski the next day, but I was pretty sore from the previous days and thought I should take it easy. The next day we had free runs on the SG course and then got to explore the mountain a little.

The next morning was the nicest day of the entire week and we were all really excited for the Super G. I skied pretty well and ended up in 12th place. Our whole team really killed it and we put 7 of us in the top 15. I'm not sure, but I think that is a record number for a U.S. Team at the Whistler Cup. After the race we got to march in the opening parade and it was really fun. There were a lot of Americans up there on vacation that cheered us on.

The next day was the Slalom and it changed back to typical Whistler cloudiness. I skied most of the first run well, but ended up hiking three gates form the bottom. Cody Wilson led after the first run, but had problems in the second and didn't finish. Most of our team had troubles on one of their runs, but SRD team member Sam Morse put two solid runs together and got on the podium in 3rd.

Sunday was the last day and we were all getting really tired. I love GS, but I wasn't that fired up because I was so beat. I almost fell asleep on the chair lift on the way up to the start and skied pretty poorly to a 20th place position. Normally I would have been disappointed, but I was actually surprised I did that well considering how bad the run felt. I managed to pick myself up for the second run and skied much better. I had the 9th fastest second run, and passed a lot of people to end up in 11th. My teammates Ryan Mooney and Colby Lane finished 1st and 3rd and we ended up with 5 of of us in the top 15.

All and all it was a great experience, our team won the K2 championship, and I got to meet and ski with some of the best kids from around the world. I made a lot of new friends and I hope I get to compete with them again as I get older. Whatever happens, it was an experience I'll never forget.

Have a great summer everyone.

.)) Andrew Hancock