The Whistler Podcast

Episode 9: Home crowd advantage (with Britt Janyk)

February 20, 2020 Resort Municipality of Whistler Season 1 Episode 9
The Whistler Podcast
Episode 9: Home crowd advantage (with Britt Janyk)
Show Notes Transcript

Retired Canadian alpine skier Britt Janyk is Mayor Crompton’s guest for episode 9 of The Whistler Podcast. Britt Janyk was raised in a ski family; her grandfather was the engineer responsible for installing the first double chair on Grouse Mountain, mother Andree skied competitively and was a ski instructor and younger brother Mike was also a member of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team. Britt recounts her early days of ski racing with the Whistler Mountain Ski Club, talks about the atmosphere of the Village leading up to the 2010 Games and shares how the familiar faces of Whistler’s legendary Weasel Workers helped wash the pressure away.

Narrarator:   0:02
The Whistler Podcast. Candid conversations about everything Whistler. With host, Mayor Jack Crompton.  

Mayor Crompton:   0:09
Hello everyone, welcome to the Whistler Podcast. Thanks for joining us. I'm Jack Crompton. As always, we acknowledge that we work, live and play on the traditional territory of the Squamish Nation and the Lil'wat Nation and thank you to Mountain FM for having us in the studio. Today, I am pleased to have with me Britt Janyk. Welcome, Britt.  

Britt Janyk:   0:28
Thank you.  

Mayor Crompton:   0:28
Britt is a Canadian retired Alpine skier specializing in Downhill, Super G, Alpine combined and Giant Slalom. Having also competed in Slaloms, Britt made her Olympic debut at Vancouver 2010 joining younger brother Mike on the Canadian Alpine Ski  Team competing in her hometown, where she recorded a sixth place finish in the downhill. But to me, you are Andrée Janyk's daughter. Um, thank you for coming in. We're gonna talk first, a couple Whistler current events, and then we will hear all about your Games experience. Want to start first with Adventure Smart–a real encouragement that we try and do at the beginning of each year–that people, um, know, before they go, that they understand the snow conditions that they're going into. Um, what's your experience with Whistler's backcountry and give us a PSA on why people should Adventure Smart.

Britt Janyk:   1:21
Uh, you know what? It's funny. I spent so many years on the ski team and away from this town in the winter and I feel like now that I've come back and kind of reintegrated into the into the community with my my own family and seeing my kids grew up here, and, um, I'm really feel like I'm just beginning to learn about the back country. But I do know, I know a lot of people that use the backcountry, and what I love is how they, how much they pay attention to the safety. And I feel like I'm really aware of that. And we have such good kind of leadership and guidance on how the steps to take in order to be able to  have kind of these, you know, safe experiences in the in the backcountry.

Mayor Crompton:   1:59
Yeah, you're right. It's unique to have the level of experience and knowledge in this town, and it's pretty easy to access if you're, if you're conscious about doing so. It's important. Ice is a big one. I like to play lots of hockey, but no one monitors ice ice thickness. So, um, if you're going to go out on the ice, make sure that you monitor. Are you, uh are you an ice skater yourself?

Britt Janyk:   2:23
I skate. I have hockey skates.

Mayor Crompton:   2:24
You do have hockey skates?  

Britt Janyk:   2:25
Yes.   

Mayor Crompton:   2:26
All right. Sounds like we need to have, like, your family versus our family hockey game on Alta Lake sometime soon. All right, let's do it. Um, hiking and touring, you say you're getting into hiking and touring  more now?

Britt Janyk:   2:38
Yeah, I'm just kind of getting into it, I think as the you know, myself as a kid or a teenager, growing up the mountain was a very different space. It wasn't, um, wasn't as busy. And, uh, we really just thought about skiing in bounds back then. It wasn't a big thing to go outside of the resort and go backcountry skiing and I think that's becoming I mean, it really has been for quite a few years that it's bigger and bigger. But during those years where it was growing and getting bigger, I was on the road ski racing, and it really wasn't something that I came home and did. So yeah, I've got my first set of kind of, you know, proper boots and skins and stuff. So I plan to get in there a little bit more.

