In Wednesday’s issue, I did a story about an Island native who recently skied in the Paralympic Games in Whistler. Mark Bathum, who grew up on Mercer Island, suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, which has severely hampered with his vision. The life long skier now competes in the visually impaired category of adaptive skiing. Mark and his guide (see the story for an explanation) won a silver medal in the downhill race.

It was a great interview, but unfortunately there just wasn’t enough room for everything (I could have gone on and on). But luckily for you here’s the outtakes from that interview:

My dad picked up skiing when he was about 30, and for a ski racer I actually got into it a little bit later, I think I was 9 or 10 and as a teenager it became the sport I was most passionate about and figured that I could excel at it the most so actually when I was attending MIHS i spent half of my high school years over at Wenatchee Valley Junior College, they had a program where they let us train with the ski academy so we skied 7 days a week effectively. We’d go to school 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. and be on the hill by 11:30 a.m. and we’d ski 180 days a year at Mission Ridge. My junior year I didn’t attend MIHS at all, but my senior year I did the first and fourth quarters.

I did it for one more year competitively and before going to college. I took one year and sort of dedicated it to skiing, but by then, without my knowing it, my eye disease had started taking back my ability to ski the race course, so the last year was not as productive as the previous years. I trained well because you have the course memorized, but I wouldn’t race well. I’d ski off the course or miss gates. Then I hardly skied at all during the 80s and I lived in Europe for a couple years and lived in LA for about 8 years and that didn’t really lend itself to skiing so when I moved back to Seattle in the early ’90s friends got me back into it. Quite honestly when I was diagnosed with my eye disease in ’86 I thought someday I’d probably do the paralympics, so four or five or six years ago I started to think about it and more or less said if I don’t do the 2010 games I’ll be too old to be competitive at the next series, so I attended my first adaptive race and have been pursuing it with a passion since then.

Pairing up was just serendipity. Guides have to have quiet a bit of flexibility in their work schedule, and not everybody does, to be able to train and travel extensively, so when I did my first adapative race in March of ’08 I showed up at the race course in Idaho and it just so happened that there was a volunteer (Slater Storey) there whose sister was on the U.S. adapative ski team, so he grew up with the sport because she (his sister) had a leg amputated as an infant so when I needed a guide the race organizers asked him if he would be willing. Being a guide beats being a volunteer so he did it and then we did a couple of races together last season and then I also had to work with another guy because it’s hard to find people who have the time, but he (Storey) ended up having time this winter and skied almost on a daily basis to prepare for the Paralympics.

I would say slalom is the most difficult just because it’s the quickest, things are happening the fastest. In a 60 second race you go through 40-60 turns, so you’re literally doing everything as fast as you can, there’s just no time to think or process in between turns, and so as a guide and a follower we have to be very much in sync through training. Downhill, just by nature that you have a few seconds between turns, is marginally easier because you have the time to think and communicate.

Favorites places to ski – Absolutely love Sun Valley, can’t say enough good things about it, they were very generous to us this winter, Crystal Mountain is a fantastic mountain, love training there, Alpental and Snoqualmie they have great coaches and training and Mission Ridge. Seattle is blessed with lots of great areas.

Favorite part of skiing and racing – You have a total sense of freedom and complete ability to be aggressive, it’s such a controlled environment I don’t have to worry about outside variables so you can just completely focus on a singular task or event and your mind clears from everything else and you just get so singularly focused on that you get a sense of accomplishment and reach your peak performance. A lot of sports provide this I think, it takes all stress from the rest of life away and cleanses and purges it.

The other thing that I really enjoy about ski racing is always my teammates and competitors, they usually really fine young men and women who participate in the sport. They are doing it because they love it, and they get some benefit from it. It’s always a personal benefit, its not like they are doing it for fame and fortune, everyone has a lot in common and gets a lot of joy from it. They are battling their disabilities, but getting tremendous joy from this pursuit and it’s very therapeutic.

Check out Mark’s Web site for more information about him and the sport.

It is almost time. I’ve been waiting for probably three solid years for the months to slowly dwindle until the magic could begin. Now only five months away (which I know is still a long time, but after two years come on!) coverage of the Winter Olympics in Whistler and Vancouver, British Columbia is getting ready to explode.

Between the circus of just trying to get tickets to specific events, to figuring how whether or not to stay in B.C. or make it a day trip and trying to determine how and when to make the border crossing, the logistics for a simple trip has, at many points, felt overwhelming; and I know I’m not alone.

I’ve had my tickets to a single hockey game since they were first offered to U.S. citizens. As a self-described sports nut who loves hockey and the Olympics it was a no-brainer. I spent the Beijing Olympics watching Michael Phelps crush the medal record with my extended family following my cousin’s wedding – those are the moments I’ll remember, where I was and who I watched it with. That is what makes the every two year global spectacle what it is.

Shortly after the International Olympic Committee announced Whistler as the winning bid for 2010 I knew I wanted to go. When would I ever be this close to the Games again? Mostly likely never, unless Seattle or Portland makes a bid, at which point would push them, at the very earliest, to a 2016 or 2020 bid, depending on which type of games they wanted to pursue – summer or winter. But now I’m getting off topic – Whistler, February – it’s going to be a big deal.

What I, and the Reporter, really want to know, is who else out there on the Island is making a Games pilgrimage? Local opinions seem to vary on whether it’s worth the hassle to get there for a single event or for multiple. Others are about as excited as you can get, snatching up tickets to as many events as possible to fully revel in the Olympics event. I have friends trekking home from Arizona to take in the sights and visit with family over the course of those weeks.

Before the lights dim during the Opening Ceremonies we want to hear your stories, from deciding what events to attend, to booking tickets, to getting a hotel and how you decided the best way to get there for the day or week.

Send your thoughts, stories and comments to mmanagan@mi-reporter.com. Thanks in advance!