January 24, 2011 (Toronto, ON) – We’re excited to announce the leaders of the international SkiTrax FIS Fantasy World Cup 2010/11 Contest after round #6 of the Viessmann XC FIS 2010/11 World Cup in Liberec, Czech Republic.

Poiss team has extended its lead with a total of 760 points, while four (4) teams are tied for second place with 745 points: Perugina Ski Team, STAR TEAM, rgsnow, and SKIN-T. The third place spot is currently being kept warm by Elizaville Nordic with 741 points.

The World Cup continued with round #7 in Otepaa, Estonia this past weekend and we’ll have those results up later this week. Round #8 takes place in Rybinsk, Russia, Feb. 4-6.

For the complete standings after Liberec click HERE.

SkiTrax Fantasy FIS World Cup 2010/11 Contest Prizes

*1st Prize – Fischer 10/11 Carbonlite Hole Skis, Xcelerator Bindings, Carbonlite Poles (value $1,100)
* 2nd Prize – Trapp Family Lodge – 2 nights lodging in a Deluxe Room w/breakfast (value $600)
* 3rd Prize – One Way Diamond Storm World Cup Poles w/tubes (value $430)
* 4th Prize – SkiGo Clothing package (value $340)
* 5th Prize – Swenor Classic roller skis (value $310)
* 6th Prize – Fresh Air Experience or High Peaks Cyclery Gift Certificate (value $150)
* 7th Prize – Rottefella Xcelerator Skate/Classic Bindings (value $130)
* 8th Prize – Concept2 Goodie Duffle Bag (value $100)
* 9th Prize – Bliz Pursuit Sunglasses and Visor (value $90)
* 10th Prize – Auclair Micro Mountain Olympic Gloves + Earbags (value $65)
* WCup Breaks – Buff Headware (value $22) to top 3 contest leaders before the Tour de Ski and Oslo Nordic Worlds

Good luck to all contestants and thanks to all of our great sponsors: Fischer, Trapp Family Lodge, One Way, SkiGo, Swenor, Fresh Air Experience, High Peaks Cyclery, Rottefella, Concept2, Auclair, Bliz Active and Buff Headware.

SkiTrax is North America’s leading Nordic skiing publication and the official magazine of the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) and Cross Country Canada (CCC).

January 24, 2011 (Otepaa, Estonia) -The Otepaa World Cup has been on my radar since the summer. It was appealing because the timing of it would be a great experience and a good primer for the 2011 World Junior Championships later in the week. After qualifying for the Canadian Junior Worlds team I was so relieved and excited. The cherry on top that news was that I earned a start in the World Cup in Otepaa – things were falling into place.

Nine of the twenty Canadian athletes on the Junior/U23 Worlds team left Finland and arrived in Estonia on Thursday, Jan. 20th. It was an 8-hour travel day, driving on both sides of the Gulf of Finland as well as a ferry ride across – it left me feeling less than optimal but happy to have arrived in Estonia!

We trained on the course on Friday and found out that they don’t mess around with the climbs here. The ascent on the 5km classic course parallels the ski jump landing right beside it – needless to say it’s steep. The sprint course is much different than the World Cup footage of the Tehvandi site that I’ve seen in the past. The climbs are not as aggressive, but the finishing 200m double pole stretch is still very demanding.

Sunday was sprint day, meaning it was my turn to host the butterflies. The course was bustling long before the sun rose, and there were light flurries throughout the morning with temperatures around -8. I was really excited to race today and have my European World Cup debut. I started wearing bib 44 and headed our on the course wanting to ski aggressively on all of the climbs and be as powerful and strong in my double pole as the rest of the women starting today.

Coming into the finish I felt satisfied, but knew that my ski wasn’t the calibre to qualify in top 30. Upon reviewing the results, I know I can qualify closer to the other Canadians, but at the same time, I was very excited to see Chandra [Crawford] and Dasha [Gaiazova] qualify as well as Alysson [Marshall] place 33rd ( only .57sec from qualifying!).

Overall, it was fun to swim in the deep water with the big fish but most importantly, I got a good feel for the course and learned plenty to be put to good use later in the week at Junior World Championships.

