December 11, 2012 (Canmore, AB) – With the Alberta World Cup coming to Canmore this week, the Alberta World Cup Academy in conjunction with Ascent Physical Therapy is hosting the Canmore XC Ski Camps. This is an excellent opportunity for intermediate to advanced level cross country skiers to enhance their technique with the help of the World Cup Academy Coaches.
This Camp is for all levels and ages of skiers. This is not a complete beginners camp, but caters to intermediate level non-racing skiers up to racing level. Please call if you are not sure if your skills will fit the camp!
The Canmore XC Ski Camp is the perfect way to take advantage of world class instruction from some of Canada’s finest coaches from the Alberta World Cup Academy. The structure of the camp allows skiers to operate at their own pace and in a group environment that is catered to their ability level.
The on snow sessions concentrate on the technical aspects of both skate and classic, with real world modeling and feedback an essential part of the program. Ski waxing instruction along with advice on ski selection will ensure you come away from this camp well informed.
If you want to optimize your technique and learn from the best the Canmore XC Ski Camp is the place to be.
For beginner skiers, in skate or classic, the Canmore XC Ski Camp supports and encourages skiers to contact the excellent team at Trailsports. They can provide private and group lessons for those of varying ability and will be operating throughout winter and during camp time. This may be the perfect opportunity for those bringing a spouse, child or friend along for the week to enroll in one of their classes.
– 4 Days of Expert XC Skiing Instruction and Training – $599+gst – Register HERE
– NEW! 2-Day Skate only option Dec 22nd and 23rd – $375+gst – RegisterHERE
October 12, 2012 (Canmore, AB) – Frozen Thunder is on track for opening Oct. 13th. The 2k ski loop, using snow preserved from the previous winter, is being set up and groomed for early season skiing at the Canmore Nordic Centre.
The trail will be used for training by the National Ski Team and local racers, with the second annual classic, sprint race involving top US and Canadian competitors scheduled for Oct 26th.
January 19, 2012 (Canmore, AB) – After consultation with the organizing committee, and in consideration of the weather forecasts, the race jury has made the decision to alter the event schedule as follows:
1) Friday, January 20: Interval start classic race (previously on Saturday)
Race start at 11:00 AM – 15 second intervals
2) Saturday, January 21: individual sprint free technique race (previously on Friday)
Qualification and heat times as per the race notice
3) All existing registrations for the interval start will be transferred into the new Friday time slot.
4) In the event that the Friday interval start race is not able to be held because of cold weather, it will be put back to Saturday, as part of a two day pursuit-with-a-break, and the sprint event will be cancelled.
5) Persons who are not able to accommodate the new race schedule (for example those who had previously registered for only Saturday and Sunday races) are asked to contact the Race Secretary to explore alternative arrangements.
November 08, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – Ascent Performance Lab and the Alberta World Cup Academy are pleased to announce their first Cross Country Ski Camp – December 27-30, 2011. Building on the excitement of Frozen Thunder and recent first ever on-snow sprint races at the Nordic Centre, this ski camp is aimed at senior and masters skiers who want to benefit from the world-class Canmore Nordic Centre, the professional services of the new Performance Lab at Ascent, and the superior coaching skills of the Alberta World Cup Academy. This camp will enhance Canmore’s reputation as the leading community for cross country skiing in Canada.
According to Mike Cavaliere, Program Director of the Academy: “This is an exciting opportunity to share with other senior and masters skiers the same coaching expertise we have been applying that’s resulted in Olympians and national team skiers like Gordon Jewett, Madeleine Williams, Drew Goldsack and Allyson Marshall, We’re thrilled to partner with Shane Munro and the team at Ascent to deliver a program that is unique in this country. And, it will bring new visitors to Canmore over the holiday season!”
“We’re able to offer this program because of our world-class facility – the Canmore Nordic Centre and the high quality of the wellness industry in Canmore”, says Cavaliere.
For more information, contact:
Alicia Evans,
Endurance Coach and Camp Coordinator
Ascent Performance Lab
Ph 403 678 8855
email alicia@ascentperformance.com
October 20, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – Frozen Thunder, or Christmas as I like to call it, officially opened this past Monday and I couldn’t be more excited. I spent the previous week trying to shake a head cold, but was more than happy to welcome sub zero cold if it meant that Frozen Thunder could stick around. The trucks, cats and backhoe’s were working hard to wake the sawdust covered snow pile from it’s summer slumber in order to make a 1.5km ski trail for early season training.
