The Canadian Cross Country Team is currently conducting their third annual September dryland training camp in Park City, Utah, USA (September 8th – 28th).
FasterSkier met with National Team head coach Dave Wood
“The team started coming here for dryland camps and races as preparation for the 2002 Winter Olympics. We liked the terrain, the high altitude living situation and possibilities to train at various lower elevations than the (great) Deer Valley housing accommodations at roughly 8200 feet or 2500 meters”, says Dave.
Dave points at good rollerskiing, Olympic ski-trails for running, rollerski course from the Olympic stadium, plenty of trail options in the Park City and Deer Valley area, and pleasant fall climate as good reasons for spending 20 days in and around Park City.
The team consists of six men and five women
On the men’s side both George Gray and Chris Jeffries seems to be making positive strides after a good summer of training and veteran women – Sarah Renner and Beckie Scott also recorded solid summer training. Sarah recently proved this by posting the best time ever by a woman in a Canmore 4K-rollerski time-trial – beating Beckie’s several year-old record by a few seconds. The new record is 12.52 minutes and done on the same model rolleskis as used for the previous record.
Dave also mentions Tara Whitten, last year’s second place finisher at the U-23 Worlds – improved focus and smoother technique as very positive.
A 5K running time-trial at Soldier Hollow later this week should give the skiers and coaches an idea of where they are and what they need to work on until season start.
FasterSkier.com observed the women in a rollerski interval session on Wednesday, September 17th and was very impressed with the younger skier’s acceleration speed, top speed and technique in speed training done prior to the intervals.