Alysson Marshall on her race
I felt really strong this morning in both striding and double poling. I have done a lot of work on my classic technique this year and it has paid off. Eric [de Nys Canadian coach] gave me an added boost on the finishing double pole stretch when he yelled that I was in the mix for top 30. I crossed the line and heard the announcer say that I was in 33rd. Initially I was disappointed to have missed out on the heats by only 0.57 seconds but it was encouraging to be so close.

January 24, 2011 (Otepaa, Estonia) – The past week in Finland has been great; good snow, good trails, good lodging…but now it’s time to get to Estonia, where the races are! After driving down to Helsinki, we boarded a ferry that took us across the Baltic Sea and docked in Tallinn, Estonia.

I’m actually pretty disappointed that they didn’t at least stamp our passports! But there was absolutely no boarder control – I guess it’s not that big of a deal in Europe.

We played some epic games of Wii bowling and golf, and were joined by a little Finnish girl that took it very seriously.

There were also some… uh… dancers on the boat. Cartwright expresses his opinion below:

Sadly, the fun and games ended after a couple of hours. We docked at Tallinn, and drove our cars off the ferry.

Since I’ve still got the tail-end of a cold, I was relegated to the cargo van for the drive to our hotel (the Waide motel), which is a very nice place about a half hour away from the race venue in Otepaa.

Hopefully I’ll kick this cold for good in the next few days. Now there’s nothing to do but explore the nearby towns and get amped up to race!

January 24, 2011 (Vuokatti, Finland) – Canada’s Mark Arendz captured his first IPC World Cup victory after winning the gold medal in a biathlon individual race on Sunday in Vuokatti, Finland on Sunday.

Arendz shot clean to post a winning time of 39 minutes, 35.9 seconds in a tight sprint to the wire with Norway’s Nils-Erik Ulset and Russia’s Oleg Balukhto who he has been fighting for the medals with all week in the men’s standing division – one of the deepest on the IPC World Cup.

“That was amazing,” said Arendz. “My first World Cup victory and to shoot clean – nothing feels better.”

Ulset settled for the silver medal at 40:52.1, while Balukhto was third (41:56.1).

It was the third medal of the week for the 20-year-old Arendz, of Springton, P.E.I. The 2010 Paralympian won a silver and a bronze in the biathlon sprint and pursuit races respectively.

“I think the two podium finishes this week definitely gave me the confidence to know I deserve to be here with these guys,” said Arendz. “I woke up this morning and felt ready to go and said this is my day. I couldn’t be happier.”

Results (brief)

1.Erik Bransdal, NOR
2. Ola Vigen Hattestad, NOR
3. Nikita Kriukov, RUS
4. Emil Joensson, SWE
5. Daniel Rickardsson, SWE

31. Len Valjas, Toronto
61. Jesse Cockney, Calgary
66. Michael Somppi, Thunder Bay, Ont.
69. Graeme Killick, Fort McMurray, Alta.

January 15, 2011 (Liberec, CZE) – Ola Vigen Hattestad (NOR) skated to gold in the men’s World Cup skate sprint in Liberec, Czech Republic today placing 10th in the qualifications and then going on to dominate his 1/4 and semi-final heats. Andy Newell (USA), 11th in the qualifications, had a great start in his 1/4 final round, moving into second spot on final uphill, but was passed in the finishing straight by Josef Wenzl (GER) ending up third and did not advance finishing 13th overall. Canada’s Len Valjas, the lone Canuck in the field, was 42nd in the qualifications and did not advance to the quarter finals.

In the final, Italy’s young rising sprint star, Federico Pellegrino, who made the cut as one of the lucky losers, issued a valiant attempt for the win attacking early near the finish. He surged into the lead, but the determined veteran Hattestad passed him as they headed down the final chute to take the glory for a decisive win. Dosian Kozisek (CZE) won bronze to the delight of local fans earning his first WCup podium as did Pellegrino.

Full Men’s sprint results HERE.

January 14, 2011 – Cross Country Canada is pleased to announce that the following athletes have been selected to the 2011 World Cross Country Ski Championships Team competing in Oslo, Norway from Feb.22-March 6 – selection synopsis to follow.

