MT. Hood Speed Camp. (posted July 3)
The US adaptive Team just completed its speed camp at Timberline Ski Area. It was a great camp with an emphasis on quality. We trained full length Super-G for 10 days on snow. Major improvements were made during this camp and another step was made towards reaching our goals for 2010. A big thanks goes out to all the coaching staff for there hard work at this camp. Their days were packed full of setting up netting and throwing salt for our safety. We really appreciate the effort.
US TEAM NOMINATION
The Umstead’s have been nominated to the US Adaptive Ski Team for the 2010 season. This was a goal going into last season and we are happy and honored about the news. With World rankings of 3rd in GS, 5th in DH, 5th in Super G, 6th in Super Combined and SL Team vision for Gold is the top US Visually impaired team going into next winters Paralympic season. We will be attending 2 training camps with the team this summer at Mt. Hood, Oregon. The first camp starts on June 15th with the focus on Speed events. Our position on the Team provides coaching and support at races and camps but we are still self-funded. We need your support now more then ever. Please consider donating to our vision4gold. See the donation page on this site for more information.
National Champions X 5
Team V4G wins 5 titles at the US adaptive Championships in Winter Park Colorado. It started with a great SL race and continued thru the week with titles in GS, DH SG and Super Combined. Oh By the way there was also a win in a Nor AM Downhill. Six victories in 6 days and now the season is over. What a way to wrap things up. We are happy with the resultsand thankful for everyone who helped out along the way. We plan on doing some free skiing in the next couple of weeks and then getting ready to get back to work in June and July on snow at Mt. Hood.
Success at the World Cup Finals
Danelle and Rob visited the Paralympic venues, for their first World Cup action, March 9-14th. The trip proved to be a good one. The team returned with a Bronze in DH, Bronze in GS, and Bronze in SL.
The Downhill training was a great experience and Danelle and Rob feel they still can make up a lot of time on that course before next winters games. The course is fast and fun with tons of terrain and a little air at the end. The snow was perfect and the track was very hard by race day.
A yellow flag in Super G granted a re-run however the lighting changed quite a bit in the delay and this proved to be difficult for Danelle. She did however still ski to a 4th place and also had a 4th in the days Super Combined.
The Tech events went well and two more podium appearances followed. These races created some good point results which should help with the world rankings.
Many thanks go out for the contributions to the success. Including Volkl for the fast skis, Grandparent’s DAquanni for the baby sitting, Jenny our dog walker in Canada, all the volunteers at Whistler for running flawless events, and the coaches of NSCD, Challenge Aspen and the USAST. As always it was truly a team effort.
Also we would like to thank the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind for all their support in this 08/09 season. They are our biggest financial backer and with out their support none of the season would have happened for us.
The team is now preparing for the US Adaptive Nationals which will take place in Winter Park, Colorado from March 28 thru April 2nd.
Huntsman Cup Women’s Overall Champion
Three days of racing in Park City Feb 11-13 crowned Danelle as the Huntsman Cup overall champion. Danelle and Rob took the GS on the first day and had a second and another first in the slaloms. It was a great 3 days of racing on Park City’s Olympic venues. NSCD teammate and US skiteam member Gerald Hayden won the Men’s overall title.
A special thanks goes out to the Umstead Grandparents for watching our son and allowing us to attend these races, knowing he was well taken care of.
Canadian NorAm Sweep!
Kimberley BC was host to IPC Speed events Feb 2nd thru 6th. Team vision for gold took home four golds, winning both downhills and Super G’s. As a result they have now qualified for the World Cup Finals in all five events.
This was Danelle’s first downhill and she improved with every training run. By race day the team was feeling comfortable and ready to attack the race course. The super G’s were also a lot of fun and the results were outstanding. Special thanks to the D’Aquanni Grandparents for taking great care of their Grandson and allowing us to attend the Canadian races.
Danelle and Rob win 1st Gold
Team Vision4gold won the Nor am slalom at Copper MT. on December 8th. Danelle and Rob raced to a convincing win on the Copperopolus course, taking both runs. It was a snowy day with difficult visibility but the team worked well together and skied strong in their first slalom race of the season. It was a great way to kick off the race year.
POC and VOLKL support Team Vision4Gold
Team Vision4gold has some new equipment sponsors for the 2008/2009 season. POC has supplied speed suits, Goggles, Helmets and gloves to keep Danelle and Rob safe and looking sharp. Volkl is the official ski sponsor of vision4gold. Check out the sponsor page of this site for links to all of the Vision4gold sponsors.