April 12, 2013 – The FIS Continental Cup series all over the world are some of the most important Cross-Country competitions as they allow the younger athletes to prepare themselves for the World Cup level in several ways. As a bonus, the Continental Cup winners earn the right to compete in the World Cup Final. Below is an overview of the COC standings for the 2012/13 season.

OPA Cup
The OPA Cup was again concluded in Toblach (ITA) after a series consisting of seven venues in five countries. This season was a great success for the German skiers who dominated the top 5 places in the overall ranking led by Franz Goering with 797 points. Second placed and runner-up Sebastian Eisenlauer collected 627 points whilst Lucas Boegl claimed third place with 596 points.

Also on the ladies’ side, the German skiers were dominant and occupied the top two positions with Monique Siegel claiming the Cup with 836 points, 113 points ahead of the second best and compatriot Sandra Ringwald. Spaniard Laura Orgue took an excellent third overall with 668 points.

Scandinavian Cup
This season’s Scandinavian Cup included five different venues across Norway, Sweden, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. Over the course of the years, the Norwegians have dominated the top of this series and this season the Norwegian men occupied top four spots as Tomas Northug won the series ahead of Snorri Einarsson and Hans Christer Holund.

The top nine of the Scandinavian Cup on the ladies side were purely Norwegian business led by Kari Vikhagen Gjeitnes who topped the podium with 766 points before Tuva Toftdahl and Britt Ingunn Nydal.

USSA Super Tour
The US SuperTour is currently still underway with two competitions remaining at Lake Tahoe (USA) to conclude the season finals. Rosie Brennan and Michael Sinnot are leading the overall standings prior to the last competitions on 11th April.

Haywood NorAm
In a very tight competition until the last races of the season in Mont St. Anne (CAN), Amanda Ammar and her Canadian compatriot Jesse Cockney took the titles in the North American Cup just 9 and 8 points ahead of their closest contenders. Ammar scored a total of 816 points while Cockney took 915 points which earned them the titles in front of Kate Brennan (807) and Alysson Marshall (763) on the ladies’ side, and Graham Nishikawa (937) and Michael Somppi (928) on the men’s side.

Far East Cup
The Far East Cup 201/13 featured three venues this season at the Alpensia Resort (KOR), Otoineppu and Sapporo (both JPN).

On the ladies’ side, Naoko Omori claimed the overall Cup victory with 380 points. Chisa Obayashi finished second, only 5 points behind the winner while Yuki Kobayashi took third with 360 points.

Among the men, last year’s runner-up Nobu Naruse was the strongest competitor and won the series with 401 points. Keishin Yoshida picked up 380 points and took second place with Akira Lenting repeating his strong performance from last year finishing third in the overall standings of the Far East Cup with 331points.

Balkan Cup
The Balkan Cup has seen its conclusion in Dvorista-Pale (BIH) at the end of March. Bulgaria’s Veselin Tzinzov clearly won the men’s series ahead of two Croatians Edi Dadic and Andrej Buric.

The standings were reversed for the ladies where Croatia topped the ranking as Vedrana Malec collected 460 points ahead of Bulgaria’s Teodora Malcheva who claimed the runner-up position and Antoniya Grigorova-Burgova in third overall with 380 points.

Eastern Europe Cup
The Eastern Europe Cup included the venues of Vershina Tea, Krasnogorsk, Kahrkiv (both UKR), Moscow and Syktyvkar (both RUS). Sergey Novikov claimed the overall victory with 394 points ahead of Vladislav Skobelev in second whilst Sergey Shiriaev took third place.

On the ladies’ side, last year’s winner Elena Soboleva (RUS) repeated her overall victory ahead of Marina Chernousova and Daria Godovanichenko.

Slavic Cup
This season’s Slavic Cup, which concluded in Zakopane (POL), was almost all about Czech and Slovakian Cross-Country skiers.

Six venues hosted competitions as Daniela Kotschova (SVK) topped the ladies’ ranking in front of two Polish skiers, Agnieszka Szymanczak in second and Martyna Galewicz in third place.

Jiri Horcicka of the Czech Republic won the men’s standings having collected 676 points. His compatriot Ondrej Horyna finish 127 points behind and took second place and Poland’s Jan Antolec defended his third place from last year with 500 points.

January 09, 2013 (Thunder Bay, ON) – Here are some great photos from last weekend’s Haywood NorAm and U23/Junior trials, Jan. 5-6, at the Lappe Ski Centre in Thunder Bay as athletes made their bids for selection to the various upcoming World Championship teams. Results HERE. Read more about the races: Day 1 HERE, Day 2 HERE.

December 06, 2012 (Sovereign Lake, B.C.) – International skiers from Sweden, Brazil, Peru, Switzerland and New Zealand are descending on Sovereign Lake for the Teck BC Cup and Haywoond NorAm races this coming weekend.

From across the water, Matthew Bull who is 14 years old and lives in Sydney will be racing in the Teck BC Cup. Bull trains with the New South Wales cross country ski team. He has been ski racing for approximately 7 years and has participated in a BC cup race in 2010 and placed 3rd. He is living with a host family in Vernon for this season to train with the SLNC during Australia’s summer break.

Joining the international racers in the Haywood NorAm will be Catharine Pendrel, an Olympic and World Champion mountain biker from Kamloops who will try her hand at ski racing this weekend. Pendrel, a guest and keynote speaker to Supercamp was brushing up on her ski technique in the past two weeks with the Supercamp coaches. The early season ski camps hosted by Sovereign Lake and Silver Star ran the last two weeks and finished up on Sunday.

Along with the international competitors, Pendrel and Bull will join teams from all over Canada and the U.S. to compete in two days of racing. The assorted competitors from the U.S. are coming from Minneapolis, Winthrop, Oregon and Spokane. Some of the competitors, including the Swedish team will go on to race at the World Cup in Canmore the following weekend.

