One of the most common questions I get asked by skiers and non-skiers alike is – what’s your favourite discipline? Classic or skate? Distance races or sprints? What are you better at? My answer is always the same - I don’t have a preference, and I don’t think that I am any better at one discipline than another, I love it all! (As true as that is for me, I also believe it's really important not to peg yourself as a specific kind of skier, because you're not doing yourself any favours by telling yourself you're no good at classic distance racing right before you have to go and race. You always want to put all the odds on your side!)
In the last year, people have actually been taking care of answering these questions for me by informing me what kind of skier I am! Most recently, after the Frozen Thunder classic Sprint, I had someone tell me that I was a classic sprint specialist. To say my face contorted into a very surprised expression would be accurate. Really? I said. That’s something I would’ve never thought to call myself! I always thought my arms would have to get a whole lot bigger before I could dream of being a classic sprint specialist!
Nevertheless, these little pipes earned me a 6th place (2nd Canadian) at the first unofficial race of the year – the Frozen Thunder classic sprint! This may have been one of the deepest fields of racers I’ll face all year, as it played host to mostly all the Canadian teams and training centres, many American teams, including US National Team members, and guest appearances from Japan and Austria! This was truly the perfect way to kick off the pre-season – it was so inspiring to ski next to these international caliber athletes, and there was no pressure as this race didn’t officially count for anything. On top of all that, it was a great confidence booster and so much fun! The course featured a long striding hill that we would do twice, and I absolutely LOVE classic striding, so I just stretched it out and kicked as hard as I could, and I think that’s what allowed me to do so well that day!
In the last year, people have actually been taking care of answering these questions for me by informing me what kind of skier I am! Most recently, after the Frozen Thunder classic Sprint, I had someone tell me that I was a classic sprint specialist. To say my face contorted into a very surprised expression would be accurate. Really? I said. That’s something I would’ve never thought to call myself! I always thought my arms would have to get a whole lot bigger before I could dream of being a classic sprint specialist!
Nevertheless, these little pipes earned me a 6th place (2nd Canadian) at the first unofficial race of the year – the Frozen Thunder classic sprint! This may have been one of the deepest fields of racers I’ll face all year, as it played host to mostly all the Canadian teams and training centres, many American teams, including US National Team members, and guest appearances from Japan and Austria! This was truly the perfect way to kick off the pre-season – it was so inspiring to ski next to these international caliber athletes, and there was no pressure as this race didn’t officially count for anything. On top of all that, it was a great confidence booster and so much fun! The course featured a long striding hill that we would do twice, and I absolutely LOVE classic striding, so I just stretched it out and kicked as hard as I could, and I think that’s what allowed me to do so well that day!
Frozen Thunder, for those who aren't familiar with it already, is a 2km ribbon of snow that gets laid out in October and is the earliest skiable snow in North America (excluding glacier skiing). It's created from huge amounts of snow that get stockpiled throughout the winter and stored under wood chips over the summer.
The National Team decided to host a skate distance time trial on Nov 1st, this was another great opportunity to race against some fast girls and get the pre-season jitters out! We skied 4 laps of the Frozen Thunder course backwards, this gave us ample icy corners to maneuver and made for a lot of crashing! I had a pretty good day, I gave what I felt was a solid effort, and that earned me an 8th place behind a mix of Canadian biathletes, Americans, Austrians and more.
I couldn't be happier with my early season skiing, and can't wait to get the racing season underway!
Here are the links to results
Frozen Thunder Sprint qualifier
http://zone4.ca/results.asp?ID=6078&cat=11
Frozen Thunder Sprint Brackets
http://new.zone4.ca/l/race/6079/bracket
Frozen Thunder Distance TT
http://www.webscorer.com/racedetails?raceid=15244&did=18029&cid=99917
Check out this great video my Buff boss Peter Collins put together!
The National Team decided to host a skate distance time trial on Nov 1st, this was another great opportunity to race against some fast girls and get the pre-season jitters out! We skied 4 laps of the Frozen Thunder course backwards, this gave us ample icy corners to maneuver and made for a lot of crashing! I had a pretty good day, I gave what I felt was a solid effort, and that earned me an 8th place behind a mix of Canadian biathletes, Americans, Austrians and more.
I couldn't be happier with my early season skiing, and can't wait to get the racing season underway!
Here are the links to results
Frozen Thunder Sprint qualifier
http://zone4.ca/results.asp?ID=6078&cat=11
Frozen Thunder Sprint Brackets
http://new.zone4.ca/l/race/6079/bracket
Frozen Thunder Distance TT
http://www.webscorer.com/racedetails?raceid=15244&did=18029&cid=99917
Check out this great video my Buff boss Peter Collins put together!