Jay Panther on North American Tour

Hello, I am pleased to report a successful weekend in Lake Placid, NY with a 5th place Friday and 8th Saturday. Friday was one of the gnarliest days I have ever had on snow. I woke up to a text message from my coach informing me that it was negative seventeen outside with fifty mph winds and the contest was on hold. The contest did happen but due to the conditions it was turned into a one run contest. I put down a solid run on a very difficult course that was a sheet of ice. I watched nearly all of my competitors blow out of the course completely. Part of the reason the contest took so long was there were six men that had to be taken off the course in first aid sleds. There were some extremely scary crashes but luckily there were no broken necks or backs. Today was significantly better. It was supposed to be a duals event but due to the weather and the slow contest yesterday, the judges decided to make today a singles event to ensure we finished the event. It was still negative twenty and the course was rock solid but there was no wind and the sun was out in full force. I qualified for the sixteen man final with a 10th in the first run. Going into my finals run I decided that 10th was as good as 16th so I was going to let it all hang out and go for the win. My goal for this season is to ski every run to win, and today I did. My finals run was amazing, a total smoke show. I shredded the course with the fastest time of the day by over a second and boosted both of my airs to the end of the landings. I am absolutely ecstatic about how I skied today and have truly disconnected myself from the result. All I can control is my skiing, and today I did it masterfully. What the judges decide to do with my skiing is out of my hands. It was nice, however, to have a half dozen coaches congratulate me, sing my praises, and tell me that I deserved at least a podium. We are heading to Killington, VT next week for our second stop on the North American Tour. We compete Friday and Saturday again. There is going to be a live web cast for this event so if you have some free time, check it out. The web cast will be at www.urtur.com . Click on the "Results" link at the top right hand corner of the web page to get the run order so you can see when I go each day. Then click on the "Live" link to see the video. Each day men's qualifying will start around eleven a.m. eastern time. Thank you so much for the love and support. Jay Panther