July 19, 2016 – As part of a broader mission to encourage the cross-country ski racing community to increase and enhance its off-season sport specific training, Cross Country Ski de fond Canada has purchased 50 pairs of SWENOR skate rollerskis, in partnership with Canadian Wintersports and Rossignol Canada (bindings). This new fleet will also aim to standardize testing protocols using rollerskis.

CCC's new rollerski program for testing and racing ©

The fleet is available for rental by National Development Centres and Divisions for standardized athlete testing purposes as well as race organizers to host CCC/division sanctioned rollerski events.

Peter Rozmovits, president of Canadian Wintersports: “We are very proud to have been selected as CCC’s rollerski partner. This partnership allows us to leverage the feedback obtained from their coaches, technicians, and athletes to continually improve our product and program offerings both for CCC and the Nordic market in general. Rollerskiing is an area of focus for Canadian Wintersports as it has evolved into a widely accepted standard training method for on-snow preparation. Our decision to bring Swenor Rollerskis into this market was based on the needs of the National Team, Development Centres, and ski clubs across Canada. Swenor has been manufacturing a complete range of roller skis and wheel speeds for over 25 years with an unparallelled reputation for quality and on-snow feel.”

Of the 50 pairs of skate rollerskis, 35 pairs are currently mounted with NNN skate rollerski bindings while the other 15 pairs are mounted with SNS bindings, but all 50 pairs can be mounted with NNN bindings if need be.

“Rollerski testing and racing can be a fun way to encourage athletes to do more specific training and keep some competitive sharpness during our long off-season. But the challenge with that has always been having athletes on different equipment and therefore not providing a leveled field on which athletes can really compare between themselves. The CCC rollerski fleet is meant to solve this issue. No more excuses!” summarized an enthusiastic Stephane Barrette, CCC’s Director of Coaching and Athlete Development.

If you are interested in renting CCC’s rollerski fleet for testing or event hosting purposes, please read the terms of the rental agreement and contact Stéphane Barrette, Director of Coaching and Athlete Development (sbarrette@cccski.com) for availability.

CCC also developed a rollerski event technical package which details all rules and guidelines for hosting rollerski races. The CCC Competition registration and Sanction Policy has also been updated accordingly.

Given the new possibility of sanctioning official rollerski races where standard equipment is used by all participants, CCC will now be able to award CPL points for rollerski races. At this time, CPL points earned in rollerski races will not be incorporated to CCC’s regular CPL (as they are for FIS rollerski events!). We will produce a distinct Rollerski CPL in the near future, when a certain number of sanctioned events have been held, with a reasonable number of participants. More details to come.

Happy rollerskiing!