Nordic Racers Ski Club:
The Leading Edge,
February 2003

Volunteers Needed for RBC Olympic FanFair

An excellent public relations and marketing opportunity has been presented to the Nordic Racers. The RBC Olympic FanFair will be in Vancouver from March 15th to 23rd, and the Nordic Racers have been invited to run the cross country and biathlon station.

The RBC Olympic FanFair (put on by the Canadian Olympic Committee and not the 2010 Bid group) is designed to expose the public to various sports that make up the Winter Olympics. Passport books will be handed out -- the public will go to sports stations to learn about each sport in an interactive manner and have their passport books stamped. Filled passport books are then turned in for prizes.

As this date conflicts with our Holly Burn Race at Cypress on March 22nd, we need to know if there are any volunteers willing to do shifts at Science World. The FanFair runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day, but shifts will be broken into segments based on the time availability of the volunteers.

Please contact Tony by e-mail right away if you are willing to volunteer/help out at this PR event or if you want more details.

Volunteers Needed for Holly Burn Race

Last year's Holly Burn was a huge success, thanks in part to all the volunteers who came out. This year's Holly Burn will be in the very exciting Same-Day Pursuit format that requires even more volunteers to put on. Lots of positions need to be filled. If you can help, we need you! Contact Sherryl Yeager if you can help out on Saturday, March 22nd.

Club Toques

Tony has come through with the toques -- designer club toques for the fashion conscious Nordic Racer. To view this "must-have" item see: www.nordicracers.bc.ca/clothing.html.

These are beautiful, lightweight, navy blue, polyester Lycra toques -- perfect for racing or for sitting in the lodge drinking hot chocolate. The cost is $23.00 each, and quantities (sizes S, M, & L) are limited. See Tony on Wednesday nights at Hollyburn Lodge with exact cash or cheque.

Club & Other Events

Cascade Cup - March 1, 2003

As everyone knows who joined the February 16th Manning Park bus trip, there is lots of snow (white snow, not Cypress s***) at Manning Park and more coming down.

The Cascade Cup classic ski loppet is on Saturday, March 1st. The Nordic Racers have arranged for a bus to take skiers to Manning Park and back on race day. The bus is $30.00 per person and you can sign up at Sigge's (604-731-8818). If you are not doing the loppet then the cost is $49.00, which includes the trail ticket.

We need 30 people to sign up in order to run this bus trip. Please book early, as we need a head count by Wednesday, February 26th to cancel the bus if the numbers aren't there, and to allow those who opted for the bus to make other arrangements.

The bus will leave Sigge's at 6 a.m.and will arrive at Manning Park at 9 a.m. -- an hour before the race starts. The bus will leave Manning at 3 p.m. (not 4 p.m. or later as on Sigge's birthdays) and will make the usual bus stops at Kits, Boundary & Lougheed, and Surrey.

Coast Cup Series #1 & #2
February 1 - Blacktail Meadows, Pemberton
February 2 - Lost Lake, Whistler

I am pleased to let you know we had quite a remarkable weekend in Pemberton/Whistler. Yes indeed, there was snow to ski on. Not only was there snow, but there were outstanding performances by the juniors who raced at both sites.

We had quite a time of it, trying to find the race site in Pemberton. In fact, we doubled back on the road to realize that the blue "Johnny-on-the-spot" was the first indication that there may be something going on down that particular farmer's lane. In fact, it was our race location -- a big wide field with bales of hay in the middle. As we looked a little closer, we realized that the field was groomed. Much to everyone's surprise, there were over ten kilometres of groomed trails along the riverbed behind the wooded area.

Anyway, enough story-telling; I'll get into the race results. The Spud Valley Nordics hosted sprint races along a dedicated track. There was barely enough snow to hold it all together, but the races were run and everyone had a lot of fun.

