Cross Country Canada is pleased to announce that it has awarded the 2011 Haywood Ski Nationals to the Canmore Nordic Cross Country Ski Club. The event will take place at the Canmore Nordic Centre in Mid-March of 2011.
This will be one of the biggest events the Canmore Nordic club has ever hosted. The Haywood Ski Nationals encompass both junior and senior competitions and includes the Canadian Colleges and University Championships (CCUNC) and the Para-Nordic Championships. Over 700 athletes and coaches are expected to converge on Canmore for a 10 day period representing a huge economic impact to the local community. "The 2011 Haywood Ski Nationals is the last major event on the domestic calendar each season," stated Dave Dyer, CCC Events Director. "The Canmore Nordic Centre is one of the best ski facilities in the world and the local ski community has a wealth of experience in hosting major international ski events. Cross Country Canada is confident that this background will be a tremendous advantage when the Ski Nationals roll around in March 2011," continued Dyer.
Each skier can participate in up to 5 races spread over an 8 day stretch. The races will encompass everything from sprints to long distance races; team sprints, mass and interval start formats. The five race series is the ultimate measure of speed and tactics and especially endurance for the athletes and competition is always intense.
For Haywood Securities, title sponsorship of the Ski Nationals is a natural extension to their 8 year sponsorship of the National Ski Team, NorAm Canada Cup Series and the last 4 World Cups hosted in Canada. The Sprint event at the Ski Nationals will be presented by Teck Resources Ltd., the national sponsor of the Teck Sprint Series since 2007.
"This is a unique opportunity for Canmore skiers to compete at the highest level without the usual grind of national travel and local skiers in the Bow Valley are looking forward to the challenge," commented Andrew Hicks, co-chair of the event. "The Canmore Club has produced many National Team athletes including Chandra Crawford, Sara Renner, Phil Widmer and Stephan Kuhn and has an active skier development program from the grass roots to the junior racer under the direction of Alain Parent. We are sure the Canmore community will rally around this important National event and welcome our next ski stars to the community," stated Hicks.
Local athletes Bronwyn Allan and Macx Davies were elated about Ski Nationals coming back to Canmore. Both Jackrabbits skiers when Nationals were last in Canmore, they will now have the opportunity to compete with the best skiers in the country in their back yard. "It will be great to share our world class facility with competitors and friends from across Canada." stated Allan while Davies added "I’m excited for the locals to see how big cross country skiing is in Canada." Both skiers were silver medallists at the 2009 Haywood Ski Nationals as first year junior females and males.
The Canmore club and clubs from the Bow Valley and Calgary have performed well at the Haywood Ski Nationals. In 2009 Canmore Nordic finished an impressive 8th place overall among 76 clubs at the Ski Nationals. Meanwhile Foothills Nordic out of Calgary picked up its 7th consecutive National crown
The Canmore club has established a solid reputation among skiers across the country for putting on great events. About 200 volunteers will be hard at work over the next couple of ski seasons training and preparing for the races. The 2010 Haywood Ski Nationals are scheduled for Whitehorse, Yukon, March 14-21, 2010.