– Devon Kershaw  (Ona-Wa-Su/NST)
– Alex Harvey (Club Nordique M.S.A/NST)
– Dasha Gaiazova (Rocky Mountain Racers/NST)
– Chandra Crawford (Canmore Nordic/NST)
– Stefan Kuhn (Canmore Nordic/NST)
– Perianne Jones (Nakkertok/NST)
– Ivan Babikov (Foothills Nordic/NST)
– Len Valjas (Team Hardwood/NDC Québec/NST)
– Phil Widmer (Canmore Nordic/NDC Québec/NST)
– George Grey (Blackjack/NST)
– Brooke Gosling (Foothills Nordic/CXC)

January 14, 2011 (Lake Placid, NY) – It was a busy day at the Mackenzie Interval Ski Jumping Complex with over 400 skiers competing in three events, headlined by the third stop of USSA SuperTour series. Both fields raced around a challenging 2-kilometer loop with a consistent 1-kilometer climb from the base of the Olympic ski jumps almost to the take-off. The men completed five laps for 10km classic style racing and the women contested three loops for 6km. The weather wasn’t too much of a factor for this classic race, with overcast skies, calm wind, and temperatures in the mid-teens

The SuperTour points leaders in both fields – Alaska’s Lars Flora and Holly Brooks – both won their races maintaining APU’s dominance on the trails. Flora finished 11 seconds ahead of US Ski Team member, Noah Hoffman from Aspen, Colorado, his teammate for the World Championships in Oslo, Norway this coming February. Rounding out the men’s podium was Scott Patterson, a University of Vermont skier, who claimed the SLU Carnival college division victory as the race was hosted by St. Lawrence University.

Brooks led an APU podium sweep in the women’s race as her teammate Kate Fitzgerald claimed 2nd and Morgan Smyth grabbed third. Brooks is another top level skier that will be racing at Worlds in Olso. Just off the podium for the women was Caitlin Patterson, skiing for UVM, who matched her brother’s win in the college race of the season. Both Patterson’s will be racing for the USA in Oteppa, Estonia at the end of January – Scott in Junior Worlds and Caitlin in U23 Worlds.

It was a great day for skiers of all experience levels to compete with some of the best athletes in the country. College racers were  on course with the top open athletes from the SuperTour rankings, and juniors and masters skiers competing in the Harry Eldridge Memorial race also got to rub shoulders with the nation’s best. Despite all the abuse, the tracks stayed strong throughout the event.

Full women’s results HERE.
Full men’s results HERE.

January 14, 2011 (Lake Placid, NY) – Lars Flora (APU) won the Men’s 10km classic race on Friday as Lake Placid SuperTour got underway, with a venue change as athletes competed at the Olympic Jumping Complex on a 2km loop with Noah Hoffman (Aspen/USST) gliding into second place 11s behind Flora, and Scott Patterson (UVM) in third at 20s back. Skies were overcast with great snow conditions and no snowfall or wind – final results HERE.

Unofficial (brief)

Men’s 10km Classic
1. Lars Flora (APU) 26.13
2. Noah Hoffman (Aspen/USST) 0:11
3. Scott Patterson (UVM) 0:20
4. Sam Tarling (Dartmouth)
5. Franz Bernstein (UVM)

January 14, 2011 (Boulder, CO) – After two years of traveling across the country to compete at The US Nationals in Alaska, the races finally were held on my home turf: Rumford, Maine. Ironically, I was unable to compete. I’m on the long road to recovery, after suffering from a severe digestive disorder for the past eight months. Lucky for me, these races will be back in Rumford at this time next year!

For now my job is to rest, recover, and enjoy college life. This week I started classes at the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO as a freshman. Being a student again is an adjustment after being out of school for a year and a half, but I think I’m going to like it!

Summary of my illness
The human body has one goal: to live. Left alone, it’s pretty good at it. However, when outside stress amounts to more than the body can “handle”, occasionally, the body’s natural coping methods become detrimental to this goal of simply living. Apparently, the body starts to shut down the less necessary systems, like the digestive and the immune systems, and focuses all of its energy on the heart, lungs, and brain, when it reaches a state of chronic fatigue.

Just as technique is one movement, the complex internal network that gives us life is one, unified collaboration. So it makes sense that a slight imbalance can trigger a domino effect. There is a tremendous amount of research and scientific findings in the medical field for the typical sedentary human, but there seems to be much less information about the athlete’s body and how it copes. I hope that by sharing my medical experiences, other athletes will be able to avoid getting lost in medical mysteries.

