April 07, 2018 (Labrador City, NL) – Menihek Nordic Ski Club annually hosts the JRS Middle School’s grade 5 classes in the Ski at School Program. All youth from Grade 5 classes’ at all physical levels are bussed to Menihek where skis and instructors are provided. This year we hosted 111 students in the program, with each student receiving 3 sessions of ski lessons.

Our instructors taught the students the basic skills of cross country skiing that are outlined in the Jackrabbit Program that we offer to our young members on a weekly basis.

On the first day we taught Ready Position, Falling and Rising, Side Stepping, Star turn, Herringbone, Free Glide, Snowplow Braking 2 KM Ski on out beginner trail, The Vello’s.

On our second session, we take the students on a 3 Km ski into our Bea’s Pleasure/ Birches Return Trail. This is a trail that offers manageable hills to build their skill level.

On our third time out, we took the students up to the waterfalls on the Koch’s 5 Km Trail and then we return to the stadium to play games on skis.

This year we had a smooth running program with the students, only having to cancel one day due to cold on our first day of the program. It is always a tight rope walk with temperatures in Labrador this time of year, but we were very fortunate to have beautiful weather for the most part (averaging – 5 to -10 most days). We did run into an issue this year of students not having enough time to relax after their ski due to time constraints. Hopefully we can rectify this for next year since that relaxation at the end of a ski is part of the experience of cross country skiing. Our program is a long running program, but there is always room for improvement.