Mayor Crompton:   3:17
You've been out to the hut?

Britt Janyk:   3:19
I have not. No, that's on my list.

Mayor Crompton:   3:19
Me neither. I mean, I've been to the hut, but not in the winter. And I definitely it's in my to-do's for sure. So just a reminder: please be Adventure Smart. The second thing we want to talk about this happening in Whistler right now is our Evacuation Plan. We've released a bunch of information in the community right now about the Evacuation Plan. There's been a ton of work that's been going on, but the big message we want to get out is that everyone should sign up for the Whistler Alert, which helps people access information around an evacuation. It's at whistler.ca/WhistlerAlert. Uh, your mom and I worked for a long time together on Council, and we talked about this a lot. We talked about dealing with, um, critical incidences in emergencies, and she was always someone that was very interested in that kind of a thing. Um,  do you talk to your family at all about being prepared and ensuring that you understand what's going to happen during an emergency?

Britt Janyk:   4:18
Uh, definitely a little bit. You know, my girls get a little bit from school, right? You do your kind of fire safety things. So it's a natural part of it. Just goes a few steps beyond that and taking outside and talking about it, you know, in the home. And I think it's really just about being prepared, and for me it comes pretty naturally. I always had prepared for my sport. It's about being prepared for anything. And we, you know, we hope that any big event doesn't happen and maybe we don't need to execute an Evacuation Plan, but we know that we have that in place, and I think that's really important in a community. I mean a community anywhere, but a community like this and that we're all on the same page.

Mayor Crompton:   4:54
I keep referring to your mom. Maybe people don't know. Andrée Janyk was a city councillor for a long time with me, and, um, she had a lot to do with a lot of the sort of planning around evacuations. One of the thing that she would always say, and it's stuck in my head for ever and ever is 'it's one road in one road out'. And it's it's just has always stuck in my head that that we're better if we understand the messaging about exactly how to leave our community in an emergency, because you can do it well and you could do it poorly. Uh, there's a lot of examples about what happened at Fort McMurray. They left that community well. They were organized, and they've done a good job planning for for the evacuation. So please sign up at whistler.ca/WhistlerAlert.  

Narrarator:   5:40
You are listening to the Whistler Podcast, candid conversations on current events, local government, and everything Whistler.  

Mayor Crompton:   5:48
So, I can't believe it's been 10 years since the 2010 Olympic Paralympic Games, but it has been, and so we're talking to people about their experiences. Britt, you grew up in a skiing family. Your mother and younger brother skiing competitively. When did you start skiing?

Britt Janyk:   6:06
I started skiing at two. Uh, my mom would have said that I started skiing, you know, while she was still carrying me as she raced Masters Races and, uh she so pretty early. I started early on.

Mayor Crompton:   6:20
And did, you were you racing at a young age?

Britt Janyk:   6:22
No, I wasn't. I wasn't racing. As a kid, we got to come up to Whistler on weekends. My parents got to go skiing, and we stayed at home with the nanny.

Mayor Crompton:   6:30
All right.

Britt Janyk:   6:30
And we were allowed to join my parents skiing with their friends as soon as we could get our own boots on and our own skis to the car. So my brother and I figured it out pretty quick.  We got onto that so that we could leave the house and we could go join them skiing. I think they just, they really created this, um, fun atmosphere around going out to play in the mountains. And so we, uh did kids camp out of Blackcomb. We were Blackcomb Mountain skiers as a family.

Mayor Crompton:   6:57
Oh my....I don't know if we can talk anymore. I think we're done. Yeah. So that was great having you. Seriously, enjoy your day.

Britt Janyk:   7:06
Uh, yes. So we did that and at, like, three, my brother said, 'I don't want to do kids camp anymore, mom, the other kids are too slow.' And then I heard that, and I was like 'well if he's out,  I'm out.'  