Saturday’s classic technique races will start with the Teck BC Cup in the morning and the Haywood NorAm and Teck BC Cup mass start taking place in the afternoon. Viewers will be able to watch the races in the stadium from the lodge at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre.

Sunday’s free technique races will include similar scheduling with interval starts for the athletes. For more information visit www.sovereignlake.com.

January 20, 2012 (Whistler, BC) – Canadian Ski Team member Drew Goldsack suffered a mild concussion on Saturday when he crashed during the NorAm freestyle sprint races in Whistler. Due to his concussion, Goldsack has announced he will skip this weekend’s Western Canadian Champs in Canmore. Read his blog for the inside scoop on his crash…

Whistler… I Hope I Didn’t Brain My Damage

Ah Whistler, I have to say I saw these NorAm races going differently in my head movies.  (If you don’t get the ‘head movies’ reference, stop reading, go watch the movie Tropic Thunder, and report back.)

With the extended holiday break over, it was back to business last week with the continuation of the Haywood NorAm race series. The weekend also doubled as selection races for the U23/World Junior Championships so it was an exciting three days of racing with lots on the line! Props to the Alberta World Cup Academy crew who dominated the podium all weekend and managed to qualify a whopping SEVEN athletes for the WJr./U23 Champs., claiming nearly half of the available spots on the World Champs team! A huge part of this success is thanks to the incredibly hard working Academy coaches and technicians who put in long hours behind the scenes every weekend, ensuring that things run smoothly come race day.

The week kicked off with the 30k Pursuit on Thursday and it was a bit of a rough start. On the best of days a 30k is a challenge for my largely fast twitch muscles and despite feeling good on the first lap, the race quickly turned into a suffer fest for me. I blew up early in the race and spent the rest of the time trying to recover, not an ideal way to race a 30k!

Saturday however brought my bread and butter, the freestyle sprint.  The qualifying round went ok for me through heavy snow and on extremely soft tracks which made the course ski way harder than usual. I was feeling a bit sluggish from the 30k, but I also knew that my body would loosen up as the day went on. As expected, I began to feel better with each round and was very confident going into the final. The soft, deep snow made it extremely hard to pass, so a good start and energy conservation were key in order to have a good final push to the line. I started well and was in a good position on the final downhill coming into the stadium but just as I was about to start my attack, another skier went down and I tangled up with them.

Before I could react, my feet whipped out from under me at full speed and I rag-dolled to a stop. Ouch. As I lay there a little dazed, still trying to process what just happened, I took an inventory of my body and in the moment didn’t feel anything too seriously injured. In this case, the insult would come before the injury, my pole had somehow managed to break off at the handle and I was horrified to look down and see my very best pair of race skis shattered just in front of the binding.

Immediately, a feeling of loss that’s nearly impossible to explain to anyone who isn’t a high level ski racer, washed over me. The same pair of skis that faithfully carried me to numerous NorAm podiums and a 5^th place finish in Dusseldorf only a month before were now splintered and lying awkwardly twisted in the snow beneath me. It’ll be hard, if not impossible, to find a replacement for that pair of skis.

For a few more good shots of my crash caught by Jesse Winter, have a look here: Photo 1, Photo 2, Photo 3

Upon my return to the hotel that afternoon, the physical effects of the crash began to set in. I began to feel nauseous, drowsy and a headache was setting in. I knew I had hit my head but didn’t think it was anything serious. The next day I felt ok when I woke up save for some serious whiplash, a stiff shoulder and some new bruises, but as I began to move around I knew something wasn’t right. I started to feel nauseous again and my headache was getting worse… could it really be a concussion?

Am I now part of the hottest statistic in sports? I talked it over with the coaches and we decided that it was best to play it safe and sit the 15km classic as a precaution. Through the day my symptoms got worse and I utterly suffered through the twisty, stop and go van ride to the airport in Vancouver for my flight home.

After seeing our team doctor on Monday, I was diagnosed with a mild concussion. Brutal. Despite this setback, the word ‘mild’ left me optimistic that I would recover in time for the Western Canadian Champs being held at home in Canmore this weekend. However, I have been unable to train due to headaches and nausea and consequently my hopes to race this weekend have been dashed. I could insert any number of cliché’s here but the reality is plainly that luck has not been on my side so far this season. I guess as a small consolation, my many years spent as an athlete have certainly taught me how to be resilient and persevere…so persevere I will.

More great photos from Whistler NorAm weekend can be found on Angus Cockney’s Picasa album HERE.

Overheard:

“I suck at cooking” – Graham Nishikawa… good thing you’re getting married, Congrats man!

In the tape deck:

Artist: Andrew Bird, Track: Tenuousness

Artist: M83, Track: Midnight City

On the tube:

Andrew Bird performing Tenuosness live, incredible use of a looping pedal. If you don’t know what a looping pedal is, look it up, it’ll make you appreciate the video and song a whole lot more.

http://youtu.be/1sivcS6uvIg

This blog and other updates can also be found on www.drewgoldsack.ca

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.

Contacts:
Race Secretary: Greg Thompson – competitionsecretary@albertaworldcup.com
OC Chair: Ken Hewitt – khewitt@albertaworldcup.com; 403-680-4141

*** Please forward this info to others who may need to know.

Ken Hewitt
Organizing Committee Chair
khewitt@albertaworldcup.com

Race info HERE.

January 18, 2012 – My return to the World Cup this season definitely didn’t start off as I had envisioned but it certainly ended on a positive note! After a slightly better but still disappointing sprint day on Saturday in Dusseldorf, Germany, I was encouraged by a better feeling body and regrouped for Sunday’s sprint relay.

I teamed up with the towering Lenny Valjas and together we put in a great day of sprint racing. We went into the sprint relay not really knowing what to expect as we had both had disappointing results in the individual sprint qualifier the day before. However, after the qualifying round was finished with, we knew that today would be different.

