June 1, 2010  – Cross Country Canada would like to announce Jeff Whiting’s retirement after many years of dedication to the sport as a volunteer and staff. The Para-Nordic sport started its inception with Cross Country Canada in 2006 and Jeff was one of the first staff hired to assist with its development within Canada.

Jeff has had many roles as a Para-Nordic staff and volunteer since the 1980’s such as a spokesperson, coach, race official, team manager, writer, mentor, facilitator and fundraiser and more recently as the Para-Nordic Development Coordinator West.

Since the early days, he has been actively involved with Para-Nordic equipment development in Saskatchewan, being part of a long-term research team designing, developing, and building Nordic sleds in the province.

Jeff was also instrumental in the development of monitoring the results of the Para-Nordic athletes, with their recruitment and in creating their programs. He has been the technician, support staff and coach all at once for many events for the developing athletes.

As a coach one of the highlights of his career was when Colette Bourgonje obtained her first ski medal at the 1996 IPC World Championship in Sunne, Sweden.

Jeff’s athlete centered approach, dedication, knowledge and experience of the Para-Nordic sport will always be remembered and will still continue to serve the community. While Jeff officially started his retirement, we are fortunate that he still has the intention of contributing in many ways to the continuing development of Para-Nordic skiing in Canada, although in a different capacity than in the past as a staff person.

On behalf of everyone at Cross Country Canada, we would like to thank Jeff for his contribution to CCC and wish him all the best with his new endeavors.

Sincerely,

The CCC team!