Nordic Racers Ski Club:
The Leading Edge,
March 2007

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In This Issue:
IPC World Cup at Mt. Washington | Club Activities, Events and Ski Trips | Mt. Washington Ski Trip | Annual Awards Banquet | Annual General Meeting | Learn to Loppet — Recap | Personal Coaching | Pacific Populaire | Call for Photos | Junior Nordics Season | Loppet Results | Nordic Racer Cup Pics

IPC World Cup at Mt. Washington

Lou Gibson on his way to the finish line Photo courtesy of Tony Chin

The Canadian Paralympic Nordic ski team returned from a successful week at the IPC World Cup held at Mount Washington Alpine Resort near Courtenay, BC. The event was the final stop of the season which hosted over 90 athletes and support teams from 15 nations at Mount Washington's Nordic Centre between March 10th and 14th.

The event included two biathlon events and two cross-country events. The competition is open to athletes with a physical disability and blindness / visual impairment (with sighted guide). Both male and female athletes compete in short, middle and long distance events, ranging from 2.5 km to 20 km. The biathlon events test the endurance and sharp shooting skills of the athletes, and those with a visual impairment are aided by acoustic signals which allows them to hit the target accurately.

Nordic Racers competing at the event were Lou Gibson, Courtney Knight and Mary Benson. Wild mountain weather played havoc with all the athletes during the first two days of World Cup competition, but that didn't stop Courtney Knight and her guide Lisa Wambold from taking home the bronze medal in the Women Standing Class / Cross-Country Long Distance / 15 km Classic event despite the rain and windy conditions. For complete race results check out www.investcomoxvalley.com/2010_CC/IPCEvents.html.

Laureen (yellow jacket) and Lawrence (sunglasses) at the start line Photo courtesy of Tony Chin Over 300 volunteers embodied “world cup spirit” to help make the 2007 IPC World Cup a great success. A large part of the timing team came from both the Nordic Racers and Hollyburn Jackrabbit ski clubs, and all were commended by the technical organizers for their efforts. The Nordic Racers crew included: Tony Chin, Carole Clubb, Mary Craig, Paula Fairweather, Elizabeth Hardy, Paul Heraty, Don Howieson, Marina Knez, Eva Psenicka, Lawrence Taylor, Melanie Whittall and Wesley Wenhardt. The Hollyburn team included: Maureen Dorotich, Laureen Dusik, Dirk Rohde and Goran Urosevic. A big thank you to VANOC's Rob Bernhardt for providing transportation and accommodation support for the crew!

Club Activities, Events and Notices

Events sanctioned by the Nordic Racers are indicated by an *

Mt. Washington Ski Trip*

The Nordic Racers will head to Mt. Washington for the Vancouver Island Loppet on the weekend of March 31, 2007. Compete in this free-technique loppet or just ski for fun. The cost is $75 for two nights' accommodations (March 30 & 31) at the Alpine Lodge, nearby the Nordic ski trails.

Sign up via Sporg on the website.

Annual Awards Banquet*

Join the Nordic Racers at the upcoming Annual Awards Banquet where they toast and “roast” some of the best skiers of the season, and announce the recipient of the 2nd Annual Nordic Racers Lifetime Achievement Award! This award recognizes a club member who has made significant contributions to the sport of cross-country skiing.

Stay tuned for further location, date and time information.

Annual General Meeting*

The Nordic Racers Annual General Meeting will be held in June. Tony Chin, club president, will review the highlights of the past season and present the club's financial status. Members will have the opportunity to meet, mingle and elect officers and directors.

Stay tuned for further location, date and time information.

New Club Jacket—UPDATE*

Thanks to club members who expressed an interest in purchasing a new and improved Nordic Racer Club Jacket. Several Sugoi Nordic Jacket samples were displayed at a few Hot Chocolate nights earlier in the season, and we were able to solicit some much appreciated feedback regarding the style, material and cost of the proposed jacket.

Most of you prefer a heavier weight and fitted jacket that properly fits both men and women. As such, we're currently looking into procuring additional jacket samples from other top of the line manufacturers that offer both male and female styling and proper fit kits.