Len and I posted the third fastest qualifying time of 28 teams and after the disqualification of a German team, ended up being the second ranked qualifiers on the day. Going into the final, our attitude quickly changed.  We started the day with the goal of just making it into the final, now the podium was in our sights. We stuck to our race plan, skiing conservatively, conserving energy and staying out of trouble.

This meant that we were often at or near the back of the pack but as others burned  energy fighting for a position or two, Len and I managed to ski relaxed and then go for it on our final laps. Thanks to an impressive finishing kick from Len, we were able to pass the Austrian team down the final stretch and lock up 5^th place, just 4 seconds out of the top spot!

Unfortunately it was too little too late to justify staying on the World Cup circuit so I returned to Canada to pick up the start of the NorAm series in Silver Star. As is often a result of hectic race/travel schedules I came down with a cold the day before the first races in Silver Star and consequently missed that weekend of racing and the following weekend in Rossland. A total bummer but not a whole lot you can do about it! If there was a positive to missing the pre-Christmas NorAms it was that it allowed me to get in some really good training volume over the Holidays in preparation for the second half of the season.  I had a great Christmas at home in Red Deer with family before returning to Canmore for another week of volume consisting of some great days out in Kananaskis. I even managed to sneak out into the backcountry for an awesome day of charging knee deep pow with Brent McMurtry and Phil Widmer.

It’s now a new year and with a lot of racing ahead I’m looking forward to the weeks to come. Hopefully I can get back in the mix and join the race for the NorAm spot on the World Cup this spring!

As a final thought, I’d like to comment on what I’ve seen happening with increasingly extreme weather patterns around the globe.  It’s really concerning to see what can only be explained as the early signs of climate change. It’s not news that humans are having a profound impact on our environment and climate but as I experience the increasing extremes of weather around the globe, it really drives home the fact that we need to be ever more conscious about what we’re doing to our planet.

Whether it’s seeing pouring rain just kilometers from the Artic Circle in late November, hurricane force winds in the City of Calgary or a complete lack of snow around the globe, it’s worrying to think about the impact that this will not only have on the planet but on the sport that I love. This is certainly not a new concept but I really feel like I need to reiterate how important it is to make environmentally conscious decisions every day and continually evaluate how those decisions impact the planet. For a list of the top 10 things you can do to make a difference have a look here: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/top-10-ways-you-can-stop-climate-change/

Have a great 2012 everyone!

-Drew Goldsack

Overheard: 

“Ugh, I’m soooo tired” –Devon Kershaw, the night before an awesome race.

In the Tape Deck:

Artist: Lana del Rey, Track: Video Games

Artist: Mumford & Sons: Track: Awake My Soul (Live at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London)

Artist: Mumford & Sons: Track: Little Lion Man (Live at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London)

On the Tube:

http://youtu.be/6UeCRY1wciA

This blog and others can also be found on www.drewgoldsack.ca!

March 07, 2011 (Rossland, BC) – Dave Wood was Canada’s most successful National Team cross-country ski coach, with career highlights including Beckie Scott’s legendary Olympic pursuit gold in 2002, Sara Renner’s sprint bronze at the Nordic World Championships in 2005, Chandra Crawford’s sprint gold in 2006 in Torino, and nine top-10’s at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Wood spent 18 years with Cross Country Canada (CCC) and lead the program for 12 of those years. He resigned in May 2010 and is still very much involved with skiing, currently coaching the Black Jack Ski Club in Rossland, B.C. He talked with SkiTrax’s Marty Hall about his new New Nordic Academy program.

It’s been 9 months since your departure from the Canadian National Team, what’s been happening with you and your career – bring us up to speed?
Dave Wood: In the spring I began working with the Black Jack Ski Club in Rossland, BC. The program here has younger skiers ages 13 to 17, all in high school. We have an ideal natural environment for Cross country skiers in Rossland.

Most of the training can be completed “out the door”. We have to travel for Roller skiing to find different terrain, but we have everything from flatter gentle terrain to long continuous uphills (10 to 25 km). The trails are superb and with the Red Mountain alpine area only 15 minutes running from town we can do as much ski simulation on foot as one can stand!

The program had a couple of training camps in the summer, the Haig Glacier, and a dryland camp in the Bow Valley. This is an opportunity to begin to introduce these skiers to training at altitude. We began skiing in Early November up at the Paulson trails (local). There are 3 areas for Cross Country here, and the Paulson trails (maintained by the Castlegar club) have snow a little earlier than Black Jack.

I went to Boston in September for a NENSA seminar. I made a presentation and sat in on the rest of seminar. Always good to get into other areas. As well I went to a COC function (Olympic Excellence series) for summer sports in November.

The club hosted a very successful NorAm in December. I did not have involvement with the event, except I worked with the club to build a better sprint course. The tracks and the event were well received.

The club and the Red Mountain Academy are joining forces to create an educational component to our Nordic Program. Al Fisher (Racing Program Director) and I initiated this in the spring and over the summer when we hammered out the details. At the end it has been Wannes Luppens (Club President), Al Fisher and I that are spearheading this initiative.

Now we are into the racing season and going full blast. Life in Rossland right now is being very good to Coach Dave Wood!

I hear you’re announcing a new high school aged skiing program at one of the best training and skiing locales in North America – tell us more about the Red Mountain Academy and its new educational component for your Nordic Program.
DW: The Red Mountain Academy (RMA) has been in operation for many years. It began as an academy program with the Red Mountain Racers (Alpine racing) and over time has expanded. The cooperation with the Black Jack Cross Country ski club was initiated this spring and we finalized the association this past fall with a three pronged program. Read more about the Academy here: www.redskiacademy.com

With the Home Stay Plan athletes that are not local in Rossland are placed with families in Rossland. We also have service providers such as physiotherapy, mental training, etc.

