The 2010 Vancouver Paralympic Winter Games
The 2010 Paralympic Games
have also come and gone, leaving fond memories among the hundreds of
Alpine race workers that prepared the tracks, ran the race office,
performed the morning registration and otherwise assisted in running
the very successful race series. As ever, we were all in awe of
the courage and athleticism of the Paralympians. They Rock!
Many race workers speak of the Paralympics as "the friendly Olympics". Life was much more relaxed than during the Olympics, security was minimal and the athletes and coaches were always quick to show heartfelt appreciation for the work done by the volunteers. The job at hand was just as difficult as during the Olympics, with some terrible weather, late-night and early-morning shifts and lots of unwanted snowfall. But somehow, it was all just a little more enjoyable.
A number of crews took the time to create comfortable and well-equipped "camps" along the track. Varnet Beach maintained the high epicurean standards for which it has become famous. However, the gourmet hamburgers of Compound W
on mid-Franz's attracted a regular clientelle of coaches, as well as
our illustrious COC. A new standard of course comfort was perhaps
set at Frog Bank which boasted a tent to repel the rain and set a culinary high with scampi on the barbi. Eventually, the Hot Air
crews also joined the trend with their own barbeque. The
home-made hamburgers, hot dogs, bratwurst, smokies, shish kabobs, BBQ
shrimp and other delicacies provided a welcome change to the standard
fare of samdwiches.
Weasel House, the home-way-from-home for the alpine volunteers continued to offer a welcome refuge after long days on the mountain. Thanks to Les Norman and his crew that kept the taps flowing, night after night, and to Peter Allan and his crew that offered the popular diversion of daily draws for Halti quilted coats. T-shirts and toques. We had visits from a number of Paralympians, including most of the German Alpine team, some American athletes and the
The Paralympic run at Weasel House was highlighted by the wind-up "Appreciation Dinner" at which our sponsors and the crew that built and ran Weasel House were honoured. Roland's Creekside Pub and BBQ Bob's catered a great meal that was enjoyed by all. It was the busiest night of the Paralympics and 1100 tickets were sold for the nightly draw. A wide variety of draw prizes were won by a large number of members, including skis, quilted coats and many smaller items.
The
Paralympics were put on by Weasel Workers from Whistler, Sled Dogs
from Alberta, Marmots from Vancouver Island, Sun Dogs from the
Okanagan, Coyotes from Ontario, Talon Crew from the USA and hundreds of
other volunteer race workers from throughout the ski racing world.
Like the Olympics, the Paralympics were an international effort.
After the rigours of the Olympics, fallout was considerable and the
races were plagued with crew shortages. However, we preservered,
we withstood the weather and we put on the best Paralympics yet!
We hope to publish recollections, anecdotes and photos from our members. Please send us your Paralympic thoughts, stories and photos to "info @ weaselworkers.com"(remove the blanks). Please identify subjects of photos. Thanks.
We will also create pages for individual sections / crews. Send a description and a flock of photos.