According to my latest medical diagnosis, two stress fractures, a long standing infection, two invasive surgeries, plus daily training and racing demands, all occurring in just one year’s time – on top of long standing asthma and extreme food intolerances – fatigued my body beyond it’s ability to function normally.

In order to cope, my body began shutting down systems, one of which was the digestive system. I’ve seen a wide range of doctors, all of who contributed a piece of the puzzle, and continue to add to my growing quiver of medical knowledge and recovery process. I do not have one clear diagnosis, but rather a collection of theories. The recovery process is going to be long, occasionally with small set backs, but I have faith that my health is improving slowly.

I would never have imagined that I would experience this medical nightmare, but it has opened my mind to whole new fields of knowledge that I might not have explored otherwise. I have become fascinated by both traditional and alternative medicine (now understanding why it is called the “practice” of medicine). I have explored my artistic passions (spending hours designing and decorating elaborate gingerbread castles, creating my own crochet stitches and patterns, making brochures); and have learned what it means to hold out hope. It’s not always easy to have faith in a better tomorrow when there is no foreseeable solution in sight. I learned how to live day by day, and remain in the present moment; relishing in the limited pleasures, fighting to overcome the seemingly surmountable obstacles, and always believing that I could, and would, overcome this illness.

I am not alone on this journey. I’m forever grateful to the dedicated team of family, friends, coaches and doctors who have stood by my side, advocated, listened, fought, laughed and shared stories with me. (My parents are probably qualified for medical degrees after these past eight months of accompanying me to all of my various doctor’s appointments!)

Now I am at the University of Colorado in Boulder starting my college experience. I won’t be racing for the team this year as I recover, but will hopefully be on the roster in the fall. Bruce Cranmer, the CU Nordic coach, has been extremely flexible through my set backs and I’m looking forward to have him as a coach.

Good luck to everyone for the 2011 season ahead!

January 13, 2011 (Canmore. AB) – The fifth ever edition of the Tour de Ski is over and done with. I am comfortably sitting in a “Nighbor driving” laid back position up in B-Class flying home after over two months of European racing and am still in disbelief… first how fast this first half of the season has blazed by, and second how great our team performed over the last 10 days in Germany and Italy.

The Tour de Ski is the most grueling race that we do all year. We race eight distinct competitions in only 10 days at four different venues. It’s a fast-paced, high-stakes week and a half and considering how I feel at the end of it, I cannot even imagine how it is for our staff who work so hard indefatigably all day, everyday to give us every opportunity to perform.

I’ll break ‘er down race by race since I didn’t update as I went along this year.

Day One: 3.75km Skate Prologue – Oberhof (Ger) – December 31st/2010
I was psyched to get my 5th Tour under way. Ivan, Alex and I did our finishing  touches on our Tour-prep enjoying Davos’ great skiing and stellar café over the holidays. Everything went quite well for all of us in the pre-Tour period and with the added bonus of Hutchdogg tirelessly working on us over Christmas we were all feeling strong and confident – and for the most part I had great workouts and life was grand.

When December 31st finally came, I felt ready but not 100%. One aspect still lingered – some heavy legs that settled in after my last long distance ski earlier in the week. My legs were stubbornly holding on to fatigue like a dog that just won’t release that tennis ball. Justin and I had planned to push for that optimal training load before backing off but as the race day came and I was still feeling slightly sub-par – oops.

The good news was that the first race is short. The prologue is under 8 minutes and the Tour is never won or lost on the first stage. I hammered the one lap course willing my body to empty the tank. It didn’t take long before I knew things weren’t going my way. Early in the race I knew my legs hadn’t came back in time. While I was happy that my energy was back to 100%, and my legs no longer felt heavy while pushing hard, I lacked punch/power and in such a short race that’s not good.

I pushed as hard as my flat-feeling body would go crossing the line out of the points in 37th – same finish as last year. I was pissed off. No denying. I’ve been very hot and cold with prologues in the last and while I was happy that the body felt better I wasn’t expecting to be so bad on day one. Being a Tour though I had very little time to feel sorry for myself as the next day the 15km classic pursuit was quickly approaching. I did wallow of course being the drama-queen that I am blasting some Band of Horses during a cold bath, and afterwards for about an hour before putting the race in the rear view mirror and refocusing.