The home stay is organized and delivered through the administration end of the academy program. The athletes stay with families in the area. There is an education for the home stay families with respect to the nutritional needs of the athlete. The cost for this is $750/month, which includes some of the travelling needs. With their application to academy the process for home stay is initiated.

Another component of this program is transportation to and from the training venue to the school. In Rossland you can walk from “home” to school

The Educational Component of the Academy is delivered at Rossland Senior Secondary school. This will provide the athletes with a flexible academic schedule that allows time for proper training and competition programs. Read more about RMA here: www.rss.sd20.bc.ca

The third component of the program is the Training and Competition Program that is managed and delivered by myself. I have several coaches and experts who are assisting me in the Black Jack Racing team. We provide an intensive, individualized training and preparation programs.

Athletes in the academy program will train alongside the athletes training with the Club Program. Currently we have athletes from Rossland, Nelson, and Trail that work with the Black Jack Racing Team.

General program for 2011/12
– May 1 is the training year start
– Will plan for a spring snow camp where it can happen, likely Vernon, however we can do it here in some years
– June is dryland, going into the local mountain trails as the snow melts
– July will have a week at the Haig glacier
– August will have two weeks in the Bow Valley with two trips to the Haig glacier
– Fall camp with altitude. Most likely the Bow Valley if the stored snow works out
– December NorAms
– World Junior trials
– National Champs
– Other racing as is available

In Rossland we enjoy the perfect natural environment for developing Cross Country Ski Racers. We have an extensive network of trails and paths that are ideal for running and ski simulation on foot. As well we have mountain trails that are up to 2200 meters in elevation.

This means we can train between 400 meters and 2200 meters, an ideal situation for altitude training and lower elevation for speed work. We have long continuous roller ski climbs, up to 25 km, or we can have gentle rolling terrain to roller ski on. A lot of this roller ski terrain has very limited traffic.

We have access to a rubber surface running track in Warfield (6km away), an aquatic center in Trail (10 km), gyms in Rossland, and the alpine area (Red Resort) is about 5km from town, a perfect distance for warm up for a hill session. This is as good as it gets for dry land training!

We have three areas where we can ski. The Black Jack Club (www.skiblackjack.ca) is about a 10 min drive from anywhere in Rossland. The club has about 30 km of trails that are groomed daily by one of the two Pisten Bulleys the club owns. The normal season at Black Jack would be December to April. There is a biathlon facility up the highway from Black Jack. There is a 5km loop with the shorter tracks inside the 5 km track. The biathlon facility is about 300 meters higher than Black Jack, and gets earlier snow (2 to 3 weeks) and the snow lasts much longer in the spring. Finally the Castlegar ski club operates a trail system at the Paulson Summit. This is about a 30 min drive from Rossland, and it is also higher (about 1500 meters) so it is another option for early skiing

We can offer a training environment that is very high quality and lets the athletes maximize their training time do to the proximity of all training venues.

Dave, I think that wraps it up for any young teenage skier it doesn’t get any better. Sort of a home away from home feeling with the Home Stay Program and one of the best facilities and training centered programs you could want to be involved with – how do I sign up?
DW: Contact Kristi Calder at kristi@redskiacademy.com for information on the overall program. I can be contacted at davidwood53@gmail.com or 250-521-0223 for specifics on all aspects of the programs

February 25, 2011 (Rossland, BC) – Dave Wood was Canada’s most successful National Team cross-country ski coach, with career highlights including Beckie Scott’s legendary Olympic pursuit gold in 2002, Sara Renner’s sprint bronze at the Nordic World Championships in 2005, Chandra Crawford’s sprint gold in 2006 in Torino, and nine top-10’s at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Wood spent 18 years with Cross Country Canada (CCC) and lead the program for 12 of those years. He resigned in May 2010 and  is still very much involved with skiing, currently coaching the Black Jack Ski Club in Rossland, B.C. He talked with SkiTrax’s Marty Hall about his new New Nordic Academy program.

It’s been 9 months since your departure from the Canadian National Team, what’s been happening with you and your career – bring us up to speed?
Dave Wood: In the spring I began working with the Black Jack Ski Club in Rossland, BC. The program here has younger skiers ages 13 to 17, all in high school. We have an ideal natural environment for Cross country skiers in Rossland.

Most of the training can be completed “out the door”. We have to travel for Roller skiing to find different terrain, but we have everything from flatter gentle terrain to long continuous uphills (10 to 25 km). The trails are superb and with the Red Mountain alpine area only 15 minutes running from town we can do as much ski simulation on foot as one can stand!

The program had a couple of training camps in the summer, the Haig Glacier, and a dryland camp in the Bow Valley. This is an opportunity to begin to introduce these skiers to training at altitude. We began skiing in Early November up at the Paulson trails (local). There are 3 areas for Cross Country here, and the Paulson trails (maintained by the Castlegar club) have snow a little earlier than Black Jack.

I went to Boston in September for a NENSA seminar. I made a presentation and sat in on the rest of seminar. Always good to get into other areas. As well I went to a COC function (Olympic Excellence series) for summer sports in November.

The club hosted a very successful NorAm in December. I did not have involvement with the event, except I worked with the club to build a better sprint course. The tracks and the event were well received.

The club and the Red Mountain Academy are joining forces to create an educational component to our Nordic Program. Al Fisher (Racing Program Director) and I initiated this in the spring and over the summer when we hammered out the details. At the end it has been Wannes Luppens (Club President), Al Fisher and I that are spearheading this initiative.

Now we are into the racing season and going full blast. Life in Rossland right now is being very good to Coach Dave Wood!

I hear you’re announcing a new high school aged skiing program at one of the best training and skiing locales in North America – tell us more about the Red Mountain Academy and its new educational component for your Nordic Program.
DW: The Red Mountain Academy (RMA) has been in operation for many years. It began as an academy program with the Red Mountain Racers (Alpine racing) and over time has expanded. The cooperation with the Black Jack Cross Country ski club was initiated this spring and we finalized the association this past fall with a three pronged program. Read more about the Academy here: www.redskiacademy.com

With the Home Stay Plan athletes that are not local in Rossland are placed with families in Rossland. We also have service providers such as physiotherapy, mental training, etc.

