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Nordiq Canada Revises 2021 Competition Plans for Canadian Athletes Due to Ongoing Pandemic (Press Release)

FasterSkierNovember 30, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 30, 2020 National Body Cancels Canadian World Championship Trials in Whistler and Canadian Ski Championships in Gatineau; Still plans on Sending Canadian Teams to Targeted International Races CANMORE, Alta.—The long-term health and safety of athletes, coaches, staff and volunteers is Nordiq Canada’s top priority. Using this statement as the beacon to guide the organization through the ongoing global pandemic, Nordiq Canada, in consultation with its members (Divisions) and national...

Canadian National Ski Team Racing

Kate Boyd Named High Performance Director of Nordiq Canada (Press Release)

FasterSkierSeptember 8, 2020

Kate Boyd Named High Performance Director of Nordiq Canada High performance team focused on rebuilding Olympic pathway at all levels, maintaining Paralympic excellence Press Release CANMORE, Alta.—On the eve of the organization’s 2020 Annual General Meeting, Kate Boyd will be first-ever woman to take the reins of Nordiq Canada’s high-performance program. A quiet, yet confident leader from Ottawa who is passionate and driven, Boyd’s goals as Nordiq Canada’s new high-performance director are completely...

Canadian National Ski Team Racing

Meet Stéphane Barrette, Nordiq Canada’s Acting CEO

Gerry FursethJune 4, 2020

Nordiq Canada had a changed-filled month of May, culminating with Stéphane Barrette taking over the CEO role for the next five or six months, with the possibility of permanence if both parties are happy. The former CEO Shane Pearsall was an administrator with experience in both business and sports federation leadership. Barrette is a skier: “Cross country skiing is an intense passion of mine, and has always been.” Barrette is well known to the Canadian...

Canadian National Ski Team Racing

Canadian Update: Shane Pearsall Resigns, Dave Dyer Retires, Athletes Protest Selections, Welcome to May

Gerry FursethMay 18, 2020

The ski world has been rattled by COVID19 and Canada is no different. One thing hasn’t changed, the new year starts on May 1st and brings changes. Nordiq Canada’s CEO Shane Pearsall resigned effective May 22nd. In the press release below, Nordiq Canada (NC) describes ‘mixed emotions’ about Pearsall’s decision to focus on family time in the pandemic era. Stéphane Barrette, NC’s Directeur du développement des athlètes et entraineurs, will be acting CEO. Barrette’s work...

Canadian National Ski Team Racing World Cup

Press Release: Canada Pulls Out Of Québec City World Cup

FasterSkierMarch 13, 2020

At 1am Eastern time on Friday, Nordiq Canada sent out a press release. The release mentions that the decision to drop out was made in solidarity with a list of countries, including the USA. As FasterSkier shared a flight to Québec City with a number of US and Canadian athletes and officials on Thursday afternoon, this was a late decision. Nordiq Canada Withdraws from FIS Cross Country World Cup in Quebec City QUEBEC CITY—After much...

Canadian National Ski Team Continental Cup Racing

Rebuilding Canada: Less Europe, More North America

Gerry FursethDecember 2, 2019

Canada is moving into a new era in skiing. An era with less World Cup podiums and more emphasis on developing future podium athletes. “Train at what you want to be good at. If its climbing, climb. If it is chess, play chess. Ski training has many elements of course, but in the end the best training to race fast is to race.” — Erik Bråten, National Team Head Coach In the near future,...

Canadian National Ski Team Racing

Nordiq Thunder 2019: Notes, Quotes, and Photos

Gerry FursethNovember 17, 2019

The unofficial kickoff to the western Canadian racing season was held on November 13th and 14th. The traditional King’s Court sprint and interval start distance races are now called Nordiq Thunder — a re-brand from Frozen Thunder – but the relaxed feel and clockwork organization remain the same. With no trip selections on the line, the 93 sprinters and 105 distance racers were there to test their fitness and tune up for the races that...

Canadian National Ski Team News Racing

Dahria Beatty and Jesse Cockney Finish on Top in Nordiq Thunder Distance Races (Press Release)

FasterSkierNovember 14, 2019

Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 14, 2019 Dahria Beatty and Jesse Cockney Finish on Top in Nordiq Thunder Distance Races Isobel Hendry and Tom Stephen jump ump to top of podium in junior races CANMORE, Alta.—Olympians Dahria Beatty and Jesse Cockney topped the field in the Nordiq Thunder skate-ski distance races under ideal conditions at the Canmore Nordic Centre on Thursday. Dahria Beatty, who hails out of the Whitehorse Ski Club, dusted the...

Canadian National Ski Team General News

Nordiq Canada: Ringing in the Changes

Gerry FursethNovember 5, 2019

When Cross Country Canada announced last March that they would be rebranding as Nordiq Canada, they were emphatic the new name was a symbol of their readiness to make changes. Those changes are starting to happen. One holdover from last season is Erik Bråten, the young Norwegian brought in to shape the development pipeline. After one year on the job, Bråten is still enthusiastic and now the sole head coach. Louis Bouchard has stepped down...

Canadian National Ski Team Racing

Bishop’s University NorAm and World Selection: Weekend Summary from Canada

Gerry FursethJanuary 21, 2019

The third NorAm weekend of the season was also Canadian selection trials for 2019 World Nordic Ski Championships and a Quebec Cup event on the Bishop’s University trails in Lennoxville, which is a neighborhood in Sherbrooke, Québec. With variable weather the Mont Orford club rallied and held races all three days of the competition schedule. On the line were NorAm series points, COC leaders’ bibs, and six automatic selections for the World Championships in Seefeld....

