While most people have moved on to other sports by May, the more obsessive skiers are starting the new training year on snow. Canada’s “first” cross-country ski “races” of the 2017/2018 season were held on May 6. “First” because, while we haven’t exhaustively researched this, it was the first Saturday after May 1, which is the traditional new year for the Northern Hemisphere. “Races” is also a bit misleading as most athletes were viewing the events as an opportunity...
On May 6, Sovereign Lake hosted a classic time trial with a twist. Instead of using a standard interval start, each skier drew a number, did that many pushups, put their skis on, and started the 5-kilometre, one-lap course. When one skier hit the 5-metre line, the next skier stepped up to the pushup station. Troy Hudson, general manager of the Sovereign Lake Nordic Club (SLNC), came up with the format the night before, so the special equipment...
CANMORE, Alberta — Canadian Nationals went to Canmore for 2017 and Canmore delivered. Famous for challenging courses, well-trained volunteers, and erratic weather; the Canmore Nordic Centre showed all three at their best during the eight-day event. Each day delivered warm sun, cold winds, snow flurries, and warm winds (often all occurring in a single race lap) to more than 600 racers. The first races each morning were held on fast, transformed snow that transitioned to slow and soft in the afternoon. While...
The annual Eastern Canadian Championships are a special event in the Canadian winter. On paper, it is just another NorAm that provides opportunities to earn World Cup starts, national-team positions, and valuable International Ski Federation (FIS) points, but it has grown to be bigger than that. While Western Canadian Championships and Canadian nationals change their host venue each year, Nakkertok, Chelsea Nordiq, and Heats Women’s classic sprint podium: Maya MacIsaac-Jones, NST U25, 3:42.06 Sophie Carrier-Laforte, CNEPH, +0.66 Anne Hart,...
Double poling is an increasingly important part of cross-country skiing and it pays to be good at it. If watching World Cup stars double pole short races on television doesn’t have you convinced, take a look at the races you might enter. Most loppets, marathons and citizen races feature flatter courses with a lot of double-poling time. Even in skating, the three main techniques all include slight variations on double poling. When five Canmore skiers...
The Black Jack mini tour represented the final chance for Canadians to earn World Cup Period 2 starts. A timely week of snow and colder weather delivered great skiing conditions after an unusually warm November wreaked havoc on most of the western ski areas. That same warm weather canceled the Bozeman combined SuperTour/NorAm, which reduced the selection races from seven days to five. Chelsea Holmes of Alaska Pacific University (APU) continued her winning ways in Canada,...
VERNON, B.C. –The combined Noram/SuperTour last weekend at Sovereign Lake, British Columbia, produced some exciting skiing and some challenging photography conditions with almost non-stop snowfall both days. Some of our best photos that didn’t make the
VERNON, B.C. — It might’ve been the first Canadian NorAm of the season, but the Americans made it all about themselves in what also doubled as their second stop on the U.S. SuperTour circuit this past weekend at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre. U.S. skiers kept Canada off the podium in the classic sprints and freestyle intervals starts on Saturday, Dec. 10, and Sunday, Dec. 11, with Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt, of the Alberta World Cup Academy...
To kick off this World Cup season, Cross Country Canada (CCC) had planned to send four women for Period 1. After its men’s team has gathered most of the attention in recent years, the Canadian women are now in a position to develop depth at the top level of the sport. In her third full World Cup season, Emily Nishikawa, of Canada’s World Cup B-team, will be joined for Period 1 by national U25 Team members Dahria Beatty...
As promised, the Canadian version of “Where the (Skiable) White Stuff Is” (a.k.a. November skiing) is here, minus the bit about classic sprint in Canmore, Alberta, and ending in click here). If your favourite early season spot isn’t featured, you are in good company. Let us know in the comments below. And if you are visiting Canada, remember that the U.S. dollar is worth $1.35 up here. *** CAMPS XC SuperCamp Where: Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre and...
It's not easy picking a World Cup team. Ask Cross Country Canada's High Performance Director Tom Holland, who recently spoke to FS about this season's goals and how they selected their best athletes to achieve them.
Quotes, observations and photos from the Frozen Thunder freestyle distance, classic sprint and skate-sprint qualifier last week in Canmore, Alberta. “Frozen Thunder is definitely a huge asset to western North America. There is no doubt that it helps get you into ski shape long before the season starts,” local skier Russell Kennedy states.
Just six-hundredths of a second shy of Len Valjas's winning qualifying time on Thursday, Bob Thompson of NDC Thunder Bay is headed to Europe for his first international World Cup experience. He clinched the final men's spot on Canada's World Cup Period 1 team.
Update: Early Thursday, Cross Country Canada (CCC) announced that Jess Cockney has been selected for World Cup Period 1, referencing both his Olympic history and last season's World Cup top-10 result.
In Canada's first unofficial on-snow race of the 2016/2017 season -- which most of nearly 100 competitors viewed as a training effort -- American Chelsea Holmes and Canadian national-team biathlete Brendan Green topped their respective fields in the 7.5 and 12 k freestyle races.
Biathlon, like many Olympic sports, began as a way for soldiers to practice their skills. Neal Bascomb’s new book, "The Winter Fortress", tells the tale of Norwegian and British soldiers on skis fighting the German occupation of Norway in World War II. This book is interesting, historically accurate, scientifically accurate, and well written. Even without the skiing, this would be my favorite nonfiction book of the year.
FasterSkier previewed the Quebec City courses before the third and fourth stages of the Ski Tour Canada, another freestyle sprint and 10/15 k freestyle pursuits, with the sprint on Friday on the historic Plains of Abraham. We also joined a press conference with the local celebrity, Alex Harvey. "A top-five placement overall is still realistic," he said of the entire Tour. "Even the podium is not out of reach."
At Western Canadian Championships last weekend in Prince George, B.C., Dahria Beatty and Kevin Sandau locked up the overall NorAm lead before the Ski Tour Canada while others duked it out during three days of races Feb. 19-21.
With fewer than two weeks remaining until the Ski Tour Canada visits Gatineau, Montreal, Quebec City, and Canmore from March 1-12, we spent some time breaking down the provisional North American picks and estimated costs for Canadian nation's group skiers at the season-ending World Cups.
Len Valjas double poled past Italian sprint star Federico Pellegrino at the end of the first men’s classic sprint quarterfinal to earn a spot in the semifinals and ultimately lead the North American men in 10th in the fourth stage of the Tour de Ski in Oberstdorf, Germany.