Mayor Crompton:   7:18
Yeah.  

Britt Janyk:   7:18
So she pulled us out and we just went skiing with friends. Uh, we had another family with two kids similar ages–two boy–and we would meet up every weekend, and we would go skiing all over the place, all over the mountain.

Mayor Crompton:   7:30
And did you have a place here or?

Britt Janyk:   7:31
We did. We had a cabin in Alpin, an A-frame, and it still stands. It's still there? Yep. And then through that time, when condos started to develop, we moved around through a few different condo developmenst.

Mayor Crompton:   7:43
But you were living in North Vancouver?

Britt Janyk:   7:44
We were living in West Vancouver at the time. Yep. And commuting up. Coming up to our cabin in Whistler every weekend.

Mayor Crompton:   7:50
And did you ever ski North Shore Mountains? Was that part of your?

Britt Janyk:   7:54
Not too much, uh, no. We really came here to Whistler. Like my mom, my mom grew up skiing on Grouse Mountain, and there's a huge history with my grandfather there at the Tyee Ski Club and we always, but we always skied. I think this is where a lot of their friends were coming. This is where they were already creating a bit of a community here in the Whistler Valley.

Mayor Crompton:   8:13
And he was.... ah, your grandfather was a lift, like a developer? What? 

Britt Janyk:   8:19
He was an engineer. Uh, but he did engineer and put in the first double chair ski lift on Grouse Mountain.

Mayor Crompton:   8:26
It's gone.  

Britt Janyk:   8:27
It's gone, it's not there anymore.

Mayor Crompton:   8:27
Okay. Sounds good. Um, so you..when did you and Mike start racing?

Britt Janyk:   8:35
So I started racing at 11 which would have been the first year that I could have started. And we joined the Whistler Mountain Ski Club and we had friends that were racing. And the story as it goes–I don't really remember it–but the story from my mom was always that we had friends that were racing and again we heard about that and said, 'well, we want to race'.  And my mom came through racing, and so she understood all about it, and her first reaction was like, 'really?'  

Mayor Crompton:   8:57
Yeah.

Britt Janyk:   8:58
'I'm not sure about this.' So she really never like....there was no push for us to go into racing. It really kind of just happened organically. And I can tell you that it's....I don't know what it was, but as soon as I got in the gates and and started in the in the ski club program, I just I connected with it and I had so much fun. It was such such a sense of freedom on my skis.

Mayor Crompton:   9:22
Yeah, I think that that's something that your mother has driven into this town is the joy of sport. You don't do this because you want to win trophies. You do this because you love it and whether it's on a soccer field or a ski hill, enjoy your day, love what you do, and be with people, and then your skill will improve because you're invested in in the enjoyment of sport. I always remember her after soccer games, every soccer game that she'd referee–and I coached my daughter's team–she'd take all the girls aside, and she'd say how proud she was of the way they played. Not that they played well, but the way they played. They played with a smile on their face. They played, um, with joy, and I think that that is just the right way to approach sport. You grow and you get good, obviously, but you have sort of a lifelong love of your craft, which is I think a great gift to to our town. So growing up in a ski racing family may not be what we think of.  Meaning, when I thought of the question, 'What was it like to grow up in a ski racing family?' Pressure? No. No pressure for you guys. This was go out and and love the sport?

Britt Janyk:   10:39
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's something that my grandfather passed on to, you know, my mom and her brothers. But it was really about, um, going out, enjoying the mountains, enjoying the craft of the of the game, the craft of the sport. And, yeah, there was, you know, she often said, and that there was no pressure, But there was this this message that came from my mom that was like, 'well, you know you could quit any time. You don't have to do it, but if you decide that you're doing it, like you're in 110%–you're in.'  

Mayor Crompton:   11:14
Yeah.