As for the results, there was a clean sweep in the Boys Juvenile category -- all three medals went to Derek, Tian, and Ben. Isabelle showed her stuff in the sprints with a very strong 4th place (out of 16 in the Mini-Midgets age group). Lauren also placed 4th in the Juvenile Girls category, squeaked out by some Strathcona Nordics and a hometown girl favourite from Spud Valley.

On the second day of racing, we drove to Whistler. Challenging wax conditions presented themselves yet again, as klister was the order of the day. Special thanks go out to some Dads who (unbeknownst to them) became our waxmen -- thanks Bruce and Paul! Thanks as well go to Joe Buchar who offered the killer klister combo that did not let us down!! With a larger contingent of skiers at Whistler, the competition was stiff. The juvenile boys were able to hold on to two of the three medals, with Derek placing second and Tian third. Ben was a very close fourth. Congrats fellas!

Karina and Isabella placed 7th and 12th in the Mini-Midgets (Isabella -- can you get rid of those plastic fishscales, please). Alistair Hardy-Poirer was third in the Midget Boys and Zoë Braul won the Midget Girls race by a significant margin. The juvenile girls Lauren Ritchie and Georgia Heraty placed 4th and 6th respectively in their category. For more information on the actual times for the individual races, you can check the Cross Country B.C. web site at: www.crosscountrybc.ca

Congratulations for all the great performances! Only problem we have now is finding some snow to perfect our technique for the other racing events this season.

-- Chris Bowlby

Note: Club members Josée Clermont and Chris Bowlby placed 1st and 2nd respectively in the 5 km Master Women's (41+) category, Anne Gillespie 2nd in the Master Women's (31-40), and Joe Buchar, of course, won his Master Men's (31-40) category.

Challenge Biathlon

While most of the Challenge athletes went to the Coast Cup events in Whistler and Pemberton, a few of us ventured into the "North" (Prince George) for BC Biathlon Cup races. The snow was white and the temperature mild, two very pleasant surprises. There was good competition at the races and we won a few more medals. Claire Corbett and Karen Douglas were 1st and 2nd in the Senior Girls Individual race, in which Claire beat all of the senior boys.

The next day Claire won again and Tyler Ronaghan picked up a silver in the Senior Boys Sprint. Misha Smirnov and Iaonna Madularu also put in good races in these closely contested categories and both, to their credit, had 4th place finishes.

The next BC Cup race is at Silver Star, March 22nd and 23rd. In the meantime, Nordic Racer biathletes will be away representing BC at the Biathlon Nationals, the Canada Winter Games (Dalhousie, New Brunswick -- March 1st to 9th), and the Cadet Biathlon Nationals.

-- Alan Ball

Claire Corbett at 100 Mile House (BC Cup #2)
Photo courtesy of Paul Heraty

Club Members Making the News

Biathlon BC selected their Canada Winter Games team members at races held at Silver Star, January 11th and 12th. The races were organized at short notice by volunteers from the North Okanagan Biathlon Club. The Canada Winter Games, a quadrennial event, will be held at Dalhousie, New Brunswick, March 1st to 9th. Nordic Racers' Martin Utley will represent the males, and Claire Corbett and Aletha Utley the females, on the BC biathlon team.

Several dozen Nordic Racers competed in the foggy Reino Keski Salmi (36 km) held January 18th on the Larch Hills trail system. Per and Eva Gaarder both placed first in their respective, youthful, 60-69 categories, and Dirk Tempelman-Kluit took a 3rd in the same age category. Magnus Bratlien placed 2nd in the Men's 70-79 category, and Georgia Heraty came in 2nd in the 18 km Women's 14-17. Georgia's father Paul, reporting on the race results, mentions that he and several other club members were "outstanding in the field," although we are not as yet sure which Larch Hills field they were standing in, and in what.

A few Nordic Racers journeyed to the Kelowna Apple Loppet, held on January 25th. Three mounted the podium: Anne Gillespie came 2nd in the Women's 30-39, Dave McKee 3rd in the Men's 40-49, and Barton Pietras took a first in the Men's Recreation.

