For the eighth consecutive year, disabled skiers from around the country are demonstrating their prowess on the Park City slopes.
Beginning Friday and continuing through today, 61 blind, mobility impaired, spinal cord injured and amputee skiers are racing to the finish of the eighth annual Huntsman Cup awards.Races consist of the Super G, Giant Slalom and Slalom courses. Prizes include the Huntsman Cup award and electronics goods, courtesy of Panasonic.
The three-day event is sponsored by Huntsman Chemical Corporation and hosted by the National Ability Center.
"This was something I could get involved in (after I lost an eye 12 years ago)," Brian Santos, a legally blind member of the U.S. Disabled Ski Team, said. "I just ski behind (my guide). I don't even look at the gates, I just watch him. It has definitely made me a better skier."
Apparently, that is true. Santos, 42, who lives in Meyers, Calif., captured four gold medals last year at the Para-lympics in Lillehammer.
Mary Riddell, 14, Dove Creek, Colo., is a first-year member of the team. Riddell, whose lower leg was amputated, has been racing for five years now. She says she likes everything about the Huntsman Cup, especially bridging the gap between her and the racing nemesis who usually bests her.
World Champion racer Greg Mannino, Vail, Colo., found Friday that he couldn't best the one-run-only Super G at Payday Run, though. Mannino, who has competed for 14 years and has collected 10 Olympic medals, found himself "DNF": He did not finish the race because he wiped out.
"It's kinda fun to see if you can beat yourself," Mannino, 32, said.
"I'm just racing myself here, taking chances to see if I can make it a little faster. Sometimes you wipe out."
But most of the time, just knowing you can finish a race - no matter how long it might take - is the best reward.
"I'm happy because I'm the oldest person here," an out-of-breath Bill Guinther, 68, said, immediately after his successful descent.
"What really counts is that I ski well, not for normies, but for three-trackers," said Guinther, a pilot who in 1952 lost his leg in a mid-air collision.
Guinther, Golden, Colo., finished the day fifth in the senior men's division.