Filling in what has happened since New Zealand

  Ok so allot has happened since New Zealand some good and some bad but mostly good and the bad only really pertains to equipment and the such, also some DNF's can get lumped in there also but I will get to those. New Zealand finished off with a series of races the most notable being a World Cup slalom (my first ever World Cup by the way) in which I placed 3rd.  The last race in NZ was a Super G in which I placed 4th again not to bad for my first ever stab at the World Cup circuit.

After that I was off to Saas-Fee Switzerland for about 3 weeks for a bunch of training. It was a good trip and notable in the fashion that I got to spend 3 weeks in a picturesque Swiss ski town in the early fall skiing and the such on a glacier. Not much was exceedingly eventful really but it was good to do a bit more traveling and get a chance to continue to improve on my skiing skills. But the important thing on this trip was the I learned that after all of my hard work and dedication to skiing and striving to improve my skills on the hill and within each event, I was now officially an unofficial member of the CPAST team. Meaning that while officially I was still a prospect member I would be running the full team World Cup Schedule up to and including the Paralympics in Sochi Russia, provided that i met the selection and point criteria to go. 

   All of this is great but there was a bit of hardship of a sort to overcome. For a long while And still currently to a degree I was having some serious equipment issues. For example so far this season I have either completely written off or otherwise damaged 15 skis this season and at about $200-$500 per ski I can tell you it has not been a cheep season. There was a point where we were training in Panorama BC before some low level IPC races where I was going through almost one ski per day. The source of the issues that I was having is related to my center of gravity in relation to the ski, my sit ski was configured in a way that I was sitting to far back and when I was thrown out a turn I would land on the tail of the ski and because I was trying to recover from the error I would then in turn rock forward on to the tip of the ski. The result would be that when I rocked forward the force of the ski under tension would sling shot me forward even faster and would eventually pull out the heal of the binding delaminating the ski in the process. Other Issues that I have had is a tendency to not finish GS races, there have been 4 this season so far and I have only finished 1. But enough about the bad there is still some great news to be read about in this Journal entry still.

   So the last set of races I just finished was an IPC World Cup race series held in Panorama BC as a test event for the 2015 World Championships next year, which is nice because I believe I stand a fair chance to do well at those World Championships. I say that because in the Downhill event I placed 4th amongst a field of the worlds best racers, and it was my overall plan to not take any risks on this run, which meant that I was scrubbing speed in a few sections. Other races didn't go as well as that first DH went but I am chalking it up to the fact that after the DH that night I came down with a horrible sickness which sapped all of my energy, even now I don't remember much of my race runs while I was sick.

But Now I am starting to feel better although I still have a nagging cough that dose not seem to want to go away. Right now the CPAST team is in Copper Colorado at the next set of World Cup races which will comprise of two GS and two Slalom races. My goals for these races are top 8 finishes in all four maybe a bit better if I put down some real good runs. Well I do think that is all there is to tell for now and hopefully I will get to another entry in a more timely manner.

New Zealand? How did I get here?

Well  it has been an exceptionally long time since I last submitted anything to my blog.  It is not for a lack of me not doing anything interesting in fact I am writing this post from the majestic island state of New Zealand, not to be confused with Old Zealand if there was or is such a place, but I will get to how I got here in a bit.

The last time I posted how I fared at a race in Winter Park Colorado and how things could have gone better for me, followed by a brief stay in Kimberly BC to just free ski and generally mess around. After that nice easy week I went through a disastrous series of speed races back in Kimberly that left me soured to wanting to post anything pertaining to my racing. But I got back on the horse and got back into the training grove and focused on Giant Slalom and Slalom for the month down time that was March 2013 to get ready for the British Columbia Para Alpine Provincials, US Nationals in Park City Utah, as well as Canadian Nationals in Sun Peaks BC which would mark the end of the racing season.

