Silver Star

First NorAm races of the year are done! This past weekend I competed in Silver Star BC. I was extremely happy to finally be able to join up with my team once again! My fellow Canadian friends had a hard time recognizing me in my CXC attire (photos below), that, and the fact that I seem to fit in quite nicely with the team as all the girls have blond hair.

But back to the racing. There were two races, a sprint and a distance that were both classic technique. The conditions and weather were perfect. I had a bit of trouble in the qualifying round for the sprint race, but I felt great in the my heat and finished 3rd, unfortunately not quite fast enough to move on to the next round, so I ended up 15th for the day. The next day was a 10km individual start. I felt technically strong especially for the fist lap, but seemed to fade quite a bit on the second lap and finished 15th overall. Not too bad. I feel like I'm just starting to get into the swing of racing, and it felt good to get the butterflies out of my system.

This coming weekend is another sprint and distance race in Rossland BC, but this time skate technique, which suites me a little bit better. :)

Here is a photo of Jessie, Jennie and I in our new CXC gear!

Pulling it all together

Hi Everyone,

2 weeks away from my first races of the season! I'm getting pretty excited!

The last few weeks I have spent training in Canmore, pulling everything together from the last 6 months of training. I have been skiing on snow since arriving back from Park City, and it just keeps getting better and better!

Here are a couple photos from the "Frozen Thunder" classic sprint race held on October 27th:

Devon Kershaw took the win on the mens side, followed closely by Jess Cockney

Skiing in Lake Louise (about an hour drive away) started in early November with about 20km of groomed trails. It was a nice break from the 2.5km loop at the Canmore Nordic Centre and made those long distance days a little bit more enjoyable. A week ago my friend Amanda Ammar and I teamed up do a mini training camp out there. It was perfect weather and the snow just kept coming.






Final preparations for the ski season are underway for me during the next couple weeks. This includes lots of intensity, time trails and rest to get my body ready to ski fast. My first races will be a skate sprint, and a classic distance held here in Canmore on Dec 3/4 weekend. Then off to BC to join up with the CXC team and compete in the Norams for the rest of December.

Wish me luck, and thanks for reading!