Reflecting on 2009/10

This past weekend marked the end of the 2009/2010 race season.

So how did it go?

The season started out promptly, as skiers all across Canada raced in early December for a spot to compete in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. I did as well as I could, showing strong results as I finished top ten in most races. As a second-year senior athlete, the 2010 Olympic games were not in the cards for me, but my strong performance during the trials definitely showed that 2014 is well within my reach. And I intend to do everything I can to get there.

So instead of hanging around to watch the Olympics here in Canada, I took off to Europe for a month to compete in some continental cup (OPA tour) races. I raced both in Switzerland and Italy. It was a great experience with lots of strong skiers competing in every race. It’s always an eye opener to compete against the girls over there. They are aggressive, push for every second and don’t hold anything back. But I also know that they are no different from me. With a couple years of hard work and dedication I will no doubt be skiing at that same level.

Shortly after I was back in Canada, I competed at the Canadian National Ski Championships, in Whitehorse, Yukon. I had some strong performances with a few top ten results overall, and among the top U23 skiers in the country.
Competing in the Classic Team-Sprints at Nationals

Placing 5th in the 10km skate race


So all in all I feel good about my season. There are a lot of improvements from the previous year, and I am happily moving forward and getting stronger. As a young senior, there is a lot to learn every year, but I believe in the years to come I have the potential to reach the top as I pursue my dreams of becoming a world-class competitor.

A BIG Thank You to all my supporters for another great season!!
It’s a long journey to reach the top of the podium with many ups and downs along the way. I really appreciate all the help I can get.

OPA Tour Wrap Up?

Hi Everyone,

looking down on the town of Olivone

I’ll pick up from where I left off. The sprint and 10km skate race in Campra.

The sprint qualifier felt a little slow for me. I think my body was still trying to pick up its speed from all the travel, so I ended up qualifying 26th. By the time the heats rolled around in the afternoon I felt a lot better. Unfortunately my tactics weren’t the best. I got boxed out quite hard, twice. These Euro’s don’t go easy on you during the sprints and are quite aggressive, or so I learned from that race. But I felt good about it at the end of the day, and even managed to out sprint a girl in the final stretch, putting me in 21st spot.

Fred finishing his 15km Skate race

The next day was the 10km skate. I took the first lap a little conservative, hoping to put all my speed and power into the climbs on the second lap. My second lap, therefore was quite a bit faster, putting me in 19th for the day. Not bad.

Pate, leaving the stadium on his third lap


Famous Dam where OO7 bungied off in the movie "Golden Eye"

The Girls


Later that week we traveled to a town called Forni Di Sopra, in Italy. It is situated in a section of the Dolomiti mountains. When we arrived it dumped snow all day (and night) leaving over 50cm of new snow!



The rest of the week we had nothing but clear blue skies. It was pretty spectacular.



The series of races over the weekend were a classic sprint, 5km classic, and a 10km skate. The sprint and 5km results were combined to give you a handy cap start for the final 10km race on Sunday. I guess the idea is to combine all the races giving you the overall champion for the entire weekend.

Lets start with the sprint. It was classic, and it was flat. That meant a lot of double polling… ☹ I tried my best, I really did. My start position was back with the slower sprinters, and by the end of the 1.3km a girl caught me whom I started 15sec ahead of. So… I didn’t qualify for the heats. I think I ended up 36th overall.

So I put that behind me and focused on the next day, the 5km classic. It went better for me. Again there was quite a lot of flat double polling on the course, but I felt great and really snappy on all the climbs. Unfortunately I fell on the one of the downhills. It wasn’t a bad fall, but in a 5km race, that can put quite a bit of damage on your final result.

Okay, last race. 10km skate. Finally, something that suites me a little better. With the previous two race results, my start time was 2 minutes and 25 seconds behind the leader. Ya I know, I was basically one of the last racers on course. But I felt great that day, so I just put my head down and went for it. It felt awesome! I would have to say, best race of the year. Because I was so far back I only managed to pass 3 or 4 people, putting me in 28th spot for the entire weekend. But I really felt like I gave it m all and skied aggressive the entire way. I think I had the 20th fastest time for just that day.

Lenny finishing in 6th place for the weekend. GREAT result! Quote from Lenny, "That was the hardest race of the year, by far."