As far as those races are concerned they went very well for me, I cleaned house at the BC provincials walking away with 3 golds. The Us Nationals were good also but the competition there was allot more stiff compared to the BC races, especially considering that there were some of the best para-skiers in the world there. I still managed to walk away with 6th in both the National and the NorAm Giant Slalom, as well as 4th in the National Slalom race. Canadian Nationals I fared a bit better with a silver in the National Giant Slalom and a gold in the NorAm Slalom, I almost secured a gold in National Slalom but crashed out about a quarter way though the course and while still finishing I didn't place very well. But with how well I did perform in both the US and Canadian Nationals I was invited to train with the National Team in Mt. Hood, Oregon for a week and half for one of their tech training camps. The Oregon trip was nice but conditions were really soft and some times unsafe considering that there were exposed rocks all over the place which resulted in one of the female American para athletes getting injured.

Which brings us to how I got to New Zealand. Apparently according to other peers of mine who are already on the Canadian Para-Alpine Ski Team as well as the coaching staff that my skiing has improved considerably in the past season and it is in their opinion that I would be competitive at the World Cup level. If this was any other season I would likely be in Chili right now which would also be pretty cool but this year also happens to coincide with the New Zealand Winter Games which hosts a series of events at the World Cup level that spans both para and able bodied events. So this year there are some World Cup Para-Alpine races in New Zealand, and so far I do not have any World Cup starts, and it has been suggested and hinted at that if I can meet the criteria for the Paralympics that my attendance in those games may be a distinct possibility but not a guarantee. That criteria is that one must have at least two finishes in the top 12 of a World Cup race and IPC points in each event lower than 220. I already have IPC points lower than 220 in all events so what I need now is two World cup finishes in the top 12, which is why I believe that the team asked me to come to this set of training camps and races. Now what is the possibility of me getting these finishes here at this event you may ask? well I would answer with if the coaches didn't think that I could do it then they would not have invited me to this month long training camp and associated races. It should also be noted that i also think that I can achieve this bench mark as it would be the culmination of a long lost child hood dream to go to a winter Olympic game albeit a Parlympic games it is still far beyond any point many of my childhood peers ever made it in the alpine racing world.

So I hope that all of my followers who know of my endeavors will wish me luck and all the best in achieving this goal not only to represent Canada but to represent a community of individuals who strive to be the best and most unique in all that they do in their own ways.

Winter Park, CO

So I have been back from Winter Park for about a week now and I guess it is time to inform the world how I fared.  But first off I need to thank Mark Catterall of the Regina Alpine Adaptive Ski Program (RAASP) from Saskatchewan Alpine who graciously offered to sponsor my air fair for this trip, it was greatly appreciated.  We got there on December 29th and I spent the 30th training Super-G with the National Center for Disabled Sports (NSCD) under the direction of Erik Peterson who also represented me for all the races while I was there, so a big thanks goes out the him and all their staff.  The 31st the vast majority of the racers took as a day off since it was New Years eave but I took the morning to work in a few more speed runs and to try to get used to the hill a bit more and overall was a good relaxing day.  January 1st was the Super-G and overall it went okay, there was a weird traverse half way through which tended to throw a few people for a loop and I really do wish I had a few more days to train on the hill but overall it was okay.  I placed 9th in the first race and 7th in the second race, which was a second and a half faster than the first race despite a hip checking speed scrub at the traverse.  The Giant Slalom and the Slalom could have gone better.  I don't even want to talk about the GS but I will say this about the Slalom, if I had managed to hold it together at the last gate on the second run there was a good chance that I may have walked away with 4th, but ski racing wasn't built on what ifs and all I can really do is learn from my mistakes and apply those lessons to the future.

I was back home for all of two days and then I was off to Kimberly for three days of skiing with my Sask coach and a guy I skied with a little last year as well as a new guy who is just getting into sit skiing.  From a training stand point it was bit light but the second day My coach set a full 60 gate course with tall gates which made the trip worth it.  Our final day was suppose to be GS training but we got snowed in, so it turned into a powder day.  The first few runs of the day I tried a HOC sit ski produced by an American manufacture and while it is a decent unit and there is one guy I know of who can really make it work and is near top of the IPC points lists, I maintain my previous theory that it is a sit ski that is better suited for double leg amputees and not for para's who have legs and a degree of leg function, but I digress.  The rest of the day I spent on a nice powder ski which was a first and I have decided that I really need powder skis, it made cutting through all the chopped up and mounded snow on main runs so smooth, unlike trying to use a slalom ski in powder which is not ideal.  It also provided allot of float through deep powder and actually made skiing deep snow fun.

