December 28, 2005 – Christmas ski schedules and snow forecasts can be highly unpredictable but each year one thing is certain, come Christmas Eve I will be in Kincardine, Ontario. This year was no exception. Since Christmas Eve fell on Saturday night I believed I had plenty of time to finish work on Friday, go for a ski at Highlands Nordic and head home. I was soon to learn that even the best-laid plans come with complications. My brother Jakub, his wife Renate, and their 3 year old son Kai recently moved to Collingwood and were in need of my expert babysitting skills. Renate had injured her back and needed the rest so it was up to me to bring Kai to my parent’s house in Kincardine. We arrived in Kincardine safe and sound, despite the pouring rain and slick roads. When the time came to unwrap presents it revealed a new pair of skis for Kai. The sparkling Fischer skis came with real automatic bindings and new Fischer boots. When he looked at the boots he said to me, „You have boots just like mine‰. (As if he had discovered the wonder of Fischer boots first!!) Just watching him try on the boots reminded me of so many Christmases where I had been hoping for a new pair of skis or a new pair of boots.

The next day, I decided to continue the reminiscing and gave the ski trails at Stoney Island a try. These were the original trails that I grew up skiing and racing on. I went out with my dad on my 1995 Fischer skis, my dad on his museum worthy red and white Fisher Europas. The trail proved more water logged than anticipated, but I wanted to ski the entire 5km. I mostly double poled with some „illegal‰ skating where necessary, and made it back in one piece to the trailhead. While we skied we talked about the trails and about how I was first influenced to ski because I looked up to the kids that my dad was coaching at the time. The ski program had flourished in those years, but has now diminished due to several years of poor ski conditions. In fact three years ago there was only one week of skiing the entire season. Because of this, there was no longer a Jackrabbit or race program in Kincardine. I can’t help but feel upset about these facts, but my father in his infinite wisdom told me that it takes a long time to build a program like this back up, and it doesn’t happen overnight. The Jackrabbit program is a great way to get kids into skiing and I know that several of Canada’s Olympians were Jackrabbits, most notably the famous Beckie Scott. Where would she be without a brilliant program like this? Perhaps she would have become a runner or a soccer player and history would not have been re-written for Canadian cross-country skiing.

I have hope for the future of Canadian skiing. As an example the Highlands Nordic program has grown exponentially, and with the recent World Cups in Canada there has been cross-country skiing on CBC for the past three weekends (I hope everyone has been watching the awesome coverage). Canadian results have been better than ever, and all of the Canadians that raced brought out their best performances for the World. I am proud to be a Canadian and proud to see all of our women and men racing their best on home soil. I could even spot the Exel Racing Team suits during the mass starts and in a strange way, from my couch in Collingwood, I felt like I was a part of all the excitement.

Another great event that gave me hope for a new crop of skiers was the „Fast and Female‰ day organized by the national team ladies. The day brought out an overwhelming number of girls between the ages of 8-15, all of whom responded with an obvious „I just like to ski‰ when asked what the best part about skiing was. It should really be that simple, skiing is fun, bottom line. Chandra Crawford and Sara Renner both spoke afterwards while we ate cookies! All of the women on the national team are great role models for the generations of skiers to come and I was really excited to see the support from Silver Star Mountain and the national program for organizing a non-profit event such as this.

I have been racing for over 24 years (can you believe it?), and during that time there have been high and low points, but I have always enjoyed the process and promoted skiing as much as possible. I hope that in some small way I have influenced those around me to enjoy skiing, and proven that the rewards have a lifetime effect. Just like those skiers ahead of me, I know it is my turn to help cultivate the future crop of skiers.

Seasons Greetings and Happy Holidays to all of our friends, supporters, and sponsors!