Kevin finishing his race, with the dolomiti mountains in the background


Anyway, that was the last race of the trip for the OPA tour.
Time to head home?
Nope.

My teammate and I have decided to stay one more week in Switzerland to compete in a couple Swiss Cups this coming weekend. We are staying at the sports school once again in Davos, and then we will join up with a provincial swiss team for the weekend to compete in two 5km races.

That’s it for now, thanks for reading!

Thumbs Up for Switzerland!

I’ve been in Europe for about five days now. I have to say I am very impressed Switzerland so far. For the first few days we were staying in a sports school in Davos.

Davos is the hometown of the Academy’s newest coach, Christian. I swear he must have been some kind celebrity when he was living here. You can’t go anywhere without waiting an extra ten minutes while he catches up with old friends that he runs into wherever he goes. He does make a pretty good tour guide though, and knows all the good places to eat and shop, ski and have fun.

The ski trails in Davos are quite spectacular. You can ski for kilometers up and down the valleys, through trees and along creeks. They are perfectly groomed, and with mostly sunny skies the skiing doesn’t get much better.



One afternoon we went tobogganing on a 3km track down an alpine run. (An excuse to help keep us awake for the afternoon) It was a lot of fun. The best way I can describe it is something between luge, Chuck-waggon racing and actual Mario Cart.


Yesterday we traveled to the site of our first races in Campra. We are staying in a small town about 10min away from the ski trails called Olivone. Campra is situated in a mountainous pass with very steep, and rugged terrain. Today it had been dumping snow all day long.




Training has been going well. I’ve had some trouble getting over jet leg and not sleeping as well as I would have liked, but today I finally feel like I am coming around. First race is tomorrow, which is a skate sprint, followed by a 10km skate race on Sunday. I am excited to finally start racing. The courses are very hilly which suits me just fine. ☺
Looks like there will be a lot a strong racers here, which should be a good opportunity to put my racing to the test.

More to come in a few days.

Never Give Up

Hi Guys,

What have I been up to and how is my racing going?

Well its been pretty steady since I traveled to West Yellowstone in late November. The following weekend I did a little racing and hard intensity in Canmore during the Alberta Cups. That was followed by a weekend of racing in Vernon, BC. One of which was the Olympic Trials. Happy to say, I was racing faster then the previous year. I came 5th Canadian in the Olympic Trials skate race, which was only 4 spots away from qualifying for the Olympics!

Next up we were back in Canmore for the remainder of the selection races for Olympics. I skied well and even managed to complete a grueling 30km classic race on one of the hardest courses I have ever skied on.



It was a short break for Christmas holidays. Then a week later I jumped on a plane headed to Quebec for the World U23 Trials.

The first race went well. I placed 2nd U23 and 6th overall. The next day was followed by the sprint race (not my strong point) where I came 6th U23 and 13th overall. The last race of the weekend was the 10km classic. Unfortunately I didn’t perform amazing that day. I was 5th U 23 and had trouble trying to make my body go fast.

Afterward I was exhausted both physically and mentally. It was a long month and a half of being focused and pushing myself as hard as I could. At that point it was up to the selection committee to decide who was selected for what.

Calculating it out, I knew that I was 3rd ranked U 23 distance skier in Canada; 4th or 5th ranked combined sprint and distance. I was up there, but not quite good enough… The committee once again decided NOT to send a full team of women to the U23 World Championships. A team of six men qualified to represent Canada, but only three women (not including myself) were selected, leaving an unfilled spot for the second year in a row.

It’s frustrating when you work so hard for something only to be told by someone else that you aren’t good enough or are not where you need to be. But do I believe them? No. I can’t. I will never get better that way, and Canada as a nation would never improve if all athletes believed in that sort of thing. Just bite the bullet, move forward and work on becoming a faster skier is all I can focus on.

“Disappointment to a noble soul is what cold water is to burning metal;
it strengthens, tempers, intensifies, but never destroys it.” – Eliza Tabor.



On January 31st I will be heading to Europe for a couple weeks to compete in some competitive continental cup races, where there will be lots of strong skiers from all over Europe. I intend to give it my all and use the experience to push myself to the next level.