Bringing Home a Medal
Great weekend at the Empire State Games in Lake Placid
New York State supports athletes of all ages with the Empire State Games – both in winter and summer. As a first time competitor, I hoped my preparations would carry me to gold, but headed in with a healthy dose of reality.
The weekend was all I had imagined it to be – part camaraderie, part connecting, part competition, and all enjoyment! By telling you about my weekend, my hope is you’ll think about heading off yourself (if you live in NY), or checking to see if you have something similar in your neck of the woods!
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First in nation
New York State started the Empire State Games in the summer of 1978, and added the winter games in 1981 – after hosting the Olympics in Lake Placid in 1980. The summer games have moved around the state, but with an Olympic facility available, the winter games have stayed at Lake Placid ever since.
When arriving in Lake Placid, you can’t help but feel the mountains and the environment.
Opening ceremonies took place in the rink where the US team skated to Gold in the1980 miracle on ice! With all this history, it is easy to see how the program has matured and offers a first-class opportunity for athletes to compete (and excel!).
People from all over
The ESG’s offer a chance to meet competitors from all over the state. All the competitors I met were friendly and excited to be there. Which isn’t all that surprising, as I’ve found most people that enjoy the sport of Orienteering are generally a friendly sort. The Orienteering competition is separated into divisions, and Ski Orienteering includes Scholastic, Open, Masters (40-54), and Grand Masters (55+) for both Male and Female. This brings in a spread of participants of all types.
Here’s a nice photo of the pre-race meeting.
I was able to travel and stay with a group from the Rochester area – they helped show me the ropes for the weekend, and as a rookie, that was helpful. (Thanks Jim and Eric!)
Competition
Ski Orienteering took place at Mt. Van Hoevenberg – a wonderful Olympic facility. I can’t say that I have ever skied on such nice conditions – great snow, great trails, great grooming. The day started out frigid (single degrees), but warmed up nicely by the time we set off shortly after 1pm.
I felt pretty good starting off – and was excited to get going. (From the pictures, you’ll see that I don’t have a fancy outfit, but was able to borrow a great map holder – that’s high on the list of “need to have’s” for next year) The course for Male Masters (Red) took us over 12.5 km with significant climbs, descents, broad trails and single file paths. With a couple errors in navigation, I worked a bit more than that distance over 96 minutes. (The good thing about having to navigate tricky sections is that everyone else has to navigate them as well!-)
Winning a Bronze Medal
With my classic skis, good navigating, and hard work, I was able to place third! First place was thirty minutes ahead of me, and second was twenty five – I’ve got some work to do to place higher next time!-)
Some of the factors that worked against me:
- Classic style – The top skiers all “skate”, and that alone would account for a good chunk of time.
- Navigation errors – I lost 5-10 minutes with non-optimal route choice and missing two key controls on my first attempt.
- First time at the event – I’m fairly certain the others had been to the ESGs before and had a greater comfort level with the terrain.
- First full year skiing – I’ve skied since I was fifteen or so, but not so much after having a family. This was the first year in many that I’ve been out on the snow more than twice (recreationally).
On the other hand – while it wasn’t a Gold, it was a Bronze – and accomplishing that in my very first try is a great accomplishment and a wonderful motivator!
Back Next Year
My daughter qualified to compete, but another commitment kept her from coming. The plan for next year is to go with the whole family and compete together. With that in mind, I’m looking to train harder, find some skate skis, and push for the Gold;-)
Some other sport your thing?
We did a little touring and saw some snowshoe-ers, X-C skiers, and biathlon-ers – and know there were plenty of other winter sports enthusiasts in attendance. If you’re not the type to venture outside in the winter or wading through the snow in the name of entertainment, you might check out your state’s summer games – you don’t even need to reach to the mountains for them!
Whatever it is – head out, have fun, try your hardest, and enjoy yourself!
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