The home stay is organized and delivered through the administration end of the academy program. The athletes stay with families in the area. There is an education for the home stay families with respect to the nutritional needs of the athlete. The cost for this is $750/month, which includes some of the travelling needs. With their application to academy the process for home stay is initiated.

Another component of this program is transportation to and from the training venue to the school. In Rossland you can walk from “home” to school

The Educational Component of the Academy is delivered at Rossland Senior Secondary school. This will provide the athletes with a flexible academic schedule that allows time for proper training and competition programs. Read more about RMA here: www.rss.sd20.bc.ca

The third component of the program is the Training and Competition Program that is managed and delivered by myself. I have several coaches and experts who are assisting me in the Black Jack Racing team. We provide an intensive, individualized training and preparation programs.

Athletes in the academy program will train alongside the athletes training with the Club Program. Currently we have athletes from Rossland, Nelson, and Trail that work with the Black Jack Racing Team.

General program for 2011/12
– May 1 is the training year start
– Will plan for a spring snow camp where it can happen, likely Vernon, however we can do it here in some years
– June is dryland, going into the local mountain trails as the snow melts
– July will have a week at the Haig glacier
– August will have two weeks in the Bow Valley with two trips to the Haig glacier
– Fall camp with altitude. Most likely the Bow Valley if the stored snow works out
– December NorAms
– World Junior trials
– National Champs
– Other racing as is available

In Rossland we enjoy the perfect natural environment for developing Cross Country Ski Racers. We have an extensive network of trails and paths that are ideal for running and ski simulation on foot. As well we have mountain trails that are up to 2200 meters in elevation.

This means we can train between 400 meters and 2200 meters, an ideal situation for altitude training and lower elevation for speed work. We have long continuous roller ski climbs, up to 25 km, or we can have gentle rolling terrain to roller ski on. A lot of this roller ski terrain has very limited traffic.

We have access to a rubber surface running track in Warfield (6km away), an aquatic center in Trail (10 km), gyms in Rossland, and the alpine area (Red Resort) is about 5km from town, a perfect distance for warm up for a hill session. This is as good as it gets for dry land training!

We have three areas where we can ski. The Black Jack Club (www.skiblackjack.ca) is about a 10 min drive from anywhere in Rossland. The club has about 30 km of trails that are groomed daily by one of the two Pisten Bulleys the club owns. The normal season at Black Jack would be December to April. There is a biathlon facility up the highway from Black Jack. There is a 5km loop with the shorter tracks inside the 5 km track. The biathlon facility is about 300 meters higher than Black Jack, and gets earlier snow (2 to 3 weeks) and the snow lasts much longer in the spring. Finally the Castlegar ski club operates a trail system at the Paulson Summit. This is about a 30 min drive from Rossland, and it is also higher (about 1500 meters) so it is another option for early skiing

We can offer a training environment that is very high quality and lets the athletes maximize their training time do to the proximity of all training venues.

Dave, I think that wraps it up for any young teenage skier it doesn’t get any better. Sort of a home away from home feeling with the Home Stay Program and one of the best facilities and training centered programs you could want to be involved with – how do I sign up?
DW:

February 05, 2011 (Kelowna, B.C.) – Canadian National Team members Drew Goldsack and Perianne Jones, topped the qualifications on their way to victory at the Teck 1.3km Freestyle Sprints on Friday as another mini-tour gets underway in Kelowna, B.C., also doubling as the Western National Championships.

Chandra Crawford (NST), who qualified third behind Andrea Dupont of the Rocky Mountain Racers in second, fell ill and opted not to continue heading home to Canmore. Jones had the fastest qualifying time in 2:55.24 and took the win over Sarah Daitch (Fort Smith Ski Club) in second and Dupont in third. Juniors Rebecca Reid (AWCA), Dahria Beatty (Yukon Ski Team) and Suzanne Stevenson (Foothills Nordic) finished 4th-6th in the A-Final.

Goldsack was back to his winning form as he grabbed the win over suprise second place finisher Matthew Wylie (Banff Ski Runners) who beat national teamer Stefan Kuhn second behind Goldsack in the qualifications, in third. Rounding out the A-Final were Graham Nishikawa (AWCA), George Grey (NST) and Brian McKeever (Foothills Nordic) of Para-Nordic fame.

Next up are the Prologue races on Saturday.

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

January 14, 2011 (Liberec, CZE) – Norwegian ski queen, Marit Bjoergen, who sat out the Tour de Ski to prepare for the Oslo Worlds, is coming back to the World Cup circuit, and nobody is happier to hear it than the USA’s Kikkan Randall. The World Cup resumes in Liberec this weekend for the sprinters with the individual freestyle races on Saturday and the Team Sprint Classic races  on Sunday.

It’s no secret that Randall, who has had solid sprint results this year, is itching for another match up with Bjoergen since their last meeting at the World Cup in Davos, Switzerland. It was there that the US Olympian had a crack at beating the Norwegian star who has dominated the World Cup, only to have her hopes dashed in the final stretch when Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) jumped into her lane, slowing her momentum.

Randall, who netted third when Kowalcyk was relegated to 6th for the obstruction, conceded that catching Bjoergen at that race was unlikely. Kowalcyk, the current World Cup leader who is coming off her overall victory at the Tour de Ski, will not be present at Saturday’s 1.3km sprint qualifier, leaving the door open for another chapter in the Randall/Bjoergen rivalry – a prelude to the Worlds in Oslo. Unlike Bjoergen, Randall completed the grueling Tour becoming the first US woman to do so finishing 19th overall, so her fitness is there but the Tour is a grind and its affects on Randall will soon be known.

