My three-week race excursion started out in Canmore, Alberta. One week was to be spent getting back into the groove of skiing on snow before the first race, the Alberta Cup: a skate sprint on Saturday, and a classic distance on Sunday. From there we would shift ourselves West into the beautiful British Columbia to compete at two NorAm (North American) Cups; first in Sovereign Lake, and then in Rossland.
I left Whitehorse on November 26th at 5am. A few Tim Horton’s sandwiches, a couple hours in YVR, a short flight to Calgary, and a long wait in YYC, I finally met up with the rest of the team whose flight was delayed. We did the “oh too familiar” drive from Calgary’s prairie in to the towering Rocky Mountains of Canmore. I rolled into Canmore around 8pm after spending 3 hours on an airplane, one and a half hours in a car, and eleven hours in an airport!
A week before the first race and I was feeling great. Unlike so may of my teammates, I had already been on snow for a couple weeks! I felt great in my intervals and was ready and eager to start racing. But 6 days rotting in a dry hotel might not have done me well. I got a cold a couple days before the race. Luckily the sneezing and sniffling subsided just in time.
The race was about 9 km. Three 3 km loops. It was an individual start meaning skiers start at separate times, in this case 30 seconds apart from one another. I was testing out some new calming breathing techniques given to me by my sport psychologist. While everyone was running around getting pumped up I stood there calm as can be, relaxed and focused. I burst out of the gate and found myself right behind Jesse Cockney who had just come around to finish his first lap. I tucked in behind him and found it surprisingly easy to stay with him. I thought of taking the lead early on but knowing the trails in Canmore, and knowing what they can do to a man, what they’ve done to me, I decided to take it slow. I could see I was gaining on Zach Holland who started 30 seconds in front of me. I finally managed to close the gap just as Cockney finished his race. With one lap to go the Canmore trails were starting to punish me. Zach managed to stay right behind me on the last hill and we finished together. Losing some time on the last lap I finished 18 seconds behind my teammate Raphael but still over 30 seconds up on 3rd place finisher Zach Holland. I was thrilled with my second place finish, especially considering I was just getting over a cold.
The next day we drove from mountains back to prairie. We flew to Kelowna, a short flight from Calgary and to make things even easier, we were not burdened with our ski bags. I had almost forgot what it was like to walk around an airport without a 60lb bag of skis. They were driven to Sovereign Lake courtesy of Nakkertok ski club.
We drove the winding road from the warm Okanogan Valley, up the mountain to Silver Star. This would be our home for the next week. It’s always a pleasure to stay in Silver Star. There are hot tubs, leather couches and flat-screens in almost every place. And it’s a nice change from Canmore to see some natural snow! The skiing was great despite lower than usual snowfall.
The first race of the weekend was the classic sprint. In a sprint you can race up to four times. First there is a qualifier in which skiers race individually around the course. Their time is clocked and the top 30 skiers are placed into heats of 6 people, based on their times. The top two racers in a quarter-final move on to a semi-final and the top 3 racers in the semi-final move on to the final.
I was feeling completely healthy again and was just hoping I could pull off another good race like I did in Canmore. I had had one of my few good races here last year on the same course so I was looking to repeat. I was worried that my qualifier was not going well because my grip wax was slipping on the hills. I just came up with my arms and hammered down on my poles, hard as I could. I was surprised to see I had already made up a lot of time on the skier ahead of me. When I came to the finish I had closed the 15-second gap of the skier ahead of me. Once again I finished second junior, right behind my teammate Raphael. We had a considerable lead on the third qualified junior: 8 seconds. Things were looking good. I cruised through both my quarter and semi-final finishing in first place both heats. In the final I knew my main competition was Raphael. We both double poled so hard out of the start that 100 meters into the race it was just the 2 of us alone. I looked back on a corner thinking there must have been a crash behind us. In the end I could not overtake Raphael and I settled for another second place.
The next day was 15km classic race. It was a hard course, lots of climb and little opportunity to rest on downhills. My skies were slippery in warm-up so I got the coaches to add more wax. It made them slower but with a course like this, a guy needs to be able to stride up those hills slipping as little as possible. I focused on skiing with good technique. I was getting splits during the race and on the last lap I heard I was 12 second ahead of Raphael. I was hurting on the last couple kilometers but I fought hard right to the end. I finished thinking I had finally won. When the results were posted I ended up 13 seconds behind Raphael. Another great race for me but I was getting a little tired of winning silver medals. Once again Raphael and I destroyed the field finishing 40 seconds up from the third place finisher Zach Holland.
We celebrated another great race weekend by playing a big hockey game on the pond in Silver Star. The next morning we packed the Yukon XL s and started the long journey to Rossland listening to the girls Billboard’s top ten music play list the whole way. We stayed in another luxurious house in Rossland. Aidan and I had the loft. The loft is great apart from being hottest and noisiest part of the house.
Last weekend there was 2 classic races; this weekend it was 2 skate races. When I was home in the Yukon It was between minus 20 and 40 every day. For this reason I hadn’t skate skied near as much as I had classic skied in the past month. On top of this, I have never qualified for a skate sprint. I didn’t really know what to expect. I qualified seventh open and over 11 seconds up from the next junior, a huge margin for a sprint. It couldn’t have gone better for me. I comfortably won all my heats. Maybe next time I will race in the open category along with Raphael.
The last race: a 15km mass start. It is always fun to race mass starts. It often involves race tactics and strategy whereas individual starts are usually “who can suffer the most”. The trails in Rossland are narrow. With over 70 skiers on the start line it was bound to be mayhem. There was some talk about changing the race to an individual start for just that reason. I’m glad it stayed a mass start. I was seeded 28 so I was started a few rows back. I had a surprisingly clean start and kept all my skis and poles intact. Before long I was part of a long train of skiers spread out along the trail single or double file. The problem is when your single file, one person gets “gapped” while cresting a hill and then all of a sudden there’s a breakaway up ahead. You always have to be alert and ready to make a move to close the gap when needed. I guess I was zoned-out and all of a sudden found myself a couple meters back from the pack. I jumped in with fellow Yukoner John Parry and we tried to close the gap. We skied together for a lap, not losing but not gaining time on the pack. I decided to drop back to be absorbed by the group behind me so I had energy to sprint at the end. Skiing is similar to cycling in the way skiing with a group is much easier than skiing on your own. The pleasure of a mass start race is knowing exactly where you place during your race. I was the first junior for most of the race with Raphael not far behind. With one Kilometer to go I was passed by David Palmer who was having the race of his life. I was able to stick with him on the down-hill and draft him in to the finish where I won the sprint to the line.
What an end to the early season. I am happy to be home now for the Holidays and taking some much needed rest before the World Junior Trials in Whistler this January.
Merry Christmas
