June 16, 2009 – Cross Country Canada’s (CCC) mandate or “mission statement” in general is international excellence and to “win the podium”. These past 10 years, they’ve made giant foot steps forward towards achieving these goals. While the 2010 Olympics taking place this winter in Vancouver this coming season is of great importance, but perhaps even more important, is the hiring of a new Executive Director (ED) to lead the program through the Games and into the next decade.

In 1998 at the Nagano Olympics the efforts and team program may have been at their lowest ebb in the modern history of the sport in Canada for results and leadership. Neither of the sexes were performing well, which the results verified, and the program seemed rudderless. Changes were made, Dave Wood, a Canadian, took the reins and the next 10 years are a Canadian success story. Medals at the Olympics, Nordic World Championships and Junior World Championships with a continuous flow. Very successful international races were also hosted here in Canada and the beginning of a long term athlete development program has been gaining more traction each and every year – a total Canadian lead reversal.

This is a Canadian effort and program now, the best ever in the history of the sport here, and presents a very promising future. The crisis comes in choosing the right leader to make sure this program stays on track and the rest of the association grows in support of the successful competitive programs in place. What this new ED needs to bring to this position is: the right leadership; international acumen; business sense; vision; thorough knowledge of the sport both internationally and nationally; acceptance at both levels; hands on involvement in promotions and marketing; a great sense of delegating; and having that special knack for getting people to work for him/her with the spirit of a natural leader.

As I see it, to make this forward momentum continue to grow, the new ED will have to figure out a way to truly nationalize what remains a provincially-biased association with a modern program and vision that has all the provinces pulling together to make this a truly national association. The concept isn’t new and all parties recognize this weakness and talk openly about this problem, but little seems to have been done to rectify the situation. A real beginning challenge for the new ED.

The process for application for this position was recently extended, meaning the selection committee wants more applicants or is not happy with the first set of applicants. Or maybe the committee itself lacks the depth in understanding the scope of the position, and doesn’t realize it has totally capable applicants to move forward with?

I’ve always maintained that “the big pond” was the largest hurdle we had to neutralize if we were ever going to compete with the Euros, and it remains the same big hurdle for the selection committee. The international scope, understanding, and direction forward is key for the ED and CCC if we’re going to succeed and the selection committee cannot fall short in this crucial part of the mandate. Canada with CCC at the helm is poised to become a significant international player as indicated by the recent recognition of FIS who assigned Canada an XC World Cup schedule for the next 3-4 years .I remember my Khrushchev move years ago at one FIS meeting when I pounded the table exclaiming, “This is not a World Cup you guys are running here! This is nothing more than a Europa Cup!” Well, we’ve got our races! What a reversal we have seen! We are now becoming a player.

Now we need an ED who can play the international game, and also roll up his sleeves and get down in the trenches of the Jack Rabbit League where it all begins, and is a big enough thinker and comfortable at all these levels to ensure we can pull it off. We have very few people in this country and in our sport who are capable of this responsibility, have the credentials and the personality to continue leading CCC in it’s present direction, but they definitely are there and choosing this person should be easy if this committee can get beyond personalities, politics and past histories. Do the right thing.