With 42 World Cup wins under her belt, Bjoergen is currently tied with former Norwegian great, Bente Skari, for the most WCup wins of all time for women. Bjoergen, who was the individual sprint champion at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, is also approaching the legendary Bjorn Daehlie’s overall record of 46 wins.

Canada will be represented by Chandra Crawford and Daria Gaiazova who are also returning to the World Cup (their last WCup race was in Davos) and they shared the podium not long ago at the Team Sprint freestyle race in Dusseldorf, Germany. Gaiazova recently claimed a couple of victories at the NorAm World Junior/U23 Trial in Thunder Bay while Crawford, the 2009 Winter Olympic skate sprint champ, has been training in Canmore. The duo will race in the classic team sprint on Sunday as well.

The Liberec field is leaner as some TdS skiers are taking a break, but the competition remains stiff as the seeded women’s field for Saturday’s event is teeming with gold calibre racers. Among the pack is Italy’s sprint specialist Arianna Follis. The two-time Olympian has seen success in Liberec, winning the individual sprint there at the 2009 FIS World Championships. Follis was second at the freestyle sprint in Davos.

Also among the competitors is Hanna Falk of Sweden, who has two World Cup sprint victories under her belt. Petra Majdic of Slovenia, who won both sprint events at the Tour de Ski, will also be vying for victory having accrued 22 World Cup wins in her 12-year career, including an Olympic bronze at the Vancouver 2010 sprints despite suffering severe injuries from her accidental fall during the warm up.

For the men Andy Newell will be the lone representative for the USA in Saturday’s 1.6km sprint in Liberec. The Vermont speed king will be looking for redemption and keeping the bad luck monkey off his back following two falls in the men’s classic sprint race at the TdS in Obertsdorf, Germany.

Newell is coming off an 8th place finish in the sprints at the Toblach TdS World Cup in Italy, and did not finish the Tour which means he should be rested up and poised to do well against a pool that is missing some of the world’s best such as WCup Sprint leader Emil Joensson (SWE).

Not missing on the start list, however, is Alexei Petuhkov who leads a strong Russian contingent including Olympic classic sprint gold and silver medalists Nikita Kruikov and Alex Panzhinskiy.

Norway is also fielding a strong team despite the absence of their leader, Petter Northug, who was second overall at the TdS and is back on form with the upcoming Worlds on his home turf. John Kristian Dahl will be on the start line and is always a threat in every sprint. Dahl is joined by sprinting powerhouse, Ole Vigen Hattestad, who has nine career World Cup sprint victories, along with Oystein Pettersen, who is coming off a bronze medal effort at the Dusseldorf WCup sprint.

Sweden’s Jesper Modin, Italian sensation Federico Pellegrino and teamers Fulvio Scola and David Hofer along with Germany’s Josef Wenzel will all be looking to mix it up and shooting for the podium. Many readers will recall that Wenzel and Dahl clashed in Dusseldorf in a controversial crash that took them out of the Team Sprint race.

Canada will be represented by lone competitor Len Valjas, who will be eager to improve on his stellar 17th place finish at the World Cup sprint in Dusseldorf. Valjas recently placed 5th in last weekend’s NorAm Cup sprint final in T-Bay.

We caught up with Canada’s Jeff Ellis, who is Kikkan Randall’s husband, and is waxing for the Aussies in Liberec who told us, “The weather is warm, dreary and wet here, It has been around 5-7 degrees each day with a light rain. There is lots of man-made snow, so there are no worries there.

“They salted the course for today’s training so conditions were quite firm considering the above freezing temps at night. There are lots of new faces from the crew that took part in the Tour de Ski. It’s a sprint weekend for sure!”

January 12, 2011 (Thunder Bay, ON) – Here is another video  courtesy of Team Hardwood’s Graham Longford with highlights from the Classic Sprint heats and finals at the 2011 Haywood NorAm WJr/U23 Trials at Lappe Nordic Centre in Thunder Bay, ON last weekend. Brent McMurtry took the men’s win over Stefan Kuhn and Jess Cockney, who also snagged the U23 victory. In the women’s race, it was Dasha Gaiazova who chalked up another win to her name. NorAm leader Perianne Jones took the silver, while Alysson Marshall doubled as the senior bronze medalist and the best U23 – read more HERE.

January 11, 2011 (Thunder Bay, ON) – Here’s another great video by Team Hardwood’s Graham Longford with highlights of the Junior Men’s 20km Pursuit race at the 2011 Haywood NorAm and World Junior/U23 Trials held at Lappe Nordic in Thunder Bay, ON Jan. 6-9. Local boy Andy Shields won convincingly, skating away from the field in the final 10km to win by a 51s margin. Shields is now guaranteed a spot on the Canadian Junior Worlds team heading to Estonia.

January 09, 2011 (Thunder Bay, ON) – Competing on the domestic circuit as part of a plan to return to the World Cup circuit while their Olympic teammates wrapped up the Tour de Ski, Canada’s George Grey and Perianne Jones found their stride by winning the men’s and women’s skate ski races at the Haywood NorAms in Thunder Bay, Ont. on Sunday.

The 31-year-old Grey, of Rossland, B.C., is starting to discover the shape that helped him capture his lone World Cup medal two years ago in a team sprint with Alex Harvey in Whistler, B.C. The two-time Olympian captured his second victory of the weekend after completing the men’s 15-kilometre skate-ski race with a time of 39 minutes, 21.9 seconds at the Lappe Nordic Ski Centre.

“It was good race and a tough course today so I’m happy,” said Grey, who punched his ticket for a spot on Canada’s World Championship squad this weekend.

“Right now I’m going back to the drawing board. I’m working on my distance and getting my shape again. I have six weeks to go until Worlds so it will be good to get back around the team, and Justin (Wadsworth – head coach), to ramp it up to where I want to be.”

Grey has spent most of his summer and early season rebounding from knee surgery this spring.

