As I sit
here writing this I am back in snowless Chelsea for Christmas wondering why I
was too stubborn to bring my rollerskis with me. The last few weeks have been a
busy mix of traveling and racing. As is usual with ski racing there have been
ups and downs. It’s been a while so I’ll take it from the top.
Kootenay
cup Golden BC, November 26th and 27th
Although it
was low key, these were the first real races of the year. The weekend started off with a
skate sprint on Saturday. It was a long day with the final ending under the
cover of darkness with floodlights illuminating the course. It was a great Day
for me. I won the qualifier (unofficially as the organizers never did get
proper results from that one), skied conservatively through the heats and skied
away in the final. The course suited me perfectly with lots of steep climbs and
fast descents.
The next
day was a 15km classic individual. Conditions were tricky (zero degrees and snow)
I decided to race on a pair of waxless skis just before the race and didn’t
have time to get them glide waxed. The result was lots of grip with little
glide (most people were in the same boat). This combined with a tired body made for a subpar day. Nevertheless I
was happy to get my first distance race of the season out of the way.
Alberta Cup Canmore, December 3rd
Because of
the heavy race schedule I only did the sprint race at the Alberta cup. I was
looking forward to testing my skate sprinting against a staked field including
many national team members. After a
mediocre qualifier I won my quarterfinal and finished 3rd in my semi
gaining a lucky looser spot in the Final. In the final I was definitely out
classed by the big guns of Canadian sprinting and finished 5th.
Overall I was happy with my day and felt ready for Nor Ams in Sovereign Lakes
the next weekend.
Nor Am cup Sovereign
lakes BC, December 10th and 11th
The Nor Am
cups in Sovereign Lakes have always been an enigma for me. Although I have
always had good sprints there they have always been accompanied by some of my
worst Distance races. I have always struggled with the altitude and the
demanding world cup courses. This year I was hoping that living at altitude in
Canmore and having much more time on snow would be the solution to my Sovereign
Lakes enigma.
The week end started out with a classic sprint
(my best event). I had a subpar qualifier where I struggled to find grip on the
long demanding softish course. I ended up with bib 17 going into the heats. In
my quarter things went much better. I stayed in 4th place until the
last climb where I attacked on the outside of the course and moving myself into
1st and holding it to the line. In my semifinal, I Again, stayed at
the back of the field until the final climb were I moved up into 3rd
earning a spot In the A final in my
first Nor am Cup as a senior racer. In the final I gave it my all trying not to
be intimidated by the much more experienced skiers I was up against. In the end
the best I could manage was 4th. To finish 4th in my
first Nor Am cup as a senior racer was a pretty special experience.
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| Rounding a corner during the heats Photo Credit: Dan Roycroft |
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| On my way to a 4th place finish in my first Nor Am cup as a Senior Photo Credit: Dan Roycroft |
The next
day was a 15 km classic Individual. Individual classic races were once my best event, yet the last couple of years I have had trouble with them.
This year I really wanted to turn this around. I started relatively slow and
tried to go faster as the race went on. I felt good and not nearly as tired as
I thought I would be following such a hard day of sprinting. I ended up 15th
on the day 8th Canadian. Although I was happy with the result I was
even more happy that I had finally broken the Sovereign lakes enigma and had
two good races back to back one sprint and one distance.
Nor Am Cup Rossland BC, 17th
and 18th of December
After the
all classic weekend in sovereign Lakes it was time dust off the skate skis for
an all skate weekend in Rossland. Classic is generally my stronger technique
but this year I have been feeling really
good on my skate skis and after possibly the best weekend of racing I have ever
had In sovereign Lakes I was feeling confident going into Rossland. Unfortunately
things did not go the way I wanted them to. On Saturday, I felt flat in the
qualifier for the sprint. I hoped I would feel more energetic in my quarter
final but it didn’t work out that way. I was never really involved in the
fight for positions and crossed the line 5th making me 23rd
on the day… Not the result I was looking for.
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| My quarter final in Rossland I'm number 23 Photo Credit: David Greer |
The next
day was the first mass start of the season, a 15 km skate on a demanding 3.75km
loop. With Bib 36 I had a lot of traffic in front of me. At the start I stayed
calm and tried to look for opportunities to pass people. I quickly realized
that although I was feeling pretty good, I did not have very fast skis. This
was not a case of bad wax (our team in general had fast skis), but a question
of bad ski selection. Most of the race I could see the group in front of me
that I wanted to be in, however every time I would get a bit closer to them on
an uphill section of the course I would find myself a bit further behind after
a downhill section. On the last lap I tied up a bit and crossed the line in 25th,
happy with my effort but a little disappointed with the result.
All in all,
however it has been a very good start to my season.
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| Cool Shot taken during the 15km skate in Rossland Photo Credit: Angus Cockney |
The thing about racing is
that not every day is going to be a great day, you have to learn from the good
and the bad. Now I am enjoying a few well needed days off before I get back to
training for the next part of the season.
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| Anything can happen in sprint racing Unfortunately two AWCA skiers were involved in this quarterfinal mishap Photo Credit: David Greer |
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| Fortunately no one was hurt Photo Credit: David Greer |
That’s all
for now...