Britt Janyk:   11:14
Not just in there to just give it a try. And that really stuck with me because it meant that when I was struggling or the results weren't there, I felt an injury or I failed every time I, every time that happened, I checked in. I went, 'okay, am I still doing this for the right...like, is this really what I want? I want to do it.' As soon as I decided that, 'yes, I'm still continuing going.' It was,'okay, now, what do I need to do to get myself back up on my feet and and to be able to race my best and ski my best?'

Mayor Crompton:   11:44
Where were you and how old were you when the games were awarded to Vancouver? That would've been 2003.

Britt Janyk:   11:51
2003. I was, what, 22? Where was I? That's a good question. I just have I have this image of watching the screen and seeing the reaction of the Village. So I wasn't here in Whistler, I must have been on the road somewhere.

Mayor Crompton:   12:06
Were you on team Canada at that point?

Britt Janyk:   12:07
Yes. I was bon the Canadian team at that point. So my career kind of went... I just...the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics, I just missed qualifying for for those Olympics and then for the Torino Olympics, my brother qualified. I missed making the team, so I got to go with my mom and my sister and my dad and watch him in the Olympics.

Mayor Crompton:   12:26
And he's your younger brother?

Britt Janyk:   12:28
Yes. Yeah, he's my younger brother. Yeah. Yeah. So although I wasn't there, it was so special to be able to be there and support him and and again, it and take in the experience a little bit. So when 2010 came along and I was trying to qualify for the team, it it was, uh it was pretty big. And it meant a lot to make that Olympic team. And to be able to know that I was gonna be competing in 2010.

Mayor Crompton:   12:51
So where were you when you officially made the team?

Britt Janyk:   12:54
But I officially made the team for the Vancouver Olympics. We were...it was right after a World Cup event. So you have part of the season before the Olympics to meet half of the criteria, and then you have to meet the rest of it in that Olympic year. Or if you haven't met the criteria in the season before then both your results to make make the team have to come in that current year. So I had some pretty strong results right off from the start of that. That 2009-10 season, our races start in November and at the time I was competing and mostly Downhill and Super G. And then I kind of fell off. I think once I made the team, there was this release of kind of pressure, intention. And I struggled a little bit the World Cups leading up to the games, and I actually chose to come home and skip the last World Cup, which was just the weekend before. We would come here, and I got to come home and and feel Whistler before the crowds came in before I came and I that was a really, really good decision to make.

Mayor Crompton:   13:54
And so was it one race that you got the right time and you got enough points and then you're going to the Games. You phone your parents... do you remember who you first told that you'd qualified?

Britt Janyk:   14:05
Yeah, I probably first told my mom. Yeah, definitely and I knew that I was getting the the right results. I was very much like, you know, the top...I was on the path, but you still have to make it happen. You have to get...so it's two top 12 finishes on the World Cup for one top five is kind of generally how it goes in alpine skiing. So it's based on how you finished in the World Cup circuit. And at the time, I was ranked in the top 15 in both Downhill and Super G. So, uh, yeah, I was in that group. You still have to put those two results together.

Mayor Crompton:   14:39
And then missing Torino sort of is no longer an issue at all. Because you're doing it at home. Huh! Doing it very close to home. Like your parents' house is a very close to the Dave Murray downhill.  

Britt Janyk:   14:50
It is. Yeah.  

Mayor Crompton:   14:51
That's so cool. Um, okay, so tell us some of your memories of 2010.

Britt Janyk:   14:59
My memories of 2010 would be the feeling, the atmosphere in the town. Kind of the love and the warmth and the excitement and the passion I would say that kind of wrapped its arms around the sport. And it's that passion that I felt all the time when I was out competing in my sport. But it's pretty special when the whole community of people that are around you all the time just kind of get that same vibe. And so that was definitely a highlight and just going up, being able to go to my event, go to the downhill track and ski on my mountainto go up the lifts. I thought it would feel like there was a lot of pressure because I was at home. But in fact, as soon as I got on the on the hill, it was just, it was it was normal and all that pressure is kind of washed away, and that's something that I did. I didn't expect at all. I kind of prepared myself leading up to it that I would...to expect that I would feel more pressure. And in fact, it just kind of washed away and I felt really comfortable and confident just that I was on my home mountain.

