NEWRY – Friday’s fog, drizzle, shifting wind and plummeting temperatures at Sunday River were a nightmare for organizers of the FIS Snowboard World Cup.

Seth Wescott was still smiling, still living the dream.

“It’s fine. You can’t do anything about the weather. It’s been such a gorgeous week. We’re just going to wait it out,” Wescott said. “These qualifying days are mellow days for us, anyway. It’s just one warm-up run and then go give it up for two runs. It’s basically another training day. You’ve just got the clock on you a couple times.”

Farmington’s native son and Olympic gold medalist was conspicuously the only snowboardcross racer to mingle at the finish area throughout the morning, when a 20-minute stoppage for an injured rider escalated into a one-hour delay for course maintenance into a hurry-up-and-wait for the pesky front to pass.

It didn’t, meaning that Wescott will receive an early wake-up call Saturday morning for his time trial. That presumably will secure him a high seed in what now will be a mid-afternoon series of eliminations to determine the event winner.

Men and women’s boardercross hopefuls alike will encounter the same compressed itinerary as race organizers work feverishly to cram two days worth of competition into one.

Then again, what’s an extra day of waiting when your body rarely is acclimated to your surroundings and the angle of the sun, anyhow?

“We’ve got a week off next week, which will be nice because we’re up to eight straight weeks right now,” Wescott said. “This has been a long one. We’ve gone through 33 or 34 time zones in those eight weeks, through Asia, Europe, all over North America.”

Sunday River is the only U.S. stop in the September-to-March grind.

It means that the crowd is startlingly smaller than what the World Cup racers encounter in Europe, where the sport is celebrated more often than two weeks every fourth February. Course workers and journalists comprised roughly 90 percent of Friday’s small congregation.

Foul weather did, however, give Wescott an extended opportunity to indulge in a few comforts of home. The Olympic champion had the chance to embrace and chat face-to-face with his mother, college professor Margaret Gould Wescott, even if their time was interrupted by the occasional autograph hound or interview seeker.

The pace will quicken infinitely Saturday, when sunny skies are expected to put the international field on track for a busy day. Given the results of his midweek training, Wescott anticipates that his fan base will have plenty to cheer.

“We only ended up having one day of training, but it was a super good, productive day,” Wescott said. “I had a lot of fun. It’s my favorite course that we’ve run all year so far. I’m liking it. It could be that (being in Maine) that helps the attitude, too, but it’s just a good one. (Course designer Jeff Ihaksi) really got the flow dialed this week. There’s nothing that you’re overshooting. The turns are really well built.”

Like a streaky basketball shooter who visualizes a cylinder the size of a bass drum or a zoned-in slugger seeing the 100 mph fastball in slow motion, Wescott’s perspective might be simply that of a man on a roll.

February’s opening swing from one end of Canada (Cypress, near Vancouver) to the other (Stoneham, neighboring Quebec City) put him in position for a run at this year’s overall title.

“I was on the podium the last two World Cups, sitting second on the world tour which is my best world rank ever, so it’s going well,” he said.

Wescott has recovered fully from a bruised spine, suffered in a frightening free fall at the season-opening event in Argentina.

The impending break at his home in Carrabassett Valley leading up to March races at La Molina, Spain, and Valmalenco, Italy, could be the refueling Wescott needs to make a successful run at top-ranked rival Markus Schairer of Austria.

“Staying healthy, that is a big part of it. Lots of times at this time of the season you’re so run down. I’m still feeling pretty strong,” Wescott said. “I don’t have the bumps and bruises that I had last year. My back is feeling good. I’ve got this one and then two more in Europe, so I’m just trying to keep it rolling.”

Weather permitting, as always.