Looking for snow, Barton also joined Mark Simpson and Martin Karcz in Gatineau Park, Quebec on February 15th and 16th for the 25th Anniversary Keskinada Loppet. Kudos go to Martin for braving the minus 25°C temperatures on the 15th to ski the 45 km classic race and on the 16th to skate the 46.5 km Hilton Lac-Leamy Worldloppet, along with club member Mark. Barton, still thawing out from the 45 km classic race, chose the shorter 10 km freestyle on the 16th.

On February 9th, the condition-challenged (23.4 km) Fairmont Chateau Whistler Loppet was held and more medals were dished out to club members. Sonia Tilley placed second in the Women's 18-29 category, Derek Rennie came 1st in the 16.5 km Junior 14-17/Men, Anne Gillespie placed 3rd in the 30-39/Women, and Hakan Lillquist placed 2nd in the Men's 50-59 category.

Community Bulletin Board

Sovereign Lake Loppet

This is a 30 km free-technique loppet (with a 15 km option), to be held on Saturday, March 8th on the rolling Sovereign Lake trails near Vernon. Sovereign Lake is also holding a new event this year, called "Just Desserts" -- you choose either a 9 km or 15 km course to ski and enjoy desserts along the way!

If interested in sharing a suite for the Sovereign Lake Loppet, please contact Feng Chen at fengski@yahoo.ca or 604-738-5695.

Hollyburn Parking Fees

The B.C. government will be instituting parking fees in Cypress Park starting May 1st, 2003. It is not known yet if winter use of the parking lots will be included in this scheme/scam. A $75.00 ($50.00 until March 31, 2004) "Recreation Stewardship Annual Pass" will allow "free" unlimited vehicle parking in 28 day-use areas (trailheads in Garibaldi Provincial Park). For further information, visit the B.C. government website at: www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/fees/fees.html.

Ski the Vasaloppet in 2004?

It's only February 2003, but it's not too early to think about the 80th anniversary Vasaloppet in Sweden next year on the first weekend in March -- Sunday, March 7th, 2004. In case you don't know this already, the Vasaloppet is the oldest (since 1922), the longest (90 km classic), and the greatest (14,000 skiers) cross country ski race. It's the Dream -- the Challenge -- the Adventure!

For more information -- and to get hyped up for it -- go to: www.vasaloppet.se/wps/VasaCMS/generated/resources.Startsidan/startsidan/en/2.html and follow the links » Competitions » Vasaloppet, or » History » Facts and Figures.

Silke and Peter Gumplinger are going (again) and we invite you to join us. Wilfried Priebs, of the Ski Club Saxonia from Dresden, Germany, will take up most of the organization.

Wilfried is a veteran of 12 Vasaloppets and has organized bus trips to Sweden for up to 250 participants from his club. His club organizes annual trips to Worldloppets and in some cases to a combination of races. If the Vasaloppet alone doesn't justify flying to Sweden, what about a combination with the Finlandia-hiihto (60 km classic) in Lahti, Finland the weekend before, or the Rajalta rajalle-hiihto (444 km classic in 7 days) in Finland or the Engadin Skimarathon (42 km skating) in Switzerland, the following weekend?

Vasaloppet accommodation will be in the cabin resort of Rättvik on Lake Siljan, about 40 km from Mora, the finish line of the Vasaloppet. These are log cabins with kitchenettes that accommodate 4 to 6 persons. The cost is 160 euros for the week. The registration fee for the Vasaloppet is 140 euros.

You do not have to contact the race organizers directly. Wilfried takes care of the race registration and accommodation, but he needs your name, address, birth date, and a cheque before the end of April 2003. We have to decide how we fly to Stockholm, arrange for a taxi to the train station, and take the train to Rättvik. From then on, Wilfried's buses will provide rides to cross country trails, the start in Sälen, and from the finish in Mora.

If you are interested, call us at 604-733-8264. We will have an information meeting in early March for interested Nordic Racers to decide on timing, options, flights, etc.

-- Peter and Silke Gumplinger