In early July, Marc-André Bédard’s brother called him up, urging him to try a Spartan Race. Simon Bédard, of Montreal, had just finished one the 5 k trail challenges in Ottawa. He had heard of a $20,000 reward for outrunning the series’ reigning champ, Hobie Call, and figured his brother, Biathlon Canada’s 2008 athlete of the year, could beat him. While training with the national team in Canmore, Alberta, the 2010 Olympian looked into it....
Team Canada: Picking Up Where They Left Off With five top-ten finishes in their first weekend of racing in Bruksvallarna, Sweden, the Canadian Team seems to have kept much of their momentum they brought to Whistler last February. And much of that is due to the returning members of last year’s successful Olympic squad. The Big Four on the men’s team have returned: Devon Kershaw, Ivan Babikov, George Grey, and Alex Harvey; and though the...
Unlike some of her peers, like Americans Simi Hamilton and Ida Sargent, Brittany Webster’s rise has not been meteoric. She’s never been on the podium at a major international race, and she has only contested four World Cups—all of which were in her home country of Canada. She doesn’t even have her own website like many of her compatriots—just a plain, infrequently updated blog on WordPress. But of all the North American athletes competing in...
The World Cup opener is still 100 days away, but for the U.S. and Canadian national teams, the 2010-2011 cross-country season kicks off today with a 10/15 k classic mass start event. The race is part of the ANC series – the Australian and New Zealand Continental Cup. It is being held at the Snow Farm in New Zealand, and will feature an elite, if small, field. The U.S. Ski Team (USST) will start their...
Sara Renner is getting a crash course in normal living. Since announcing her retirement from skiing after her final race—the 30 k race at the Olympics, she’s jumped into the “real life of motherhood and work” with both feet. “It’s really eye-opening the amount of stuff you do in a day when you don’t ski [train],” she said. “It’s so busy!” Renner is now balancing motherhood with a new position—she and her husband, Thomas Grandi,...
At 21 years of age, Canada’s Alex Harvey is keeping pace with the world’s fastest nordic skiers. After steadily creeping up the results since the beginning of the season, today he blazed to a 9th place finish in the 10km classic, stage 6 of the Tour de Ski. What went well in today’s race that allowed for such a great result? Today’s race was my best ever result in a distance individual start so I am super pumped! I...
Team Canada: In good health, could be the most successful season yet. When asked if he thought he had the “strongest team ever” coach Dave Wood paused and said that, in 2006, Becky Scott and Sara Renner were two of the strongest athletes he had seen on the Canadian Team. The difference coming into this season, Wood says, is that Canada not only has athletes with medal-winning potential, but a larger number of them. With...
Canadian Team Preview from the Mammoth High Altitude Camp – “Eight Mustaches…”
At just twenty years old, Canadian Alex Harvey had a breakout year in 2008-2009 with two World Cup podium finishes: third in the team sprint in Whistler, and another third in the 50 kilometer classic in Trondheim, Norway. FasterSkier caught up with him just after he finished his afternoon massage at a National Team camp in Canmore. FS: You’re out in Canmore right now training with the National Team. It seems like you have a...
