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Message # 14854.1

Subject: me likes [nt]

Date: Wed 02/03/05 08:53:21 GMT

Name: bryce

Email: brycepunk1@earthlink.net

Website:

By Pooldancer - Wed 02/03/05 07:35:55 GMT

Website:

SNOW ZONE

BOARD ZONE

By ALEXA LOO

Bad manners

One of the prime stops on the World Cup tour is the parallel slalom event that takes place right in the centre of Bad Gastein in Austria’s Gasteinertal Valley, about an hour and a half southwest of Salzburg. The finals, held at night under the bright lights of the slalom arena with live music and hot gluwein, draw a huge crowd every year.

The major sponsor for the event is the Felsentherme Bad Hot Springs Pool and Wellness Centre, which had recently undergone a $15 million facelift. With our event accreditation, all of the athletes were allowed to use the facilities. My teammates and I gave the locals a good chuckle when we went into the sauna with our bathing suits on—we thought it better to suffer the taunts of the locals and blatantly disregard the sign that clearly designated the sauna area “a nude only area” and stay covered rather than see each other nude.

Felsentherme Bad also played host to the public bib draw which kicks off the whole Bad Gastein. The “bib” is what we wear over our speed suit; it helps to identify the individual riders and ensure that we start in the correct order. At the draw, the names of the top 16 men and women are randomly selected; the results determine their start order while everyone else starts according to their World Cup ranking.

Everyone gathered next to the pool for the draw and to enjoy some refreshments. (Only in Europe does it seem reasonable to have beer bottles on a pool deck.) “Mike Mike,” the World Cup announcer, began calling up athletes as their names were drawn from the hat. The athletes had the choice of earning a quick 100 euros by jumping into the pool and grabbing one of the balloons floating in the water. The bibs with the start numbers were in bags attached to the balloons—blue balloons for the boys and red balloons for the girls. Athletes who chose not to get wet had to avail themselves of the kayaker whose job it was to retrieve balloons.

Marion Kreiner of Austria was the second name to get pulled from the hat and the first competitor to jump into the pool and pick up her own bib. She didn’t even take her boots off first! We hadn’t been informed of the nature of the draw and no one was prepared to get wet, but once Marion got the ball rolling, most of the girls followed her lead and leapt into the water. Austria’s Doris Krings managed to convince her boyfriend to jump in with her.

When it came time for the men’s bib draw, I had a feeling that chaos would ensue. Most of the guys were game for earning 100 euros, while the rest of them were pretty much resigned to the fact that they would likely end up in the pool fully clothed anyway. When Jasey-Jay Anderson’s name was called, he ripped off his shirt and gave the cheering women a quick chest flex before surfing into the water on the end of the kayak, claiming that he didn’t want to get his shirt wet. (Yeah, right.) Of course, as soon as Anderson took his shirt off, all of the wet guys dripping on the pool deck tore off their shirts as well, puffing up their chests and in general turning the draw into a preening peacock competition.

Once the shirts came off, further mayhem ensued as Phillip Schoch, the Swiss Olympic champion, grabbed the poor girl who was helping with the bib presentation and hauled her into the water with him. The guys on the World Cup tour are as fit and strong as they are competitive, and they made short work of getting most of the officials and organizers into the pool.

A little too late, I had the great idea to make myself scarce. No luck for me! Even though I wasn’t ranked in the top 16, I still ended up in the pool when Simon Schoch, Phillip’s older brother, picked me up and tossed me in shoes and all. He softened the soaking by offering to share his 100 euros with me—which I still plan to collect.

On race day, I qualified for the party by making a mistake early in my run and finishing 39th. Unfortunately, Phil Berube of Montreal and Constance Boisvert of Quebec City were not able to break into the top 16 either, finishing 24th and 48th respectively. We did, however, get to enjoy the great food and free beer in the athlete/VIP food tent that the Bad Gastein organizing committee is famous for providing every year.

Anderson, who was probably a little tired after his recent double win in the two snowboardcross events in nearby Nassfeld, finished fifth after losing in the final to Phillip Schoch, who went on to take his third win of the season. V

Alexa Loo is a member of Canada’s National Snowboard Team.