We hope to have further pricing and style / fabric / colour information available to members as soon as possible. We anticipate having the new club jackets available sometime during the 2007/08 ski season.

Learn to Loppet—Recap*

The Learn to Loppet program enjoyed another successful season! Thanks to plentiful snow at Cypress Mountain and an enthusiastic coaching staff, this year's program graduated 27 club members to the world of loppeting. Many participants went on to compete in their first-ever loppet at the Cariboo Marathon.

What is L2L? This is a very popular program for skiers of all abilities who want to develop the technical and mental skills to perform well at loppets, the popular mass-start ski marathons held throughout the province during ski season.

A big thank you to all the fab coaches, David McKee, Sherryl Yeager, Jamie Stirling, Tony Chin and Mike Gilhooly!

Personal Coaching*

This year's ski season is almost over, but think about personal coaching sessions for next year. Crank your skiing and fitness up a notch with a program tailored exactly to your needs!

CANSI-certified coaches Tony Chin and Jamie Stirling are now offering personal coaching for club members. The cost is $600 for masters and $150 for juniors. The program includes:

• on-line training diary ($25 value)
• feedback on training (for six months)
• goal setting session
• fitness testing
• personal training plan (YPI)
• support at three BC Cup races
• minimum two private on-snow technique sessions

If you are interested in competing in the BC Cup Races and/or need personal coaching / race coaching, masters (adults) should contact Jamie Stirling at stirling@hayco.com and juniors should contact Paul Heraty at pheraty@telus.net for more details.

Check out the website for complete details.

Pacific Populaire

The B.C. Randonneurs are holding their annual Pacific Populaire bike ride on Sunday, April 1st. There are 25, 50, and 100 km routes, all starting at the Riley Park Community Centre in Vancouver.

Check out www.randonneurs.bc.ca/pacpop

SKI Cross Country Magazine Needs Your Photos! We know there are a lot of great photographers out there, now here's your chance to get your photos published in the 2007–08 edition of Ski Cross Country, CCBC's annual publication for BC's Nordic skiing community! Photos using good quality film or high resolution digital images are both acceptable. The preferred format for digital photos is TIFF or EPS, minimum 300 dpi resolution (although JPEGs will be accepted). Note: unless you indicate otherwise, all photos will go on file for possible use in future publications. Please forward them to the CCBC office no later than April 30th, 2007 at office@crosscountrybc.ca.

Junior Nordic Racers Season of Success!

The first two BC Cup Races of the season were held in 100 Mile House and Smithers, BC. Several juniors from the Nordic Racers represented our club admirably at these exciting races, including Alistair Hardy-Poirier (Junior), Annie Maurer (Juvenile), Jocelyn Poirier-Hardy (Juvenile) and Jorgen Liset (Midget).

The snow conditions on the 99 Mile trails at 100 Mile House were fantastic for 300 skiers from across the province for BC Cup #1. Nordic Racer coach and waxmaster Jamie Stirling was in fine form as Jocelyn and Annie alternated finishing positions in the Juvenile Girls classic and skate races on separate days.

Annie is a first-year racer with great cross-skills as a downhill skier that will no doubt aid her on some of the circuits with terrain in the future. Alistair duked it out in a field dominated by Sovereign Lake / Silver Star to finish 4th and 5th in the classic and skate races.

The BC Cup #2 in Smithers was also tied to the Western Canadian Championships which consisted of three races over four days at the Bulkley Valley Club. The club was a superb host for the races which included skiers from BC, Yukon, NWT, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. It was also gratifying to see Canadian national team members amongst the 275 racers!

Good ski conditions and weather kept the racers content, while local fiddlers, fresh bannock and excellent “glide-by-glide” announcing kept the spectators happy and on their feet throughout the event.

Alistair and Jorgen had top sprint heat times in the morning and later went on to race in the head-to-head heats in their age groups over the 800 m and 400 m distances. Jorgen raced in the A-Final, and Alistair in the B-Final, finishing 4th and 6th respectively. Jorgen received a well deserved bronze medal for his BC Cup #2 segment of the race.

