As we lead up to a race like this, the puzzle starts to go together. We connect starts, finish lines, intermediate eyes, display boards, photo finish cameras and more. And, that is just the timing side of the show. Then, all that data gets merged together and fired over to the data guys. They fire out to the internet, huge video walls, and much more. That doesn't even include the TV part.
But... leading up to the first forerunner down the course, you never do a full dress rehearsal and you are pretty sure that everything will work, but it takes the first racer on the course to confirm you have all the pieces fully connected and communicating to each other. The team I am part of has done this a few times and have been pretty successful and thinking ahead and limiting all problems before you can see them on the air.
Yesterday we had the Super G race and today the grand daddy of the them all, the Downhill race. Tomorrow is 'just' a Slalom race. The Slalom race is in some aspects pretty simple, but it can also bite you in the ass as there is so much going on on the hill at any time.
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| A view from beside the start hut |
It also means that from about Friday morning until Sunday night we are going full out. Sadly, there is no time to walk to downtown Kitzbuhel and see the sea of drunken humanity. Coop described one person he saw that was clearly not on this planet. All he was capable of doing was walking (not in a straight line) and blowing a horn that he had.
The team I work with are rock stars. Each bring something unique to the show and make this just a fun place to be even if you don't get lunch for 3 days and all you had for breakfast is a bun. We all survive. We all support each other and all cover each others back. We do this because we love what we do and to bring the best we can to our customer.
1 comment:
Looked like a great race, again CBC coverage was disappointing but don't expect much from them anymore
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