Mayor Crompton:   16:04
Did you free ski at all during that?

Britt Janyk:   16:07
Yes, we had some downhill training runs canceled and we went up freeskiing. The snow was fantastic.

Mayor Crompton:   16:12
There's nobody around anywhere.

Britt Janyk:   16:14
Nobody around.

Mayor Crompton:   16:14
It was some of the best skiing have I have ever done, like it was unbelievable.

Britt Janyk:   16:20
And I would say at the time we had Rob Boyd as one of our coaches, and that was his big thing. Like I think, before his win at the Whistler World Cup, he went free skiing and powder skiing. And so that was something he always like before my win in Aspen at the World Cup downhill we powder skiied the day before. And so is that....I don't know if it's just because you come when you come from a big mountain like Whistler and Blackcomb, you kind of have to like racing was a part of what I did on my skis. But you gotta be able to go play on your skis.

Mayor Crompton:   16:47
Speaking of which, before we got on air, you talked about Farnham, and a day in the middle of June powder skiing. And earlier we spoke to Lindsay Debou about this project of the Canadian Olympic Committee that they would build this ski training facility on a glacier near Panorama and they would fly everyone in. Tell us about your day powder skiing in June.

Britt Janyk:   17:15
Yes, so the Farnham Glacier is just up from Radium Hot Springs, Invermere area. And they did. They tried to create this, um, glacier training, uh, kind of site for the Canadians because usually we travel over to Europe to be able to access these kind of high Alpine training environments. And it was it was really cool. I never had to stay at the camp at Farnham Glacier.

Mayor Crompton:   17:42
Got to stay at the camp?

Britt Janyk:   17:43
And I never had to stay at the camp, which was quite interesting. We stayed on the Panorama Resort, and flew in on a helicopter.

Mayor Crompton:   17:49
Very nice, very nice.

Britt Janyk:   17:50
It was very cool and I very much appreciated that experience. We got up onto the glacier one day, and it was there was, like, 20 centimeters of fresh powder. So of course, the gates were not going to go in. We weren't going to try and slip it, so we lapped around and did some powder skiing. It was fantastic. In full downhill suits, I must add.  

Mayor Crompton:   18:10
Very good!

Britt Janyk:   18:10
We had a little fun.

Mayor Crompton:   18:11
And there is no lifts there, so are you...like, are you hiking or is this...

Britt Janyk:   18:16
Snow cats.  

Mayor Crompton:   18:17
Snow cats.

Britt Janyk:   18:17
Yeah, yeah, snow cats. And with the kind of tow behind. So rope with kind of t-bars across the back and we would just ride up...could pull like about 10 people each lap.

Mayor Crompton:   18:30
So you're the, um your brother is racing in the 2010 games at the same time you are. Did you see any of his events, did he see any of your events? Um, your parents are both volunteering at the time. It sounds like the Janyk family had too much to do during the two weeks. Did you see each other?

Britt Janyk:   18:51
We did see each other on the hill. Yeah. Um, so we –the Canadian Alpine team–we were staying outside of the Village right up by the finish area just by the timing flats where it finished. And so, uh, and I had a vehicle, obviously, because I lived here and I had a pass. I often in the afternoons I would drive home and go to my parents house and just sit in that quiet space. Oftentimes, nobody was home because, as you said, both my parents were volunteering. My sister was also up volunteering, but I got to see them on the hill. And I, uh, my mom was heading up the slip crew for the woman's tracks and my sister was slipping and my dad was volunteering the finish, and I would get to see my brother...

Mayor Crompton:   19:33
Did the other competitors know that your family was preparing the course? Is that legal?

Britt Janyk:   19:38
I didn't tell them...

Mayor Crompton:   19:40
That's crazy!  