Day Two: 15km Classic Pursuit Start – Oberhof (Ger) – January 1st/2011

I was fired up for this race. I always am. I love classic skiing, I love the course in Oberhof and I love pursuit starts where you’re chasing the leaders. It’s exciting, fast from the start and suits my strengths. It helps that the previous two years I had finished 3rd and 10th in the same race. It was a classic Oberhof day, foggy with slightly soft tracks. Warming up I felt great far better than just one day earlier and our skis were top shelf. I was nervous, but pumped.

Still, I had a lot of work and dudes to go through to catch back up to the front. I played it patiently, slowly working through the pack for the first six or so kilometers before making sure I was hanging out in the top 10-15 out of trouble and close enough to react if an attack went.

It was a tactical affair, some surging and some half-hearted attacks but none that stuck. Then, on the last lap Cologna went to the front to assert himself. I followed; just focusing on skiing as well I could technically. Next thing I knew I was in the front with about 2km remaining. I made a snap-decision that it was time to punch it and starting a long drive to the line in the lead. Coming around the last corner and into the windy finishing stretch I was still leading. I was double poling as hard as I could, but Dario came around me with 50m to go and passed me. I slipped right in behind him and crossed the line in 2nd place.

Needless to say, I was pumped. It was only my second-ever distance podium, and after not hitting the podium at all last year it felt so good to be back. It was a great race for me, best of the year and I posted the fastest time of the day, moving from 37th to 2nd. It also confirmed that Justin and I had in fact got the training right. It would have been awesome to win but Dario was just too strong for me and to finish only 0.5 seconds from my first win wasn’t bad.

Alex was 9th putting two Canadians in the top 10 for the first time this season which was sweet!

Day Three: 1.2km Classic Sprint- Obertsdorf (Ger) – January 2nd/2011
After packing up and showering it was onto our badass bus that Justin had organized (you’ve all seen the photos and read about it. The thing ruled for recovery!) as we rolled Southwest to the site of the 2005 World Champs Obertsdorf.

I love the sprint course in Obertsdorf. It was the first time I was ever top 15 internationally back in 2005 as a 22year-old, and I watched Sara Renner make history sprinting her way to a bronze medal there. I knew the course well, and was cautiously optimistic that I could get through the quarter-finals.

Well, it went far better than I could have ever imagined. Again our skis were fantastic and Alex and I qualified 6th and 7th. I felt amazing in all my heats and moved through to the final for the first time in my life in a classic sprint on the World Cup. I was stoked!

In the final I made a desperate attack up the last climb and came over the top with a gap. The meters were flying by and I was still in the lead down the finishing stretch.

I may have even thought about what my victory salute would be but Joensson had other ideas. With meters to go, he pulled even with me and it came down to an epic lunge for the line for the victory. After some tense moments, it was announced that no, for the second day in a row I had been beat at the line. I lost the race my 1cm or something ridiculous. Joensson described it as his tightest victory ever.

After hitting the podium the day before I was shocked to snag back to back silver medals. I was choked to lose such a tight race, especially after a gutsy move over the top that I believed was enough to stick, but Joensson is the best sprinter in the world, and to even be competitive with him was more than I ever expected. Alex finished an impressive 7th so back to back great days for Canada all around!

Day Four: 20km duathlon pursuit Obertsdorf, GER January 3rd/2011
The fourth race in a row was the also the longest. The course in Obertsdorf was the same 2.5km that they used for some races back in 2005 as well, whith consisted of flatter terrain and one huge hill per lap. The only difference is that they used the same course for classic and skate (just groomed in tracks on the side) and that made for a narrow/sketchy experience.

People were attacking all over the place going for early bonus sprints and launching for the finish line. It was very messy, lots of crashes, and just pandemonium in the pack to be honest. The course was silly.

I felt great but ended the day in 7th getting caught behind traffic up the final climb  but I was still happy with how the race played out. Alex and I both thought it felt more like a zone 3 workout because of all the bodies around. That was the one positive it didn’t take as much out of me as I would have thought.

