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DS/USA Hosts Disabled Soldiers at Ski Spectacular
By Tonja Randolph
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Marine Corp. Eddie Wright, Navy HM3 Jose Ramos, and New York Fire Department Volunteer Flip Martin enjoy the Ski Spectacular. Photo courtesy of DS/USA. |
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Disabled Sports USA (DS/USA) hosted 30 US soldiers
who were severely injured overseas and their families during the
Hartford Ski Spectacular December 5-12 in Breckenridge, Colorado.
For many, this was their first time participating in sports since
their injury. For 38 years, DS/USA has been helping disabled
veterans rebuild their lives.
Some of the special guests attending this years event were Army
Captain Lonnie Moore, based in Wichita, Kansas, who lost his leg
above the knee when a rocket-propelled grenade pierced the turret
of his Bradley in Ramadi, Iraq; Virginia-based Army Captain Leslie
Smith, who lost her left leg below the knee after developing a
near-fatal blood clot while serving in Bosnia; and Army Staff
Sergeant Dan Metzdorf, based at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, who lost
his right leg above the knee from a roadside bomb near Baghdad
while he was on a routine patrol. Metzdorf recently was passed fit
for active duty and reenlisted. Other disabled soldiers from all
over the US, from specialists to captains in all military branches,
were among those attending the week-long event.
600 Enjoy Variety of Activities
The special guests were joined by about 600 other disabled
skiers and snowboarders who participated in a variety of
activities, including learn-to-ski and learn-to-snowboard clinics
and adaptive equipment demonstrations provided by adaptive sports
organizations from around the world. Participants learned how and
where to get started in disabled skiing and snowboarding, how to
improve, and even how to perhaps move up to the US Disabled Ski
Team, which won the Nations Cup last season as the top national
team in World Cup alpine racing.
In addition, professional instructors could obtain continuing
education credits by taking classes through the Professional
Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) Adaptive Academy.
The Hartford Ski Spectacular, hosted by DS/USA at Breckenridge
every December and sponsored by The Hartford Financial Services
Group, is the annual start of the disabled ski racing season. Many
of the elite skiers used the competition as a tune-up for the start
of the disabled skiing World Cup, which began in January in
Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Champions Lead Fridays Action
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All the special guests, along with instructors and DS/USA staff, pose for a group photo at the top of the Beaver Run super chair. Photo courtesy of DS/USA. |
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Disabled world champions and World Cup winners led
the action Friday, which also saw some upsets. Among the women,
mono-skier Laurie Stephens (LW-12/1; Wenham, MA), the reigning
World Cup overall and GS champion, and GS world champ Allison Jones
(LW-2; Colorado Springs, CO), won their respective classes,
according to adjusted times.
Ian Jansing (LW-9/1; Ballwin, MO), skiing out of the Winter
Park, Colorado, disabled program, topped the standing skiers male
class with a time of 1:41.59 (adjusted time), earning a spot on the
US Ski Team. The class is one of three in each gender for disabled
skiers. Along with standing skiers, disabled skiing includes
classes for sitting and visually impaired skiers. The standing
class was open to able-bodied skiers, and in the women's case, that
led to a sweep by Colorado's Quantum Ski Club members Chelsea Lynch
(1:44.25 [adjusted time]), Lauren Brien (1:45.18 [adjusted time]),
and Alex Guras (1:47.93 [adjusted time]). But since the race was
viewed by many as a training race, the able-bodied skiers were
welcome as they provided additional competition for the disabled
racers.
Eighteen-year-old Tyler Walker (LW-12/2 Franconia, NH) won the
sitting skier male class with a time of 1:47.12 (adjusted time). In
the mono-skier class, Walker edged his mentor, world champion Chris
Devlin-Young (LW-12/1; Campton, NH), who coached him with the New
England Disabled Ski Team, while Ian Lansing, was the standup
winner. Andy Parr (B-3; Rockland, ME), who took off last season,
returned to racing and was the lone blind skier, finishing the
course in 1:46.19 (adjusted time) with the help of guide A.K.
Walker.
The hardest part of the competition for most skiers on Friday
was skiing on soft snow that isn't typical for ski races. The
conditions resulted from more than two feet of snow that fell on
the resort in the previous 48 hours. The snow, along with high
winds, led to the cancellation of a slalom scheduled for
Thursday.
At the finish of Friday's giant slalom, dozens of local children
stood and rang cowbells as each of the competitors came across the
line. The young skiers and snowboarders, all third, fourth and
fifth graders at Breckenridge Elementary School, earlier in the
week donated $546 to the US Disabled Alpine Ski Team in a
presentation at the school.
Timing Systems Revamped
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Capt. Lonnie Moore receives training from instructor Joel Berman. Photo courtesy of DS/USA. |
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All of the disabled skiers' times include
adjustments that are designed to even out the field among the
different disabilities. Disabled skiers run on a factored time,
which is somewhat like a golf handicap, explained Sandy Metzger,
director of both the alpine and Nordic squads of the US Disabled
Ski Team.
According to Head Coach Kevin Jardine, a new set of equalizing
factors are being used this season as part of a total revamping of
the sport's timing systems. Along with the new factors, a new
computer program has been introduced for timing disabled skiers and
is being standardized throughout the world. Even the classes were
redefined under the new system, streamlining the way races are
run.
The Hartford Ski Spectacular concluded Saturday with a corporate
challenge, where teams of four, one of whom must be disabled,
compete in a fundraiser on Breckenridge's NASTAR course.
The next Hartford Ski Spectacular will be held December 4-11,
2005, in Breckenridge. 
Table Of Contents - February 2005
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