Britt Janyk:   19:41
It was kind of fun. You know, one memory that stands out for me was our training runs got canceled, so the only training run we got was split into two sections, which rarely happens. But it can be done. So we ran the top, I'd say two thirds of the course and had to stop, and the men were doing their one of their events, so they were using the finish area. We couldn't run right to the finish until then later that afternoon they kind of make this makeshift start,   so that we could run the last 20 seconds of the women's track and conditions were a little bit variable. So all the course workers were standing right there and we're getting ready to go. And I'm saying the side chatting with my mom and my sister and and it wasn't just them. It was all these other course workers that had been on the side of the runs through my whole career from when I was a kid, until you know, when national championships would be hosted here, or NorAms–they were all there. And that's what grounded me. I really did...

Mayor Crompton:   20:33
That just gave me shivers like weasel workers are there running the course?

Britt Janyk:   20:39
Yes, so I knew there were so many familiar faces that knew me, as you know, as a little girl growing up racing. And I just, uh I I held, I took that in and just kind of I used, you know, use that to give me strength, to fuel me. And as I said before, it washed away the pressure, which, um, kind of surprised me, and I just I went 'this is kind of cool.'

Mayor Crompton:   21:01
And so did you see Mike ski?

Britt Janyk:   21:02
I did. I watched the slaloms. The nice thing is, I did more of the speed events, which run earlier, and he ran the slalom. Um, actually, that's not true. So I watched...I was on an airplane during the men's slalom, so the women's World Cup circuit starts immediately right after the Games are done. I did the women's GS race, which was close to the end, and then the following day hopped on airplane, so I didn't watch his slalom run. So it made it all the more special that I actually got to see him in Torino. And four years later, I would watch him in Sochi because I would I was there working– commentating.

Mayor Crompton:   21:35
Did you commentate his race?

Britt Janyk:   21:36
I commentated his race. I did? Yeah, for OBS, which is the host broadcaster. So I kind of had to commentate it neutrally. I wasn't commentating for the Canadian Broadcasting. It was the host broadcasters, but it was, yeah, that was that was really special.

Mayor Crompton:   21:50
It's a bit like, I'm always finding...always weird. Craig McMorris, uh, commentating Mark's runs. It always seems a little strange. So you came sixth in the downhill. Were you ever in a medal position? So were you in one at one point?

Britt Janyk:   22:10
I was in third for awhile.  

Mayor Crompton:   22:12
Wow.  

Britt Janyk:   22:12
Yeah, I was in third until Lindsay came down and Julia Mancuso. So I was right behind, I think Elizabeth Gorgle was just in front of me, the Austrian. She end up finishing third, and I would end up sixth,  about half a second or just under off of third place. That it was close, very close and, yeah, I was gunning for a medal and I was...I was really proud that on that day I raced my best race on that hill for those snow conditions in that moment. And that's, you know, as ah, as an athlete, that's all you can ask for. You can't control your competitors or what they're doing, but you can control how you step out of the gates and perform.

Mayor Crompton:   22:52
And do you remember your, um, race? Like, do you have that race in your head at all?

Britt Janyk:   22:58
Yeah, I definitely do. I remember, I remember how how much my legs were burning about 20 seconds from the finish. I remember being in the start gate and feeling this incredible sense of calm. Uh, throughout most of my career, part of my ritual on the start gate was to tap my poles over the gate, look out across the valley and picture the mountains that you see across the Whistler Valley from the mountains.  So here I was in the place where...

Mayor Crompton:   23:25
So, like you were doing this in Austria?    

Britt Janyk:   23:28
Yeah, I would do it, I would do it in Austria, in Italy, in France, and wherever I was racing, just to bring me home and connect me back to where it started. And then here I was...I looked out across into the downhill start and I saw exactly what I'd always pictured in my mind's eye. And, uh, I remember hearing the cheers of voices that I recognized as I pushed out of the start. And then it was just like the shutters closed and all of a sudden, all I saw was the course. And I could tell it was...it was a bumpy and gnarly track that day. The sun had come out, the snow had frozen, and it had been really wet the day before. So it was like a washboard. It was really bumpy and pretty wild. And, yeah, I was pretty happy that I knew that knew the course. Well, I knew the terrain really well, and I knew the mountain.