Day Six: 1.3km skate sprint Toblach, ITA January 5th/2011
After another sizable trip, but on our sweet bus from Obertsdorf to Toblach, we had a rest day which we used to test skis and train on the long 35km stage. This was the best day to date in my ski career – I finally won a world cup! I felt so good today. I qualified in 14th, then moved easily through my final. Once again that was the main goal get through the quarters, so I was pretty relaxed for the remaining rounds.

In the final, I got off to my normal snail’s paced start, and was content to hang in the back part of the pack. Then, with two uphills remaining I just went crazy and launched an attack with everything I had. I kept the pressure all the way to the line, and while I had a big lead at one point Cologna almost came right back to me, but he ran out of real estate. At the time I could not and still cannot believe it.

It’s the best feeling in the world to be able to lift your arms in victory on the World Cup after working and dreaming about it for over 10 years. Haha, it’s almost embarrassing when I put it that way, but it finally happened. Our staff did such a great job, and everything just came together perfectly. I will never forget that race!

Day Seven: 35km skate pursuit CortinaToblach ITAJanuary 6th/2011
From an amazing race, to an extremely frustrating race was the transition between the two Toblach events.

In the long race, I started in 2nd place but alone to tackle the long/fairly flat stage over the Italian Dolomites. Cologna had amassed a big lead so I wouldn’t come back on him, but my goal was to stay away from the chase packs that were sure to form.

The course is 18km of gradual climbing, before descending gradually back to Toblach, and then a final show lap of 3.3km to finish off the spectacle. I felt good, started at a good/manageable pace. Still, at 13km Hellner who had started 30-odd seconds behind me swallowed me up. I tried in vain to stay with him, but he was on another planet. I just got popped right away, and had to settle to ski my own pace keeping him in my sights to make sure I still had a good pace.

I made it over the top of the hill, but even though I was going all out down the other side in 2km the large 11-dude chase pack caught me. I was so frustrated – like in cycling it is so much harder on easy terrain to stay away. Guys that started over 2.5 minutes behind me were safely in the draft of the pack and with them working together they made quick work of me.

What’s worse, is when they caught me nobody was willing to work together. We were chewing into Hellner who would have been caught for sure but then all of a sudden everyone was thinking of the bronze medal and things got tactical in a hurry.

I ended up finishing in the first chase pack good enough for 10th. All that hard work for the overall that I did early in the Tour was erased. I was (and still am) bummed about it. It’s a tough race, and without question the most important race of the entire Tour as far as the overall goes.

Day Nine: 20km Mass Start Classic Val di Fiemme, ITA January 8th/2011
After another travel day, and another rest day training and scouting the Val di Fiemme classic course we had finally arrived at the last venue.

I love Val di Fiemme, and I was really excited about this race seeing how I had been feeling so strong in classic this year. I knew it could be good.

Conditions were pretty standard klister skiing with warm temperatures greeting us in the Northern Italian venue. Here’s a strange fact about Val di Fiemme – it was the first time this year that we saw races above zero degrees which is extremely odd for Europe. It felt like Hawaii out there!

I tried going for some of the plethora of bonus seconds up for grabs early but soon realized that it was going to cost too much energy, and that Northug and Cologna had both amazing skis and were gunning for all of them. I changed my strategy mid-race and focused on attempting to win the competition.

I sat near the front and stayed out of trouble keen with being patient and hyper-aware with what was going on around me in the pack. There were some pace changes, but for whatever reason this year no one was able to really inflict big damage. On the last lap the Swede Rickardsson launched a move with 2 km to go that could have stuck but we all caught him on a big descent. Then I launched up the final climb (600m from the line) and over the top I was in the lead going for broke.

Still, it was too early and on the flats of the stadium I was caught and passed by Northug and Cologna. Again. I finished 3rd which was my 4th podium of the week. Unbelievable. It’s been just such a great week of racing!

Alex ended up in 5th meaning with one stage remaining we were 4th and 7th overall. It was going to be a dog fight as not much time separated 3rd to 10th and both Alex and I aren’t exactly gazelles up Alpe Cermis but we were excited to see how things went.

Day Ten: 9km Skate Uphill Pursuit Val di Fiemme/Alpe Cermis, ITA January 9th/2011
The last stage. Always tough, the 9km skate consists of 6km of gradual descending before meeting the walls of Alpe Cermis, an Alpine run close to the ski trails in Val di Fiemme.