So all in all the Winter Park trip was fun and Kimberly was a way to unwind a bit before getting back into full racing and training mode Next week.

A Few Pictures From the Early Season

Panorama BC, IPC SG 2012 (Kurt Oatway)

Copper Mt. Colorado, NorAm GS 2012 (Kurt Oatway)

Copper Mt. Colorado, 2012 CPAST Prospects Team (Left: Kurt Oatway, Vanessa Knight, Erin Latimer, Mac Marcoux, Nick Brush 'Coach', Ben Thompson, BJ Marcoux :Right)

Christmas Update

So its Christmas time and I am between races at the moment, and so far things have gone good, bad and so so, so far. So I might as well fill the void in on what I have been up to now that the ski season is under well under way. The first races of the the season were held in Panorama BC and went okay for the most part, I was invited by Canada Alpine's Para team to train and race with them at what ended up being a fairly small set of races. It consisted one Super-G, one Giant Slalom, and one Slalom. My results were a kind of back handed quasi victory in a sense, I was 3rd in the Super-G even though I fell and was only in 3rd by 0.25 seconds the national coaches said that had I not fell there was a good chance that I would have caught their top sit-skiier who is ranked 10th in the world in SG, I was also 3rd in the Giant Slalom which was an okay run for me, and unfortunately i had some helmet issues in the Slalom event and did not finish, but given the field of competitors I would have more than likely placed second, but alas that was not so .

About two weeks later I was then off to Copper Colorado for another set of NorAm races among a international field consisting primarily the entire US National Para Alpine team. The week of racing would consist of two Super-G's, two Giant Slalom's, and two Slaloms. and again they went good bad and so so. I places 7th in the first SG but fell three quarters through my run on the second SG and did not finish. The next day in the first Giant Slalom I skied like a pussy on my first run primarily because I was trying to "just finish" the run and as my time would prove "just finishing" does not cut it in the world of ski racing. My second run however was much better in which I cut over five seconds of of my first run time but since this event is two combined runs I only placed 17th. The second GS the next day was consistent throughout and I improved slightly finishing 15th in that race.

Slalom would make up the next two days of racing and went better than the GS but could still have been better. The first race even though I had a significant screw-up half way down I managed to place 9th with my second run cutting off over five seconds from the first. the next day was again good and bad with my first run being okish and my second in which I fell and came to a stop left me in 13th overall for that race. So like I said Copper was Good, Bad, and So So.

But it is almost Christmas and the next set of races are less than two weeks away from me and I just got a e-mail from Canada Alpine informing me that I have made the "long-list" for the 2014 winter Olympics in Sochi Russia. Now this is not a guarantee or anything but it is official acknowledgemen

t that it is at least a possibility . But in the mean time Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.... for now.

New Blog on Para-Alpine Skiing

Hello world, I am Kurt Oatway and I am a Para alpine skier currently training and racing in order to gain a spot on the Canadian Para-Alpine Ski Team, and eventually participate in a Paralympic Winter Games.  The following quasi biography is a brief history of my past skiing as well as how I got involved in Para-Alpine skiing and a short breakdown of my last few seasons.  Future posts will document ongoing races and results as well as new opportunities that I may or may not be a part of.


I am a 28 year old sit skier living in Calgary, Alberta. What you may be asking yourself is, “What is “sit skiing”?” I am an Alpine skier who uses a monoski, also known as a sit-ski, which consists of a molded seat mounted on a metal frame.

In September 2007 as a Geology student with the University of Saskatchewan, my class was on a field school in Utah studying sedimentary environments when I fell 12 meters off a rock outcrop. I landed on my feet with my head between my knees. Any other position and the doctors have said I would probably not be here to tell you this.

