January 24, 2008 (Canmore, Alberta) – SkiTrax columnist Marty Hall has been following the action before and during the Alberta World Cup at Canmore. Here are his comments on Day Two of the competition.

Norwegians Today – 1st five in the men and 2nd in the women – I’ll call that a rebound from yesterday’s mess. All five guys were on skate skis and this was a classic race. I think the Canmore organizers are going to have to re-think the design of this sprint course, so that this doesn’t happen again. Well, any of the North Americans watching after they missed qualifying should now have a good idea of what double poling on the WC circuit is all about.

Oh, Yes – there seemed to be a lot of crashes and broken equipment on the one corner – way more then normal – it probably needs a bit of backhoe shaping. Not a good scene for those racers who go out of their heats because of these mix-ups especially after qualifying – and money is on the line – that’s the bottom line!

NA Entries – in the distance race there were 17 men and 13 women, while in the skate race there were 22 men and 19 women, a fair number of these people not racing on Tuesday in the distance race. Like I said the other day – this is too bad – you’ve got to race these people and when you get a chance like this you’ve got to take it. I know there are quotas – are they full, is all I ask?

CBCs On-Line Coverage Рwhen you can finally find it, it was quite good. I think Jack Sasseville, the analyst and commentator, yes he was doing it all, was quite masterful and more then capable of staying on top of calling the heats. I think he is better when he works alone as he is more natural in his delivery and uses far fewer clich̩s. Good job, Jack.

The 70s – what have they got to do with these races? Well, in the 70s we brought international skiers over at least 2 times every year and some time 3-4 times a year. There were times when we’d have two groups in the country at the same time – meeting and greeting each other when we would pass in airports. Well, I was very involved with overseeing these people and the program. I made the arrangements; lined up the athletes and nations we wanted and negotiated with the leaders of the countries. I’m bringing this up because any number of NA skiers in the lead up to the races in Canmore this week are saying how it was going to be to our advantage to get the Euros over here on our turf, jet-lagged and having to deal with altitude. We felt the same way back in the 70s and found out – like today’s skiers have seen over these last two days – these guys are just plain tough. I use to throw the book at the Euros when they came over here – like fly them into Denver from Europe (this would be a spring series) and race them the next day at altitude. They never complained and raced their collective butts off. I think the fact we had so many Euro tours helped us be who we were in the 70s and early 80s – the best generation of ski racers in US history.

I think they have some advantages on us as they develop and race through their careers that we have to do a better job at neutralizing, or do the same things. First of all they have no isolation – they cross borders as developing juniors and through out their careers – they have proximity at all levels. And most Euro countries have more depth then we do, so each athlete has to fight harder for their lives as skiers. Their coaching systems and education is another strength over the US, especially. Funding and other support systems (military) are in place on a more consistent basis. They were tough then and they are tough now!! Put on your gloves for Friday’s races.

Talk to you again on Saturday!