Zoe Fiorio doesn’t know how long she’s going to be able to maintain her double life. The St. Mary seventh grader is a regular kid in temperate Gilroy for most of the week. On the weekend, she’s a terror on the slopes, at home in the chill above the treeline as any Alpinist.
Fiorio took top honors last weekend in the J4 class girls’ Giant Slalom event at the first Central Series race of the U.S. Ski Association Far West Slalom season. She placed first for her Bear Valley Race Team in both her Saturday and Sunday races at Bear Valley. Picking up where she left off last season – Fiorio finished third overall in J4 for the 2004 season – the 12-year-old beat out junior racers from Sierra Summit, Dodge Ridge, Yosemite Winter Club and Bear Valley to kick off the new season with a bang.
Coming first was a pleasant surprise for Fiorio, but not entirely unexpected despite her tendency not to cause any jaws to drop on the practice slopes. The Gilroy native said she experiments during practice, honing her technique, making mistakes and learning from them.
But when race day comes, it’s a different story.
“I know I have to do my best, because it’s my only run,” she said.
Her best is more than enough to make the long haul from Gilroy to the mountains each weekend worth every hour on the road.
Still, as much as Fiorio enjoys her weekends racing during the ski season, she said she’s not sure if she’ll be able to keep up her already hectic schedule when the increased demands of high school materialize. “Sometimes I have to miss school on Fridays to train (for weekend races),” she said. “And I still have to do my homework on the weekends.”
So far, Fiorio has managed the balancing act with the help of her parents, Danny and Dina, who are Central Series race organizers. Her sister Hannah, a freshman at Presentation High, races in the J3 girls’ bracket.
And whatever the future holds for the youngster, the present is a pretty nice place to be.
“I have a feeling I’ll be doing good this year,” said Fiorio, whose next race is a Giant Slalom event on Feb. 5 and 6 at Dodge Ridge.
