Tag Archives: Silverstar

Team Ontario

Yesterday- after 9 days together in Silverstar I put the OST athletes back on the plane to their respective Ontario clubs. It was actually a really hard thing to do.

We had six days of quality on snow training under sunny blue skies. The only possible way to top that would be with a weekend of strong racing. And we did. The OST brought three medals home this weekend- along with 15 Top Ten finishes.

That’s not to say that this weekend wasn’t challenging. In retrospect bringing 17 OST athletes to Silverstar with only an assistant coach and a physiologist was a bit ambitious. But man- did everyone rise to the challenge. OST athletes are a class act; respectful, organized, on time, hardworking. Dave Tindall and Rob Rupf were All Stars. They did everything that needed to be done and then some.

After nine days Rob and Dave finally get some 'athlete support'.

One thing I tried to stress on this trip is that while we’re all coming from different places we’re all heading in the same direction with the same goal. Sure-on a club level we compete against our teammates, and on a provincial level we compete against other clubs but we need to work together.

Coaches and Wax tech's need teams too!

Cross Country skiing is a tough, often lonely experience. Athletes need great teammates; teammates to share experiences with, teammates to learn from, and teammates who will push us harder and further than we could alone.

OST athletes @ the medal ceremony

Girls need girls to train with!

Athletes on the OST are from very different clubs all across the province but this weekend we saw the group come together and support each other. Every athlete on this trip contributed to our overall success. My hope is that the relationships formed during this trip carry forward and help us strengthen the sport in Canada.

Before dropping the athletes off at the airport I seriously considered kidnapping them. “We could fake your deaths in an avalanche!” I exclaimed. “We could be the Blow Me Down Racers!”

Maybe someday…but for now it looks like our athletes are getting what they need from the excellent clubs they are coming from.

The last days of our our Silverstar Adventure will be described tomorrow- once everyone is on the plane and Im in Rossland. Stay tuned friends. I promise it will be a good one!

ps-  I LOVE THIS TEAM!!

Today was awesome- and long. I spent a lot of time refamiliarizing myself with corks [not the wine kind]. If I were to write a blog post right now it would most likely turn towards a discussion weighing the merits of Multigrade over SwixVR 45….

Portrait of a person who does NOT want to further the discuss the merits of Rode Multigrade vs VR 45

Instead I thought I’d give the athletes a crack and writing a post about today from their perspective. I hereby waive all liability associated with the following content;

“There is nothing like thefirst race of the year.  It couldn’t have been a better day to strap on a pair of boards and go for a ski.  The sun was shinning, the wax was good, smiles all around.

Good day for girls from Ontario in the Juvenile Girl category. Sadie and Madi picture here-poised for their start.

We the athletes all performed to our fullest.  For some it ended in heartbreak, and for some of us there were podium finishes. Ben Wilkinson-Zan won Gold in the Junior boys category speaks of his race: “I never led in any of my heats until the last 200m.  All in all, I ended up winning a pair of Blizz glasses”.

We thank the wax team of Pav, Dave, Adam, and our manager Amanda for making the skis super fast and [mostly] super grippy, and making the day run smoothly.  We also thank Rob for [stabbing us with pins to take our lactates] our delicious, strawberry flavored recovery drink, and driving us to and from the racecourse many times.  Today would not have been possible without all of the efforts from all our coaches, THANKS!

Today three of us, Julian, Angus, and Scott raced up a category in the junior men category.   Julian talks of his racing today, “it was an interesting experience to race a new group of people.  We don’t usually race them but we could potentially be them  in the years to come”.

To make the day better we were racing in the middle of the beautiful mountains we’ve been living and skiing at for the past week.  It was cool to know that we were racing on former world cup trails.

To sum it up, it was the best day EVER!*

Love, the athletes”

*”Today is the best day, EVER” is a bit of a motto here on the OST.

Anyday your coffee mug is a Bodum Press is "The best day EVER"

The past few days with the OST have gone by faster than a carton of eggs at the boys house [last count they ate 3 dozen eggs in 1 day].

This kid eats at LEAST a dozen eggs a day. He is UNREAL- also, pretty fast.

There has been skiing, ski testing, race prepping, special guests, a small fire and MANY rounds of Apples to Apples. Pictures speak louder than words though so here is a summary of what we’ve been up to;

SKIING

Daily grocery run. No joke. Daily.

Waxing

Today we hit the sprint course for some serious pre-ski/tactical discussion. In the afternoon we waxed like champs and got all 17 pairs cleaned, sanded, glide waxed and topped in 2.5h. After a succinct coaches meeting and a delicious dinner of burritos [compliments of my amazing team]- we hammered out some pre race planning and goal setting.

Tonight is the calm before the storm. Tomorrow is going to be a long, logistically challenging day. But I am SO pumped. I cannot wait to see this all star team hit the snow. As one athlete put it;

“No technique work, no intervals, no heart rate monitor, no lactates. Just me and my skis going as fast as I possibly can on perfectly groomed trails.”

That sounds good enough for me. Check in tomorrow to hear how it went….

Pav OUT

Full moon tonight- the calm before the storm.

Today the OST woke up to a pink sunrise and diamond sparkling snowdrifts. I love winter. We spent the morning skiing at Sovereign Lakes, and the afternoon skiing from right outside our door. I love winter.

Today I was also assaulted  by an onslaught of weather related complaints from friends across Canada. Ottawa is having rain and +4, Whitehorse was in the grip of a 30 degree temperature change that took place over a twenty-four hour period. This occurred on the heals of the news that Canada is walking away from the Kyoto Protocol.

The shock and awe around radical temperature fluctuations and unpredictable weather patterns annoys me. We’ve seen consistently over the past 5 years that ‘average weather patterns’ are no longer the norm. We need to acknowledge that climate change is real and accept the unexpected.

As Cross Country Skiers we are perhaps more sensitive to environmental change. Late winters, early springs, and winter rains all wreak havoc on our favorite pastimes. We need snow, we need winter. As such we should be acting as leaders in educating friends and governments to understand climate change. We should also be demanding action. It leaves burning sensation in the back of my throat to think Canada is walking away from Kyoto. We need to change the framework around our thinking. Change does not mean sacrifice- it means understanding what’s important and moving towards what we believe in.

Our actions will speak louder than our words. We need to be leaders- we need to save winter.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Ditching+Kyoto+called+Canada+reputation/5814943/story.html