April 13, 2018 (Thunder Bay, Ont.) – Big Thunder Nordic Ski Club (BTNSC) announces the resignation of Head Coach Leif Lennie, effective August 31, 2018.  Leif will be leaving the club as he is moving away from Thunder Bay to pursue personal interests and career opportunities.

Leif began working with Big Thunder in 2012 and was promoted to the role of Assistant Coach the following year.  In 2014 he was hired as the club’s Head Coach and he has effectively served the club in this capacity for the past four years.  He has been a key part of the club’s continued successes throughout the years as evidenced in the club’s recent showing at the 2018 Ski Nationals where we finished as the top junior and second overall club in Canada based on aggregate points.

Leif has also contributed to provincial and national level athlete development as he’s collaborated in and led several training and racing efforts both in Canada and the United States.  As an instrumental member of the club’s leadership group, we have benefitted from Leif’s enthusiasm for the sport and its athletes as well as his knowledge and energy.

Our club has started the process to recruit a new Head Coach and we will continue to operate all our traditional training programs and other initiatives during the transition period.

“Speaking on behalf of the club members, athletes, and interested stakeholders, I would like to thank Leif for his contributions over the years as well as wish him the best success in his future endeavours.

It has been our pleasure to collaborate and work with him.  Leif’s departure is sad news for us but we are happy to see him pursue his interests going forward.

Our path forward as a club is to continue to operate, build, and strengthen all of our activities so that we can offer the highest quality training, coaching, and support to our members and athletes as well as build the profile of the sport in our community and beyond.”

Heikki Luoma
President, Big Thunder Nordic Ski Club