August 26, 2013 – Check out the latest from Mark Arendz who shares his thoughts on time and training in New Zealand; Colette Bourgonje tells us what she’s been doing this summer while training at home near Prince Albert; and Brian McKeever gives us his take on the J-P Grand Prix in Whitehorse on the same weekend as the wedding of “…two of our own, Madeline Williams and Graham Nishikawa.” McKeever also reminds Brent McMurtry that he owes him a ski pole…

Mark Arendz
Time Flies
Time! Tick, tock. The only thing you can ever count on is that time never stops. It’s constant; never slows, never speeds up, but is always ticking by. It’s time! J.R.R. Tolkien, in his book The Hobbit, riddled; “This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town, And beats high mountain down.” In sport you are always fighting for time, for those few extra seconds faster, hundreds of seconds or fractions of seconds it makes no matter. Sport is about getting to the future sooner than everyone else. In the words of Dr. Seuss “How did it get so late so soon?” The end of August is only a few days away and with that the realization that the training season will soon be over.

Read more here.

Colette Bourgonje
Colette Bourgonje’s Athlete Update
Summer training at home near Prince Albert involves mountain boarding, weight training, arm ergometer, and kayking. Generally speaking I follow the training program sent out from the National Team Coach Robin McKeever, listen to my body and adjust when necessary. Fortunately I have great support from my partner George who rides his bike on some of the long training days or in areas where there are bears and other critters to be concerned about. All the best to everyone training for the winter the big season ahead. Hope you enjoy the video’s and the rest of the summer:)

Read more here.

Brian McKeever
The J-P Grand Prix
It’s been a very busy period for the Para-Nordic team lately. After a successful altitude camp in Arizona, we returned home and moved straight into an intensity-focused block of training.

Most recently, though, a bunch of the top skiers were up in Whitehorse for the wedding of two of our own, Madeline Williams and Graham Nishikawa. While you’d expect some great supplemental activities to a marriage of world class athletes, the most unique was the J-P Grand Prix.

The brainchild of recently retired Yukon Elite Squad racer, John Perry, it was a summer ski race on snow that was saved from last winter. John figured that if “Frozen Thunder” could be insulated with sawdust and stored for seven months, he could keep enough snow from last winter to host one glorious event in his backyard in late July!

Read more here.