As expected, it was a large group heading down to the climb. We worked well together, exchanging leads often but it wasn’t enough to keep a hard charging Lucas Bauer at bay who caught our group (3rd-9th) on the bottom slopes of the Alpe.

Things splintered early on the climb especially when Bauer caught us, and I settled into the best rhythm I could. I am no specialist at this unique uphill event and tried in vain to stay with Perl, Clara, and Gaillardall who are far better at this event than me. Gaillard and I were dropped by Perl and Clara and in a battle with my friend from the French Team, Jean-Marc beat me to the line after I tried to attack and blew up with only 300m remaining in the race.

The Tour was over, and I ended up 7th overall. Alex had a tough climb as well, slipping to 10th, but both of us were excited to have completed a solid Tour and to have two Canadians in the top 10 was a great achievement. Babs had the 6th fastest time up proving once again that the bulldog IS climbing boom.

What now?
After traveling and racing for over 2 months, and I am now at home. It’s so good to be back in Canmore and I am already looking forward to training with friends and sipping cappos in the afternoons as I recharge and begin to get ready for the World Champs in Oslo. I can confirm that nothing is as comfortable as your own bed and I slept like a log last night.

I was able to catch up briefly with Chandra in Munich for one night as our trips overlapped (Chandra heading to the sprint World Cups in the Czech and Estonia, while I head home to recover/train for Worlds). It was great to see her – however brief – after weeks away from one another but I am already missing her here in Canmore!

After an easy week this week to catch my breath it’s back on baby. We have work to do if we want to keep this party going. Oslo and the World Cups after it are the next objective. I cannot wait!

I want to extend heart felt thanks to everyone who supported me and our team: Mostly importantly is Chandra and my family!

Thanks to Justin who has proven to be such an amazing coach, and has shown stellar leadership all year. Our technical staff is some of the best in the business. All the boys – Sasha, Joel J, Joel K, Yves and Micke – you all rule. Micke thanks for sticking with me for the past few years and putting up with my sketchy self every weekend (and during the week, haha), you’ve made a HUGE difference!

Most importantly thanks to my teammates. I am so lucky to be a member of such a bad ass/awesome Canadian Team. We respect each other, push each other and celebrate each other’s victories. It’s a lot of hours together but damn it’s fun! It’s been a trip – one that will continue for years to come!

We couldn’t do it without our loyal team sponsors (the crew at Haywood, AltaGas, Statoil and Teck) and B2ten for the mad hook ups all year most recently being instrumental behind our big black rock and roll Tour de Ski bus. Your continued support means that our entire team can push the limits all year.

Lastly, my personal sponsors, guys like Jamie Coatsworth who makes such a difference and who believes not only 100% in me but all of Canadian skiing, Stephen Dent and the whole Birch Hill crew in T.O., Chris out in Vancouver with Teck and Allison and the Stoneridge crew, thanks to all of you. Support matters, from all levels. Family, friends, team, sponsors, it all helps make

January 12, 2011 – Check out this great instructional video by SkiTrax technique columnist Keith Nicol on how to improve your 1 skate or V 2 skate – a popular cross country skiing technique. Nicol, a CANSI Level 4 instructor, demonstrates typical problems that skiers have with this skill and how to correct them. He also runs the winter outdoor pursuits programme at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. Visit his web site HERE and for more information on CANSI click HERE.

December 28, 2010 – Winter Trails Day offers children and adults new to snow sports the chance to try snowshoeing and cross-country skiing for free, and to discover the great fitness and social benefits with these easy-to-learn winter sports. Winter Trails Day involves almost 100 resorts and Nordic Centers nationwide, and gets 11,000 kids and adults on the snow each year. Following is a list of the Anchor site locations (all event dates are Jan 8 ,2011 unless otherwise noted):

* Echo Lake – CO
* Estes Park – CO  (Jan 15, 2011)
* Fort Snelling State Park – MN
* Kirkwood – CA
* Liberty Mountain – PA
* Mountaineers Snoqualmie Campus – WA
* Soldier Hollow – UT
* Weston Ski Track – MA
* White River Snow Park – OR

For more on Winter Trails click HERE.
For a detailed listings of sites please click HERE.