September 10, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – Come challenge 2011 World Champion and Canadian National Ski Team member Devon Kershaw in a running race up the Spray Lakes road! All proceeds go to helping support the Alberta World Cup Academy….
Race Information:
– Entry Fee $ 23.00 – registration on Zone4.com HERE, deadline is October 13th, 2011
– Bib pick up Friday October 14th between 12-5pm at Ultimate Fit Center on Main Street
– Last minute pick up can be done at Bill Warren Training Centre between 8 – 8:45am
– 8:15am debrief at cross country ski stadium at the Canmore Nordic Centre
– A van will be at the Nordic Centre parking lot and at each starting point for shuttling clothing to the finish line. Shuttling from the finish line to the Nordic Centre will be available.
– Awards and AWCA Team Launch and snacks at the Bill Warren Training Centre in the Haig room from 12pm – 2pm.
Start line:
– Men – Green gate about 400 meters from power plant spill way.
– Women – Rundle view Entrance.
Race finishes at the top of Spray Road by the dam for both men and women
Start Times:
– U 17 M – 9am
– U 17 W – 9am
– Open M (18-40) – 9:30am
– Open W (18-40) – 9:30am
– Masters M (41+) – 10am
– Masters W (41+) – 10am
Course Records:
– Graham Nishikawa – 29:23
– Madeleine Williams – 25:41
Course Maps
– Men 7.5km HERE
– Women 5km HERE
– Overall Course Layout HERE
Lactate Challenge
Lactate: During power exercises such as sprinting, when the rate of demand for energy is high, lactate is produced faster than the ability of the tissues to remove it, so lactate concentration begins to rise.
Think you have what it takes to have the highest lactate? $50 will enter you in the 50/50 draw which will measure your lactate at the finish line. The harder your push, the better your chances!
50% of entry goes to AWCA and 50% goes to the winner. Separate draws for men and women. Registration for Lactate Challenge on Zone4.
May 04, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – The Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) is pleased to announce that Chris Jeffries will be the new Head Coach for the 2011-12 season. Chris will be taking over from Mike Cavaliere, who will continue to act as Program Director.
After a successful first year with the team, we are excited to see Chris’ role continue to expand, providing the opportunity to lead and implement the core programming for athletes in the Learning to Compete stage of Canada’s Long Term Athlete Development framework. In addition to AWCA athletes, Chris will also lead the integration of the Alberta Ski Team and the National Talent Squad.
The Alberta World Cup Academy is also pleased to announce that Stefan Kuhn will also be joining the coaching staff for the 2011-12 season. Stefan, a regular World Cup Skier for the past few seasons and 15th in the sprint race at the 2010 Olympics will pass on his knowledge and expertise to our next generation of skiers. The AWCA is fortunate to have Stefan as a coach and mentor for our developing team. In addition to applying his tremendous practical coaching knowledge, Stefan will study the theory of coaching through courses offered at National Coaching Institute in Calgary.
Eric Groeneveld will also be returning to the AWCA for his third year and will have a strong leadership role working with our Alberta Ski Team/National Talent squad athletes. We have been very pleased with Eric’s continued growth and development as a coach and we expect him to continue to develop in a strong leader.
Mike Cavaliere is very pleased with the AWCA program’s progress during the first three years of operation. “This is an exciting time for athlete development in Western Canada, and we are proud to be at the forefront of these efforts. Our goal, from the start, was to create a very positive environment, which encourages athletes to work hard and to dream big dreams. The 2011/12 Academy coaching and support team is allowing us to take further steps in achieving our program goals and continuing to produce superb results.
The AWCA remains loyal to it objectives of athlete development and will continue to use the very best professionals to help us achieve our goals. Continuing with our resource team in 2011/12:
– Rob Soffer – Strength training
– Dr. Jean Armstrong – Medical support
– Hugh Simpson – Physiotherapy support – www.activemotionphysio.ca
– Patrick Moore – Technical Services
March 25, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – Nationals week has now come to an end in Canmore and what a great week of ski racing it was! Although my personal racing was a disaster, it was great to be a part of such an outstanding event.
