Exploring more of Newfoundland

Well we have not been great at keeping our blog updated this trip . .will have to come back to it and comment on how great the racing went during the last 8 days of competition.  We had some amazing highlights, one big one being Conor finishing 2nd overall in the aggregate points for juvenile boys 1999 birth year.  He was called up at the banquet and shook Jesse Cockney's hand to get his loot, which included a knitted Newfoundland style toque and a CCC belt buckle that we joked was something like getting a WWF belt!  We were certainly proud for Conor and for  Manitoba!
Levi Nadlersmith also had some huge results this week, including his 4 th place finish in the mass start 10 km classic race on the last day, just 14 seconds off the winner!!

I should also mention top 10 finish for Lisle in the classic 5km interval start and top 10's for Levi N in the interval start 7.5 km skate race. The Red River Nordic team sprint teams of Anna and Elora, and Dominique and Conor were in the top 1/2 of their respective fields.    Many personal goals were set and met by the team as a whole.  Great work!

Our wax technician Tim nailed the wax all week which was no mean feat on the classic days.  We were lucky to benefit from his fleet of test skis (thanks to Mike from Fischer) and also from the wisdom of coach Mike Neary from Alberta who was in our wax room.  I tried to learn as much as I could . . .

The banquet last night was good. . .our athletes stayed for the dance at the end and most of them enjoyed the mosh pit dancing which was sweaty but a lot of fun, apparently.  Elora was seriously hoping to crowd surf but the DJ put an end to that after several athletes were passed along the top of the dancing frenzy.  There were a couple of dodgy looking moments that Pauline and I witnessed as the crowd surfer seemed to finish in a rather head down sort of direction . . .

Today we had a free day as we travel home tomorrow.  Pauline organized a snow shoe and cookout birthday celebration for Levi N's 16th birthday today.  We drove down the west coast a bit to Stephenville and met up with a friend that Pauline had met through MEC gear swapping.  Lori Deeley and her son Kip met us at the Whaleback Nordic Ski trails and provided us with 10 pairs of snowshoes from the local high school.  We spent a wonderful afternoon snowshoeing the trails and had a birthday hot dog roast and birthday cake for Levi at a warm up shelter on the trail.  The team may have invented a new sport that they call extreme snowshoeing, involving leaping repeatedly over the nearby stream ON the snowshoes.  Somehow there was also some dangling of each other by the ankles to lower head first to the stream but I don't know exactly how that fit into the picture.  I think a video account will make its way onto the blog in the form of some sort of  P90X training video.  Stay tuned . .

Travel and Tourism Day- Nationals 2014

Elora here, I haven't been able to update the blog as I've been sick and have spent all my spare time sleeping. A few members of the team have been down with a pretty bad bug but we've all been eating cloves of garlic raw and drinking endless amounts of  tea so we're on our way to recovery, all though everyone seems to smell like garlic.

Today was our first of two rest days so we went on a trip down the coast to the ocean. It was about an hour drive to our destination where we had a good view of the ocean, which is still covered in ice. We arrived in lark harbor and some park that I can't remember the name of and the Levis and Conor immediately started climbing up a large hill/rock. They didn't quite take the trail and just scaled their way up and suddenly just popped up at the top of the hill (really high up) and waved at us. I still don't understand how they got up their, but they did come down with soaked pants and shoes... Lisle, Fiona and I tried to follow their footsteps, but weren't quite as either courageous or stupid. We took the more beaten trail and ended up somewhere else entirely which was by Lisle's description more lame. After that we went to some other little area close by and most people went on some other hike hoping to find a lighthouse. I was really excited because I'd been wanting to put my toe in the Atlantic ocean, but wasn't thinking we'd find open water. Thankfully there was a pier where we'd stopped. We managed to find some breaking ice and I think almost everyone dipped their toe in the salt water. It was a pretty cool day.

pauline and megan exist

if you look really close you can see the Levis and Conor

climbing

Free willy 3

Lisle on a bridge

Titanic 2

High school musical 4

Jaws 12

In other news Levi N and Dom bought live lobsters to bring back to the hotel and cook yesterday. There was some news of them terrorizing Fiona with them before they were eaten. We ate large amounts of pancakes for dinner last night, which Dom and Levi ate with their lobster.

I spy Fiona

Lisle is sad that apparently there are no puffins on this side of the island. She had stated earlier she wouldn't leave without seeing one, so I guess were gonna lose Lisle to Newfoundland. In other news, she found a nice hat.

