Dave Wood – FasterSkier

A Pandemic, Virtual Harvard, and the World Cup: Checking In With Rémi Drolet

Gerry FursethDecember 17, 2021

Rossland, BC native Rémi Drolet had a lot going on during the first year of the pandemic. In his first year on the Canadian senior national ski team, he was studying theoretical physics at Harvard. His junior career ended with a silver medal and an individual fourth place in the 2020 World U20 Championships, right before COVID cancelled the final World Cups and Canadian Senior Nationals. This was also his first season living in a...

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...

General News

Cross Country Canada: The Reboot Part 1

Gerry FursethNovember 21, 2018

Cross Country Canada (CCC) has begun a reboot process as the new Olympic cycle starts. Corporations call this a reset, a rebranding, a new direction, restructuring, and various other names that try to disguise the challenges and issues that come with enacting real change. The reboot process traditionally starts with an acknowledgement that the current level of success, and that of the foreseeable future, doesn’t align with the goals or the potential of the organization....

Canadian National Ski Team General Interviews News Olympics Racing World Cup

Hanging Up the Boots: Kershaw Retires from Skiing, Embraces Next Challenge

Alex KochonMay 8, 2018

On April 26, Devon Kershaw posted a photo on social media of Alpina boots hanging on a line. The next day, he spoke on the phone with FasterSkier from his new home in Lillehammer, Norway, after a day of running around outside with his 15-month-old daughter, Asta Isabel. Kershaw was tired, but in a good way. For the first time in 17 years, he was ready for a new challenge, a new focus and much...

Canadian National Ski Team General Interviews World Cup

Qualified for First World Cups, Locke Sees It As ‘First Step’

Gabby NaranjaNovember 20, 2017

In Rossland, British Colombia, most residents can reach the town’s lone alpine hill by car in five minutes, the cross-country trails in seven. Tucked high in the Monashee Mountains, hemlock and fir outnumber some 3,500 locals, most of whom know each other by name. And over the past two decades, Rossland, which was fourth in the juvenile boy’s classic sprint. “That sat heavily with me all summer because I knew, I believed that I was capable of being...

Camps Canadian National Ski Team Interviews Training

Catching Up with Canada’s Former Head Coach Dave Wood

Nancy FiddlerOctober 31, 2013

During his recent visit to California for a training camp with his Black Jack Ski Club, former Canadian National Team Head Coach Dave Wood met up with FasterSkier's Nancy Fiddler and shared some intimate thoughts on the sport. "You can’t improve by just going to Europe to race,” Wood says. “You have to figure out a way to cut 45 seconds over 15 kilometers before going.”

General Other

There’s Still Snow in Sovereign: Spring Camp Wraps Up

Gerry FursethMay 19, 2013

Sovereign Lake Nordic Center’s annual Summer Ski camp from May 10-19 attracted the usual collection of hard-core skiers, a mixture of teams and day trippers who need a last fix of snow before the inevitable arrival of summer. With the city of Vernon already in full-summer mode in the valley below, Sovereign’s weeklong camp is the last chance for set tracks in the region.

Juniors News Other News Racing

Dave Wood on New Blackjack Ski Program

FasterSkierFebruary 25, 20112

Marty Hall (MH)– Hi Dave, it’s been 9 months since your departure from the Canadian National Team, what’s been happening with you and your career—bring us up to speed? Dave Wood (DW)—In the spring I began working with the Black Jack Ski Club in Rossland, BC. The program here has younger skiers ages 13 to 17, all in high school. We have an ideal natural environment for Cross country skiers in Rossland. Most of the...

Canadian National Ski Team General News Olympics Racing World Cup

Wood’s Resignation Preceded by Tension, Review

Nathaniel HerzMay 12, 20101

Following his resignation last week, longtime Canadian coach and team leader Dave Wood said that he was leaving to take a coaching opportunity with a club closer to his girlfriend, and that his parting from Cross Country Canada (CCC) had been amicable. Current and former CCC athletes all praised Wood’s contributions to the organization over the last dozen years. But in interviews, they also acknowledged that Wood’s last year with the program was marked by...

Canadian National Ski Team General News Olympics Racing World Cup

Wood Defends Decision on McKeever

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 28, 20102

As much as anyone might begrudge Team Canada coaches Dave Wood and National Inge Braten’s decision to sit Brian McKeever in Sunday’s 50 k classic, it’s hard to disagree with the fact that the two were presented with an agonizing choice. While starting McKeever would have meant making history—the Canadian would have been the first athlete to compete in both the winter Olympics and Paralympics—it also would have meant holding a potential medal contender out...