The 10k Skate:
In a word: Ouch. The day started off well; perfect weather, perfect snow, perfect conditions for a ski race! After flying through 7km with the lead, followed closely by George, I felt like I had paced myself perfectly to contend for the win. At points early in the race I felt as though I was skiing too easy but could tell I was skiing well as I had managed to get within a few seconds of my 30-second man (Graeme Killick). Little was I aware though that the wheels were about to come off in a big way!
Perhaps my pace was too high for the grueling course, or maybe my lack of quality training over the past month started to show… whatever it was, my body checked out early. Feeling like someone had thrown out the anchor at full throttle I began to die a quick and unexpected death. There was little I could do but dig deep and try to minimize the damage. Despite redlining most of the last 2.5km I watch in dismay as Killick skied away from me and my split times steadily got worse.
I suffered to the line for 4th place, losing 30 seconds to Grey and Gkill (Killick) who skied an incredible final lap. There’s nothing worse than blowing up in a race, especially when you have the energy to keep pushing, but the body just won’t go. It’s like being chased in a dream, no matter how fast you try to run, it seems like you just can’t go as fast as you need to!
This is most certainly the most I have made myself hurt all year. Lying on the ground at the finish, feeling like my head was about to explode, all I could do was hope such a hard effort would stimulate the body to perform better for the rest of the week.
The 15km Classic:
If the 10k was rough, this race was nothing short of a train wreck. Warm temps, icy tracks and new snow made for a waxing nightmare. With cool mornings and rapidly warming temperatures, the few cms of fresh snow in the early morning was icing on the cake of suffering. As the Alberta World Cup Academy wax team scrambled to anticipate the rapidly changing snow conditions and make the all important klister or hardwax decision, I began warming up for the type of classic conditions I always dread. Faced with having to make a last second guess on what the weather was going to do and which skis were going to be the best- I chose wrong. I was banking on the sun continuing to shine and temperatures rapidly rising, so went with a heavily klistered pair of skis. The weather wouldn’t cooperate though and I ended up with a painfully slow, icing, draggy mess. After losing 12 seconds to the leaders in the first 1.5km (most of which was downhill) I knew I was in for a hard day at the office. Most of the field struggled with the wax but it was apparent that the top 3 (all waxing together) had nailed it, gapping the rest of the field by a whopping 1minute and 40 seconds!
The Classic Sprint:
I would have paid good money for the usual hard and fast ‘Canmore Snow Conditions’ this week however the Classic sprint day brought more of the same difficult conditions. More fresh snow overnight and rapidly warming temps once again left me scrambling to find a ski/wax combo that was working well. After having adequate skis in the morning qualifier but a disappointing result, I returned in the early afternoon to much different conditions. Warm sun and some lingering fresh snow had made for a glazy hard to kick track. I tried a few different options and settled on what I thought was going to be my Ace in the hole… Hairies Skis. With a relatively easy course and not being able to kick my hard wax skis, I figured hairies would be the ticket… I was wrong again. Kicking poorly and not gliding as well as others, I struggled through the rounds on hairies and ultimately went down in a crash on one of the two hairpin corners to end my day. In the words of Forrest Gump: ‘That’s all I have to say about that.’
I do have to give a shout out to AWCA teammates Jess Cockney and Joey Burton who put on a gun show out there, double poling their final rounds finishing 4th and 10th respectively. Also a shout-out to Lennardis Valjas, freshly back from Europe, who was strong all day winning the qualifier and going on to take a commanding win in the final.
The Mass Start 50km Skate:
Finally!! Hard fast conditions had at long last shown up for a race in Canmore! The 50km is by no means one of my strengths but being as it was the last event of the National Champs and even more importantly the last time I’d line up at the start with long-time teammate George Grey, it was a race I wasn’t going to miss. And what a race it was! Fast conditions made for 25min 10km laps and a winning time of just over two hours! I was finally able to find a great pair of skis and would say that I probably had the best skis in the field. Even the fastest skis in the world wouldn’t help me though as my legs started to give out on me at around 40k. Brutal cramping (as is a normal occurrence for my sprinter legs in long races) caused me to lose contact with the lead group of 12 who had been skiing together since the 15k mark. I hobbled to the line for 11th place, pretty happy with my result in a race that is often complete hell for me!