Canadian National Ski Team General News

Meet the Coach: CCC’s Erik Bråten

Gerry FursethNovember 23, 2018

Cross Country Canada hired Erik Bråten as the new national team coach on November 1st, joining Louis Bouchard. After a short delay to get a work permit, Bråten arrived in Canada on November 15th. Regular readers will know the highlights of his resume: Graduate of the Norwegian School of Sports Science. Winner of the coach of the year from the Norwegian ski federation. Previously Head Coach at Team Kollen, the junior team constituted from clubs...

Canadian National Ski Team General News

Cross Country Canada: The Reboot Part Two

Gerry FursethNovember 23, 2018

This is the second part of FasterSkier’s report on the state of high performance cross-country skiing and athlete development in Canada. You can read part one here. Cross Country Canada (CCC), as the national governing body for cross-country skiing in Canada has the difficult task of steering a rather large ship. The idea in steering the ship is to maintain a path requiring little quick and nimble maneuvering. Survey the landscape, mine the data, set...

Canadian National Ski Team General News

Bouchard Announced as Canada’s Head Coach while Norway’s Bråten Joins CCC as a National Team Coach

FasterSkierNovember 1, 2018

It has been a transition year for Cross Country Canada (CCC). Back on June 7th, CCC announced the hiring of Nic Lemyre as its High-Performance advisor. Lemyre is Canadian but lives and works in Oslo, Norway. With the reshuffling of Canada’s staff, up until today, CCC had not formally announced its World Cup coaching roster for the 2018-2019 season. Back on August 11th, CCC posted a job announcement for “Head Coach, Canadian Senior Cross Country...

Canadian National Ski Team General Interviews News

Tomlinson in the Lead as CCC’s New Board Chair

Jason AlbertAugust 27, 2018

On June 19, Cross Country Canada (CCC) announced that 52-year-old Jennifer Tomlinson will serve a two-year term as the new chair of its Board of Directors. She replaces The CCC press release opens with a statement that Tomlinson — a former racing director, volunteer coach and integral member of biathlon andwith his seventh place in the Olympic sprint, have been the individual podium hopes for the Canadian team. This past spring, Knute Johnsgaard (half of Canada’s...

Canadian National Ski Team General Interviews News

Nic Lemyre on Guiding Cross Country Canada Forward

Jason AlbertJune 19, 2018

Cross Country Canada has reset. In this nascent Olympic cycle, there’s been an CCC hired Nic Lemyre as a high performance and development advisor. (Former high performance director Tom Holland recently retired.) For the past 21 years, Lemyre has resided and worked in Norway, most recently as a professor of sport psychology at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences (NIH) in Oslo. He also currently serves as the head of the department of coaching...

Canadian National Ski Team General News

Tomlinson Becomes CCC’s First Female Board Chair

FasterSkierJune 19, 2018

Press release) Ontario’s Jennifer Tomlinson Named New Chair of the Board of Directors for Cross Country Ski de fond Canada Tomlinson to lead Board of Directors committed to excellence, and sport development CANMORE, Alta.—Jennifer Tomlinson will become the first woman ever to serve as chair of the Board of Directors for Cross Country Ski de fond Canada. An energetic leader and strategic thinker in her professional career, who brings a lifelong passion for skiing and...

Canadian National Ski Team General News

CCC Lays Off Four Staff Members, Including Babikov

Alex KochonJune 9, 2018

Cross Country Canada (CCC) has appointed a new high-performance and development advisor, CCC’s CEO since November 2016. On the upside, he explained that another sponsor and investment firm, Haywood Securities, has agreed to sponsor the NorAm circuit as it has in the past. Asked if budget cuts were among the biggest challenges affecting CCC at the moment and the reasoning behind the latest layoffs, Pearsall said, “Yes. If things had stayed the same that would’ve...

Canadian National Ski Team General News Para Nordic

CCC Taps New HP Advisor: Former Norwegian Sports Psych Nic Lemyre

FasterSkierJune 7, 2018

Press release) CANMORE, Alta.—Cross Country Ski de fond Canada has tapped Nic Lemyre to guide the organization’s high-performance program into a new era. Originally from Montreal, Lemyre takes on the role of high performance and development advisor with clear goals in mind – to break barriers and establish Canada as a strong Nordic nation with multiple male and female athletes performing at the highest level, while providing our nation’s best cross-country skiers with the means...

Canadian National Ski Team General Interviews News Racing

On the Mend: Valjas Back for More with Eyes on Seefeld

Jason AlbertJune 5, 2018

Canadian World Cup B-team member, Len Valjas was beaming. Valjas, along with podium-regular teammate Alex Harvey, had won a World Cup team sprint in Toblach, Italy. The next weekend, Valjas and three teammates (including Harvey) rocketed to individual classic sprint and ended the day in seventh for his best result at his second Olympics. Canada’s Olympic sport-funding system emphasizes championship medals and results. Harvey and Valjas set new Olympic benchmarks this February for Canadian men’s cross-country...

Canadian National Ski Team General Interviews Racing World Cup

Cockney on Growing Up with Skiing, Retiring and What’s Next

Alex KochonMay 31, 2018

Strength. Balance. Agility. Jesse Cockney had all of those qualities as a child growing up in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories — just like most Inuit kids — according to his father, Angus. But what he could do with that talent was what Angus hoped to nurture. Since he had put his son on skis at age 3, Angus reflected in an email that he “knew then that [Jess] had incredible potential to succeed.” And so the...

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