“Motivation is tough to find for any athlete, and when you have injuries a dark cloud just follows you because you want to go but you have to be patient,” said Grey. “Everyone this weekend was peaking because it was trials for World Championships. To win twice I know I’m not far off so I’ll keep working hard at it.”

Grey was pressed for the podium by Graham Nishikawa, of Whitehorse, who claimed the silver with a time of 39:27.3, while Michael Somppi, of Thunder Bay, Ont., rounded out the podium in third (39:34.6).

Meanwhile Canada’s Perianne Jones is also patiently making her comeback to the elite international circuit. Jones, of Almonte, Ont., won her second race on North America’s premiere development cross-country ski race series after posting a time of 31:02.7 in the women’s 10-kilometre skate-ski event.

“I felt really good out there and I’ve known all year that I’ve just been feeling a lot better,” said Jones, who said her body felt a little bit up last year pushing the paces with the world’s best on the World Cup circuit. “My body was just really tired last year and it is nice to be building that confidence and racing professionally again here. I have been working hard on my technique and things have been going really well.”

Jones was put to the test this weekend with Daria Gaiazova, of Banff, Alta., who made her return from the World Cup. Gaiazova, who won a World Cup bronze medal in the team sprint earlier this year with Chandra Crawford, won the first two races of the weekend but was pushed to the second spot on the podium Sunday with a time of 31:18.3.

“It was awesome to have Daria here and bring the level of racing up a little,” said Jones. “It was a good reminder for me of how fast things are on the World Cup.”

Calgary’s Brooke Gosling claimed the bronze with a time of 32:27.5.

Full results HERE.

Results (brief)

Open Female

1.    Perianne Jones (Nakkertok/NST) 31:02.7
2.    Dasha Gaiazova (Rocky Mountain Racers/NST) +15.6
3.    Brooke Gosling (Foothills/CXC) 1:24.8
4.    Sara Hewitt (Foothills/AWCA) 2:01.7
5.    Brittany Webster (Highlands Trailblazers/AWCA) 2:23.4
6.    Heidi Widmer (Foothills/AWCA) 2:34.4
7.    Alysson Marshall (Larch Hills/AWCA/BCST) 2:36.3
8.    Annika Hicks (Canmore Nordic/AWCA) 2:40.6
9.    Anne-Marie Comeau (Club Nordique M.S.A.) 2:44.3
10.    Erin Tribe (Team Hardwood/NDC Thunder Bay)2:44.6

Open Male

1.    George Grey (Black Jack/NST) 39:21.9
2.    Graham Nishikawa (Whitehorse/AWCA) 5.4
3.    Michael Somppi (Lappe Nordic/NDC Thunder Bay) 12.7
4.    Brent McMurtry (Foothill) 55.0
5.    David Greer (Whitehorse/CNEPH) 56.1
6.    Erik Carleton (Rocky Mountain Racers/RMR) 58.4
7.    Jess Cockney (Foothills/AWCA) 58.8
8.    Graeme Killick (Banff Ski Runners/ NST) 1:20.9
9.    Pate Neumann (Canmore Nordic/AWCA) 1:33.0
10.    Kevin Sandau (Foothills/NST/AWCA) 1:34.1

December 22, 2010 (Rossland, BC) – Here are some more great photos from Stages 1 and 3 of the Rossland NorAm Mini Tour taken by Julien Locke. Stefan Kuhn (CAN) took top honours in the men’s tour, while Jessica Diggins (USA) won the women’s overall. Check out the full results HERE.

View more of Julien Locke’s photos HERE.

December 17, 2010 (Rossland, BC) – When it comes to do-or-die performances, you can’t get much more clutch than Stef Kuhn’s Tech Sprint win in Rossland today. The Canadian National Ski Team (NST) veteran only just returned from racing in Europe on Monday, having been forced home by necessity. Today’s 1.6km freestyle sprint in Rossland, BC was the last qualifier for a sprinter’s spot on the Canadian Nordic World Championship team.

“Whoever wins here will go, and that’s about it,” said Cross Country Canada’s James Cunningham, “the rest of the team is pretty much full.”

On a very technical course, Kuhn took the win in a hard-fought sprint to the line over teammate Drew Goldsack after the two Canucks gapped the field just before the last corner. Fellow NST skier George Grey finished 3rd, with Lars Flora (USA), Phil Widmer (CAN) and Mike Sinnott (USA) rounding out the top six.

On the women’s side, the competition was just as stiff; so stiff in fact that Canada’s Perianne Jones and American Holly Brooks (APU) tied for 2nd just meters behind US winner and Brooks’ teammate, Sadie Bjornsen. The women’s final saw all top six qualifiers from this morning battling for podium positions. Jessica Diggins (USA) finished 4th, Heidi Widmer 5th and Andrea Dupont was 6th. Having so many top skiers in the final is something that winner Bjornsen said made for a good, clean race.

Tied for second makes Ottawa’s Jones the top Canadian, which also secures her a spot at the World Championships. She said today’s result is a huge weight off her shoulders.

“It’s a big time relief,” said Jones. “I was pretty nervous this morning and right up ’till the final.”

Despite her dominance on the domestic sprint circuit this year, today was no cakewalk for Jones. In her final heat she battled with 3rd fastest qualifier Heidi Widmer (AWCA) and 6th fastest qualifier, Andrea Dupont, and both were contenders to challenge for he World Champs position.

“I was very concerned about them, especially because it’s so hard to pass on that course. I wanted to get out front, so I basically went as fast as I could off the start. Most importantly I wanted to be safe on the corners.” Indeed, being taken out by an aggressive competitor would have been disastrous, especially considering the Americans have no qualification spots on the line this weekend.

With her big race out of the way, Jones said she’s excited about the rest of the mini-tour.   She said she likes the idea, and that “in Canada, it’s good for people who usually just race sprints to get some other races.”