The human body isn’t designed to absorb a fall from that height. I suffered a radial compression fracture of the T12 vertebrae resulting in an incomplete spinal cord injury. The fall of 2007 and most of 2008 was a period of surgery, physiotherapy and recovery and eventually some semblance of returning to a normal routine, that is, without the full use of my legs as I had prior to September 2007.

Fast forward to February 2010, Vancouver and the 21st Winter Olympics. Throughout my youth I had enjoyed alpine skiing and racing at a club level, so naturally I gravitated towards the alpine events. It was while watching these events that I told myself that “I had had enough” and decided that I wanted to start skiing again, regardless of the method because it was something I really enjoyed. I had no illusions of actually competing in any para-alpine competitions. That would come later.

At the age of five I started to alpine ski. At the age of six I was enrolled in the Nancy Green Ski League. I was very competitive and wanted to do as well as my older brother. This competitiveness allowed me to progress quickly through the K1 to J2 levels. Although I was too young to remember much or to fully appreciate the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, I would be lying if I said that I never thought about one day participating in an Olympic Games.

Unfortunately, due to finances, a move from Edmonton to Calgary, and possibly just growing up, my interests shifted. I focused my teen years on the Royal Canadian Air Cadet Program by taking an interest in Aviation, Wilderness Survival, and Biathlon until ageing out of cadets at 19 and graduating High School. Subsequently I enrolled at Mount Royal College majoring in geology as a part of a two year transfer program where I transferred to the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon and enrolled in the Natural Science program majoring in geology.

In order to overcome the injury that delayed my studies I took it upon myself, with the support of family, friends, and the University to finish my geology degree. I successfully graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 2010 with my Bachelor of Science majoring in geology.

The Seasons so far:

With the 2010 Vancouver Olympics over it was time to act on my decision and start skiing again. I talked to my physiotherapist who contacted the Canadian Association for Disabled Skiers (CADS) in Saskatoon. The following weekend they brought me to the Mission Ridge Ski Hill north of Regina and introduced me to my future coach. Understanding my physical limitations I decided to try skiing on borrowed equipment. I quickly adapted to this new style of skiing. It felt natural and I progressed rapidly and was easily convinced to join the Regina Alpine Ski Team.

I called my Mom and surprised her with the request to bring my ski clothing and video camera to Regina the following weekend. She had no idea I was doing this.

Less than a month later I was in Panorama BC with the Saskatchewan Team at a race. Coming down a training run I was being watched by my Saskatchewan Coach and a manager from Alpine Canada when the manager asks, “How many years has he been sit-skiing?” To which my coach answered, “This is his 7th day!” it seems I was a natural.

Season #1

The 2010/2011 season was my first full training and racing season. I attended the Kimberly International Speed Event where I placed 10th and 14th in the Downhills and 13th in the Super-G. At the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax Nova Scotia I finished 5th overall (2nd in the sitting category) for the Giant Slalom event. I then placed 5th in the Slalom and 11th in the Giant Slalom, at Canadian Nationals in Kimberly I plaed 11th in the Giant Slalom and 5th in Slalom.

My first season ended on a high note when I was invited to train with the Canadian Para-Alpine Team at Nakiska as a part of their Prospects Program. I had one on one coaching from the National Team coaches and was able to ski with many members of the Canadian Para-Alpine Team. It was an extremely motivating experience.

Season #2

Things just kept on getting better for the 2011/2012 Season.  With the assistance of the Regina Alpine Race Team, the Canadian International Paralympic Committee and Petro-Canada I was able to obtain a new Nissin sit-ski.

With the start of a new season and the support I was getting from my family and team it became clear that becoming a member of the national team and eventually participating in an Olympic Games was a distinct reality. I could now concentrate on making my goals a reality.

In November and early December I was able to participate in some joint training with the Alberta Provincial Para Alpine Team, which served to supplement the my normal training routine. Also In January I got another opportunity to train with the Canadian Para Alpine Ski Team in Kimberly in preparation for the downhill in February.