The classic race on Saturday proved exciting as Alistair blew the field away with a 45 second gap to edge the Overlander Ski Club's Joey Burton, who has been dominating the Junior Boys division this year. Alistair took double gold medals for the event which was a Western Canadian Championships and BC Cup #2 race. Jorgen skied to a 6th place finish in the Western Final and was awarded yet another bronze medal for his effort in the BC Cup #2 segment.

Jorgen had a strong 4th place finish in the skate race (Western Canadian Championships) and clocked within 57 seconds of the winner. Alistair was in another very competitive group in the 7.5 km skate race and finished 19 seconds behind Joey Burton to take the bronze medal.

These young athletes have posted consistent results all season and performed well at the BC Championships at Stake Lake on February 24–25, 2007. Their results are as follows:

• Alistair Hardy-Poirier–4th place (10 km free)
• Jorgen Liset–8th place (3.75 km free)
• Jocelyn Hardy-Poirier–15th place (5 km free)
• Annie Maurer–19th place (5 km free)

Congratulations to all the athletes and coaches Tony Chin, Jamie Stirling and Per Gaarder!

–submitted by Don Poirier–

Club Member Loppet Results

CARIBOO MARATHON:

The best snow conditions in years at 100 Mile House helped 28 Nordic Racers blow out the competition at the famous Cariboo Marathon in early February. Highlight of the day was a sweep in the male (40–49) category:

50 km:

1st	Anton Issinski	3:05:48	(3rd overall)
2nd	Jean-Yves Sauriol	3:07:15	(6th overall)
3rd	David McKee	3:15:19	(10th overall)
3rd	Jamie Stirling	3:09:07	(8th overall) (m30–39)
1st	Carolyn Daubeny	3:33:00	(f40–49)
3rd	Silke Gumplinger	3:57:42	(f30–39)

30 km:

1st	Dominique Barabé	2:25:49	(f40–49)
2nd	Sherryl Yeager	2:33:54	(f40–49)
3rd	Tom Heah	2:38:07	(m40–49)

NICKEL PLATE LOPPET:

Sunny skies and warmer than usual conditions caused some vexing wax concerns at one of the club's favourite 30km loppets. Club participants included:

4th	Jamie Stirling	1:56:49	(m30–39)
3rd	David McKee	2:04:37	(m40–49)
4th	Barton Pietras	2:19:20	(m40–49)
2nd	Silke Gumplinger	2:20:20	(f30–39)
10th	Peter Gumplinger	2:29:56	(m50–59)
9th	Byron Mah	2:38:28	(m40–49)
4th	Georgia Heraty	2:39:45	(f18–29)
11th	Howard Adam	2:51:07	(m40–49)
5th	Patti Romanko	3:05:14	(f40–49)
6th	Mary Craig	3:09:46	(f50–59)

CASCADE CUP SPRING 30 km CLASSIC:

Club participants included:

3rd	Barton Pietras	2:01:46	(m40–49)
1st	Eric Nodwell	2:12:22	(m18–29)
6th	Brian Hardie	2:13:21	(m40–49)
1st	Georgia Heraty	2:15:53	(f18–29)
7th	Feng Chen	2:24:07	(m40–49)
2nd	Sherryl Yeager	2:31:18	(f40–49)
1st	Magnus Bratlien	2:43:18	(m70+)
1st	Mary Craig	2:51:04	(f50–59)
3rd	Laurence Vellard	2:52:50	(f40–49)
9th	Jim McKay	3:17:51	(m40–49)
4th	Jessica Shintani	3:21:27	(f40–49)

NORDIC RACER CUP at Manning Park

Friendly rivals — Twins Liam and Tom post race high-five

Chief of Race Tony Chin and Shannon Webster

Photos courtesy of Tony Chin
View more Nordic Racer Cup photos

Buy and Sell

[See our separate buy and sell web page. Ad space in our newsletter and on our website is free for club members; contact Feng at 604-738-5695 or fengski@yahoo.ca for details.]