Mayor Crompton:   24:19
Wow, that's a good story. Do you tell that story often?

Britt Janyk:   24:22
Uh, probably not. I should tell it a little bit more.  

Mayor Crompton:   24:25
Yeah. I mean that that whole experience of envisioning your sport, um, sort of realized itself in 2010. But also, I think that, uh, that's direction that we give kids we give kids that direction to sort of see yourself, you know, uh, playing at your best. And envision this and you'll realize that. But to actually tell that story about it actually happening in real time is pretty cool. There's a...have you seen the video of your mom giving a speech to volunteers?

Britt Janyk:   25:02
Yes, I have. Yes.

Mayor Crompton:   25:03
It's one of my favorite videos ever, because I think it demonstrates our community's joy and participation during that time. Like we were just all so excited about being a part of this event happening in our community that, um whether we were picking up garbage or skiing women's downhill, we all felt like, 'alright, here we are.' We're sort of living out this this thing that we've been talking about forever so, it's pretty neat–watch the video again. I think I'm going to do that.  

Britt Janyk:   25:38
Yes, yes.  

Mayor Crompton:   25:39
Um, any other memories that you can tell us about? I mean,  did you have dinner with your family at your house the night before? 

Britt Janyk:   25:48
No, I was with my team, so I really did try to keep that cohesive group as being with the team. But the nice thing was that I had that outlet to be able to go to my parents house. I also had the ease of using my vehicle. And I could come into town and absorb that atmosphere, because I think you said everyone had a hand in making it happen. It didn't matter if you were the person picking up...um, you know, keeping the Village clean, or if you actually had a role in out at a venue, an event. Everyone had a hand in making it happen and creating that energy and that vibe. Yeah, the other...the biggest, most powerful, um, kind of moment would be crossing the finish line with everyone there. And I think most of us would probably say that most of us athletes that competed here locally, uh, because you knew that a lot of people in that crowd were really just cheering for you. You could compete so many times everywhere else around the world and to finally be to be on your home turf, have that kind of home crowd advantage was really special.

Mayor Crompton:   26:48
Is it normal for everyone to get on planes and go to an event right after the Olympics where they would miss the remaining week of the Games?

Britt Janyk:   27:01
It's not normal for for a lot of sports. Yeah, a lot of the winter sports, I know some of the luge athletes they did their events and then hung around for the rest of the Games and kind of got to take in everything. Uh, the Alpine skiing, circuit the way it runs is we have a World Cup event the weekend, right before the Olympics start. And the next one, we're back on tour right away the following weekend. So I think, you know, three days after I finished the GS race, we had a training run in Crans in Switzerland and we got going. I can tell you for sure that that next weekend of racing was terrible for me. I was exhausted.

Mayor Crompton:   27:37
And I'm sure you were wanting to turn on the TV and watch what's happening back in Vancouver!

Britt Janyk:   27:40
 Exactly, yeah!  

Mayor Crompton:   27:43
Um, okay. Thank you. Thank you for this...it was such a fascinating conversation. And it was fun to hear stories about, uh, your experience growing up here and then and then competing here. Um, thank you for racing for Canada. And ah, you know, when you mention all of those people cheering for you in the finish line, I think you do something important for our country and for the people who live here by racing as fast as you did. And come back! Let's do this again. It was really fun to chat with you.

Britt Janyk:   28:12
I would love to!

Mayor Crompton:   28:13
All right.  

Britt Janyk:   28:14
Thank you.  

Mayor Crompton:   28:14
For sure. Uh, I want to thank Mountain FM for hosting us in their Whistler studio. Thanks for listening. I'm Jack Crompton. See you next time.  

Narrarator:   28:22
You've been listening to The Whistler Podcast. Candid conversations about everything Whistler. To find out more about The Whistler Podcast, visit whistler.ca/WhistlerPodcast.