August 30, 2012 (Canmore, AB) – The Alberta World Cup Academy has returned from their ten-day camp down in Whitefish, Montana. This is the first time the team has trained in the small town which is just a five hour drive from Canmore, normally travelling to Whistler, BC, for their August camp.

The team’s main focus for the camp was continuing their increased training volume as they near the end of the summer training block while maintaining the same level of intensity and strength sessions. World Cup team members Chandra Crawford and Perianne Jones joined the women’s team for the duration of the camp, creating a great opportunity for the younger team members to connect with the seasoned veterans.

Whitefish offered the team plenty of great training venues, from the gradual climb along the road to Big Mountain, to the flat quiet roads along the ranch lands of Montana. The team also trained up the “Going to the Sun” road in Glacier National Park. Staying right on Whitefish Lake provided a way to cool off after many of the 30 degree+ workouts, plus allowed for some fun afternoon workouts – river boarding for the men, an out and back swim across the lake for the women.

Last Saturday the men raced the Whitefish Friends and Family “Fun” Run 10km while the women did a 10km skiathlon. In the running race, Kevin Sandau out sprinted Jess Cockney to the line grabbing the win, while Graeme Killick rounded off the podium. Despite the large training volume from the past two weeks, most of the men posted some personal bests in the race.

Results from the race can be found here.

In the women’s time trial, Perianne Jones won the race in a time of 25:37. Heidi Widmer led the AWCA women with a third place finish with a time of 26:44. The race was made up of a 5.5km moderately flat classic leg, followed by the skate leg with a large climb near the end.

Results can be found here.

The team will be in Canmore until the next camp block come late September.