Westerns - Day 3

In case you missed it, here's Pauline's take on Day 3:

Today the kids raced their classic distance races. The wax tech/coaches were faced with the difficult task of determining which combination of waxes would work best for this icy hilly course. Numerous wax combinations were tried, with frustrating results and Corey, Megan and Alan worked feverishly amidst the pressure of time and lack of wax options. We even resorted to spying on other teams to try and obtain waxing enlightenment (okay, well I did). In spite of this very frustrating situation, the athletes handled it with understanding, patience and grace. Their races didn't go as they had hoped but their attitudes were definite winners.

Watching the races, we saw that we weren't the only team that had waxing troubles, in fact, there were very few teams that did get it right. After the races, the coaches took the opportunity to talk with a National Development coach about waxing for these conditions. They learned alot and found out they had been on the right track but were limited by resources and time.

The kids took today in stride and we spent the evening doing alot of laughing. They are all looking forward to their skate races tomorrow.It will be a hectic day, Alex, our "veteran" is the first to race and has a 30km ahead of him. This means he will have the pleasure of doing 6 laps of the gruelling 5km course. The rest race a bit later in the morning, then it will be a rush to the airport with all of our gear. I am told another video installment is in the works so stay tuned for that :)

Personally, I am really excited about the future of high performance skiing in Manitoba.The coaching/waxing team has been incredible and thorough in every way. Our athletes have been great and I have enjoyed spending time with each one of them, they are a fantastic group of kids, it has been an immense pleasure to manage this team.

See you tomorrow!
Pauline

 Also, in lieu of a proper post, here's Elora's latest creation:

Westerns - Day 2

For most of us, today was an easy morning. The Junior Boys did not start until 2:30, and all the other categories came after. Except for Alex, who started at 9:30 am.

So, while Corey, Megan and Alex beat the sun to the ski venue, the rest of us blissfully slept.

Unlike the rest of us, who skied a 2.5 km prologue, Alex raced a 1.4 km sprint. Despite feeling sluggish in the qualifier, he was a respectable 23 seconds back from overall leader Andy Shields. In the quarterfinal, he came a close third to place 11th overall.

For the rest of us, the prologue was a learning experience. Not having raced that distance much, we didn't really know what to expect. What we discovered: one of the most difficult events out there.

Let me explain.

A typical sprint course, for juvenile-junior age, is somewhere around 1 - 1.2 km of maximum effort. The racer is in an anaerobic zone for most of the race, and is generally pretty exhausted after crossing the line. The prologue course requires a similar effort, but is a little more then twice as long, and so the anaerobic effort must be sustained for much longer then we're typically used to. Most of us found that we went out too hard and could not sustain the effort through the last kilometer, and so we blew up and staggered painfully across the line.

me, being passed. yeah, that one hurt my pride a bit.

ben

katie, bringing it home

Most of us preski'd the 5 km loop for the next day's race, and found to our dismay that there was a LOT of climbing. Not a single flat section to be found, just 5 km of up and down. Ben's initial look of glee subsided after climbing an 800m long uphill and finding that the trail kept going up. 

By the time we packed up and headed back to the hotel, it was around 4:30.

sardines...

We crashed for a bit, then ate a delicious dinner courtesy of Pauline, after which, we got ready for the next day's race. 

some unconventional ice procedures...

(note: i'm behind in the updates. this is for friday.)

Westerns - Day 1

Hi from Grand Prairie!

For those of you unwilling to read the entire synopsis, we've made a short summary video. Enjoy!

 

Day one started with an uncomfortably early morning, as many of these trips do. 4:00 came far too soon for most of us. Elora, however, embraced the sunrise with her usual grace.

Wow I am so excited to wake up at 4am wow!!!
— Elora Adamson (@eloraadamson) February 21, 2013

After arriving at the airport and amassing the gigantic pile of stuff that is essential to these trips, we fought a long and particularly irksome battle against Air Canada's new baggage regulations. On previous trips, each person has been allowed two checked bags, (one clothing bag and one ski bag,) that do not exceed 60 pounds each, and a carry-on. For reasons unfathomable to me, however, the new regulations ask for only one checked bag that does not exceed 50 pounds, and allow two smaller carry-on bags. Everything extra costs $$$. While I'm sure this makes perfect sense for the jet setting executives that form the majority of the customer base, it's a pain in the butt for skiers.

And so, we spent a good 45 minutes hopping on and off the scale with various combinations of ski bags, looking for the magic arrangement that would get us through the baggage check.

The flight to Edmonton was uneventful, except for Corey's run-in with the low ceiling. While the rest of us slept, Corey nursed his goose-egg. 

 

A two hour layover at the Edmonton airport was spent generally goofing around...

couldn't resist, guys. absolute blogging power corrupts absolutely.

Arrival in Grand Prairie:

 From the airport, we went straight to the Wapiti Nordic Centre, to preski the course.

the clubhouse

sorting through bags

"where the *@#% are my poles..."

can I...help you?

 The course is gorgeous. The 2.5 km consists of mostly long gradual uphills and long, fast downhills. The snow is very icy, due to temperatures hovering around zero degrees, so balance and riding a flat ski immediately become concerns. All said, though, it's a super fast, very fun course, and I think it's  going to be a great race tomorrow.

- SEAN

All photography by Elora 

(note to parents: for privacy purposes, the youtube video can be viewed solely by those people with the link. however, all pictures are viewable by anyone who accesses this blog. for this reason, please don't hesitate to contact me at s_carter@mts.net with any concerns, and I will immediately remove the pictures.)