A huge congratulations goes out to neighbor, teammate and friend, George Grey, he finished off a brilliant career with a big win in the 50k-his final race. That win was on top of two National titles won earlier in the week, an incredible final week of racing for George and I couldn’t be happier to see him go out on such a high note!
It was with a heavy heart that I watched George make his final trip to the top of the podium, we have had so many great times together over the years I’m sad to see him leave the racing scene. The race trails just won’t be the same without him. I know that many great things lay ahead for George and wish him all the best in his future endeavors!
Overheard:
“Mmmkayyyy” -George Grey
In the Tape Deck:
Artist: Robortom, Track Paganini Rocks (Feat. Au Revoir Simone)
Artist: Cold War Kids, Track: Hang Me Up To Dry
December 27, 2010 (Banff, AB) – How I love the holidays. This year, the Christmas festivities started December 7th, the night before leaving for Rossland. Good friends and fellow racers, Michaela and Graeme, joined Joey and I for a gingerbread house making extravaganza! Making the dough from scratch, baking, decorating, having dinner and watching Jim Carrey star in ‘a Christmas Carol’ took up over 5 hours of our evening, but I couldn’t have thought of a better way to spend it! This is Joey and I’s log cabin and got me right pumped about Christmas being just around the corner.
I am lucky to have my family close by, so the Christmas travel from the Condo for Phil and I was no more than a twenty minute drive. My brother Matt, made it home safely from Tofino as well as my sister, Ange, who’s home from going to University at Mount Royal. Simon, my sisters boyfriend from New Zealand, also joined us at Chez Widmer for some Swiss Zopf and turkey dinner. Mmm Goood! Is all I gotta say bout dat!
Mirror, mirror – Phil drew my name for the ‘Widmer Homemade Secret Santa’ and created this oak frame for the mirror from scratch, what a guy!
For my secret santa project this year, I had the vision of a lamp. The crew at Canmore Wood Crafters made a beautiful maple bed for my parents this year and I thought a bed side lamp for my dad would fit the bill. I called up, or rather Facebook messaged, Phil Tarchuk to help me out with this vision. After some brainstorming together, he generously crafted the lamp base from maple and walnut and I finished it off by creating the lamp shade with some copper piping and handmade paper then wiring the lamp. Check out Phil Tarchuk’s awesome website HERE.
After a leisurely morning, the Widmer bro’s went out to scope out the best ice around… they delivered! The most recent cold snap froze the remaining parts of Minniwanka, meaning that there was no snow on it and easily takes the title for the best ice in the BV at the moment.
Being his first time on skates since he was about 10, Simon, my sister’s Kiwi, was a trooper skating out to the good ice
My mom and dad teamed up in the kitchen for an awesome turkey dinner, it’s always more effort to pull off than you would think. And for dessert? We handed it off to Matt for some fruit flambé. The look on my mom’s face was priceless, no worries though, Matt had this dessert under control.
Christmas doubles as another Thanksgiving for me, in that it reminds me of how thankful I am for the family and backyard I have, plus we eat turkey again. After filling up on my fair share of turkey n’ taters in Banff, it was back to work today at the Canmore Nordic Center for some Zone 3 intensity with some of the Academy girls. Our next event will be a local Bow Corridor Regional Race Sprint Relay on December 29th.
![Frozen Thunder is here! [P] Heidi Widmer](https://skitrax.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/heidi_sign.jpg)
![Truckload by truckload. [P] Heidi Widmer](https://skitrax.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/heidi_truck.jpg)
![Gettin’ er done – loading the trucks. [P] Heidi Widmer](https://skitrax.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/heidi_loadingtruck.jpg)
![Dumping the snow in place. [P] Heidi Widmer](https://skitrax.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/heidi_Dumping.jpg)
![Winter amidst fall foliage. [P] Heidi Widmer](https://skitrax.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/heidi_fall-winter.jpg)
![Something’s not quite right here… [P] Heidi Widmer](https://skitrax.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/heidi_gear.jpg)
![The ABWCA girls waiting for snow… [P] Heidi Widmer](https://skitrax.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/heidi_girls.jpg)
