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...
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...
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...
Welcome to FasterSkier’s World Cup Preview, where we check in with the top-10 teams from last year’s FIS Cross Country World Cup tour before the season starts. The World Cup begins with a classic sprint in Ruka, Finland on Nov. 24th. *** Canada Overall in Nations Cup Last Year: 10th Women’s Ranking 2017/2018: 18th Men’s Ranking 2017/2018: 8th Canadians to Watch: Canada has shape-shifted it’s world cup team as part of a larger restructuring of...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Cross Country Canada, the nation's governing body for cross country skiing will have a new leader in Shane Pearsall starting January 1st. He comes to the role new to skiing, but with a background helping lead Bobsleigh Canada and Skeleton as well as ties to oil and gas, an industry tied to the nordic skiing funding pipeline in Canada. As an athlete, Pearsall was an elite hockey player and was a member of the 1980 men's national team. Pearsall answers Nordic Nation's questions in this episode.