Women’s full results HERE.
Men’s full results HERE.

December 16, 2010 – Canadian National Ski Team (NST) member Drew Goldsack is a veteran of the cross-country ski-racing world. Goldsack, who trains with the Alberta World Cup Academy, has been racing World Cups since 2003. He has one Olympics and two World Championships under his belt, with a top showing of 6th in the team sprint at the 2007 Championships in Sapporo, Japan.

Compared to Goldsack, National Development Center (NDC) athlete Andy Shields is a relative newcomer, though he’s quickly racking up his own impressive resume, having represented Canada at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Hinterzarten, Germany last season.

Despite their difference in years, both athletes shared moments atop the podium at Sovereign Lakes last weekend, Goldsack winning the open men’s classic sprint and Shields taking the junior men’s 15km free event. SkiTrax had a chance to sit down with both racers after the 15km to talk about their races and goals for the future.

Goldsack, who’s won all his NorAm and SuperTour starts until now, was a little disappointed with his 5th place finish in the distance race on Sunday. “The winning streak is over, but it was bound to happen. The 15km skate is definitely not one of my strengths… so I didn’t really expect to win today,” said Goldsack.

Over 30 centimeters of snow fell Saturday night (Dec. 11), leaving the Sovereign Lake crew scrambling to eke out a raceable course, which they accomplished admirably under pressure.

“It was a hard race today, the conditions were pretty difficult; lots of soft, kind of punchy snow. It got pretty chopped up on the climbs… definitely not the best conditions for me,” continued Goldsack. He said he typically does better on hard, fast courses and the soft conditions on Sunday definitely gave the advantage to smaller, lighter racers.

Racers like the light and agile Shields who had a much easier time in the deep snow.

“I was pretty excited to ski in that kind of snow. It really plays into my hands,” he said. “The grooming was amazing too, considering how much snow fell.” Shields’ win was his first ever on the NorAm circuit.

“I’ve been second a few times, so it was nice to finally stand on the top spot.”

Waking up to over a foot of fresh powder was a shock to the racers, but both said their training center teams handled the situation extremely well.

“The team handled it really well,” said Shields. “It went smoothly for us. Eric [Bailey, NDC coach] had a good handle on it… got some really good wax on our skis, and we were all really happy with how well they were working.”

“I had three pairs [of race skis] ready to go and a couple of them were specific to soft conditions,” said Goldsack. He, too, had plenty of kind words for his wax support team even though they’ve only been working together a short while.

“It’s been a pretty painless transition [from the NST] and things are working well,” he said. “Because it’s a bigger team I end up waxing some of my own skis, which I’m definitely not used to, but it’s good for me for sure.”

Both athletes are training with national training centers. Shields is with the National Development Center in Thunder Bay, while Goldsack trains jointly with the National Ski Team and the Alberta World Cup Academy. While it might be a partnership born of NST budget constraints and a necessity, it’s one that the veteran thinks has a lot of potential.

“So far, it’s been really good,” he says. He credits both NST coach Justin Wadsworth for collaborating well with Mike Cavaliere and the AWCA coaching staff. Each coach and team has his own style and ideas, making for powerful synergy. It also allows for some unique role modeling, given the wide age spread of skiers on the AWCA team.

“It’s nice to have the young energy and excitement. The pressure to perform is less than the NST’s intense environment,” said Goldsack. He said he enjoys being able to share his wealth of racing experience with the younger athletes.

“Some of them think you have to be in bed at 8 p.m. every night and train 900 hours a year,” said Goldsack. “I thing its been good for them to see that my training’s not much different than theirs.”

Despite, or perhaps thanks to the wisdom of his years, Goldsack is smart enough to keep an eye on the up-and-comers, many of whom have their targets set on the same World Cup and World Championship races that he does. The U23 field is exceptionally strong right now, he says, with many of the world’s top U23 skiers capable of holding their own on the World Cup stage.

“Domestically and internationally the U23 field has some very solid skiers. I mean, there were two [U23’s] in the sprint final in Davos.” That says a lot about the strength of younger skiers, he said. Ontario’s 22-year-old Lenny Valjas finished 17th in the Davos sprint last weekend, enough to land him a spot at the Nordic World Championships in Oslo, Norway later this winter.

Seeing younger athletes racing that fast is a huge motivator for Shields. After his win on Sunday, he’s looking ahead to the three-race NorAm mini-tour this coming weekend in Rossland BC. The first race in Rossland is a skate sprint, which is a qualifier for World Championships as well and shields said he’s excited.

“It’ll be nice to start the tour off with my best event,” he said. “I’m looking for a good solid performance there, and to ski well overall.” After that, said Shields, it’s home to Cambridge, Ontario, for Christmas to rest up for World Junior Championship trials which will be held on his new home course at Lappe Nordic, in Thunder Bay.

Goldsack is also setting his sights on the Rossland sprint on Dec. 17 and the World Champ’s spot that’s on the line.

“Best case scenario I’d like to be on the podium in Oslo. I’ve been on the verge in the pastŠso if I can get back to that form I don’t think it’s an unreasonable goal,” said Goldsack. “At this point in my career, if I’m not shooting for the podium then I don’t know what I’m doing.”

December 16, 2010 (Sovereign Lake, BC) – Check out these great video highlights from last weekend’s NorAm Teck women’s 10k skate race at Sovereign Lake, which was won by Holly Brooks (APU). Caitlin Compton (CXC) and Brooke Gosling finished second and third, respectively.

December 15, 2010 (Sovereign Lake, BC ) – Check out this great video featuring highlights from last weekend’s Teck Sprint races at the Haywood NorAm season opener at Sovereign Lake courtesy of Graham Longford from Team Harwood. The video includes the Men’s A/B finals and the Women’s A final won by Drew Goldsack (CAN) and Perianne Jones (CAN), respectively.

Sovereign Lake NorAm Highlights – Men’s A/B and Women’s A Finals