Other funny events included the boys stealing an entire box of cookies Pauline had bought for THE ENTIRE TEAM not just the boys. In revenge Fiona stole Levi N's ipad. That really upset him, which was good. Me and Lisle and Fiona then proceeded to write a peace treaty in which the boys were supposed to buy us a carton of chocolate milk, and provide Fiona with a band aid (she somehow cut her knuckle while attacking someone to get the Ipad). They would receive the Ipad if they followed those small requests. Levi quickly came to our door with a full jug of chocolate milk (but no band aid but we so kindly forgot that) so we gave him the Ipad. We were really happy so poured some highly anticipated chocolate milk, WHICH WAS ACTUALLY A CARTON FILLED WITH WATER.. We have yet to get revenge.

just kidding she found one!

Yesterday me and Lisle woke up in the hotel alone after a nap to find everyone had ditched us to go to the laundromat. So instead we went on an adventure with Megan, but no we still do not have any clean clothes. We did find a lighthouse, which we expected to be a bit bigger, but it was still a lighthouse. Here are some pictures we took.

really proud of this picture and yes I fell seconds after

probably prettier than the laundromat?

selfies with the lighthouse

Tomorrow we will head out to the trails again to pre ski before our last race, and hopefully the weather will be as nice as it has these past days. 

adorable

Lisle is a leprechaun

2014 Nationals- day 2

Day 2

We woke up this morning around 8:30 for breakfast before heading to the venue to ski. It was pouring rain/hail we arrived there and we all thanked megan for telling us to bring our rain coats. We put on as much water proof clothes as we had  and headed out to ski. The trails weren't exactly marked yet as today was not officially a training day but most people figured it out eventually and we will have another chance at it tomorrow.  

river beside the motel

snowbanks on the way to the venue probably 10 feet tall

The trails were challenging as it was a combination of ice and slush and puddles. We skiied until we were soaked and I think most people soaked through 3 layers of clothing. Some teams later went out and skied in garbage bags which would've been a good idea. Seeing as it wasn't actually that cold, I thought it was actually kind of fun.

The rest of the day was pretty much a really relaxing day in the hotel. Highlights include the making of a group imessage including megan and pauline, and a trip to buy half price craft underwear.

lisle's hair by fiona

Nationals 2014- Day 1

We have arrived in Corner Brook safely. Our first plane ride, our plane was pretty empty so we all took that opportunity to claim 3 seats each and make an attempt to catch up on some sleep. There were two Sochi Olympians on our plane, Heidi Widmer and Jesse Cockney. Fiona was really excited when Heidi Widmer asked us if she could squish by to go to the washroom. It was a thrilling moment for all of us. 

leaving winnipeg

long process of wing defrosting

We managed to get here relatively on schedule and with all of our luggage. Apparently other teams didn’t get as lucky and either have delayed or cancelled flights due to weather in Toronto or their luggage never arrived. We finally are having some good luck while travelling and somehow got through Toronto with little delay.

We have two rental vehicles, a van and a truck. Initially fitting all of our ski bags into the small back of the truck was kind of interesting. They ended up all piled up pretty high, and I wasn’t sure they would all make it the half hour drive to our hotel still in the truck. Pauline ended up doing a quick run into town to buy some tie downs, which solved our problem.

lisle trying to load all the ski bags solo

Before going to the hotel we made our way into town to Sobeys. Lisle and I were impressed by small colorful, tight packed, houses on hills, similar to the commercials you see about Newfoundland on TV. The area is a lot more mountainous then I think everyone was expecting.  Lisle insisted on playing Great Big Sea on the car ride, to complete the Newfoundland experience.

downhill skiing

After everyone refueled at Sobeys we came back to the hotel, which is right on a river. We have 4 suites with a double bed, a single and a futon. We found the room a little jam packed with weirdly arranged furniture, but after an hour of interior designing and remodeling by Fiona and Anna, we’ve decided it’s pretty cozy now. The Levis, Dom and Conor did some remodeling of their own, and made a really interesting set up with chairs and tables to lay all their skis on. It’s only 9:00 here, and only 7:30 in Winnipeg but we’re pretty much ready for bed. Also Lisle just stated she isn't leaving Newfoundland until she sees a puffin, I'm going to make sure she doesn't see one.

 

we found a bridge