Every Bad Day has a Silver Lining

March 21, Individual Sprint Free Technique Juvenile and Junior B & G

Mont St Anne, Quebec

As I am hearing the weather in Vancouver is wintery with snow pounding down in the mountains and the city, who would have thought that I could go to Quebec in March and return with a sunburn. It was a scorcher today here at Mont St Anne with sunscreen flowing and racers and spectators alike hunting for shade. Once again the National Ski Team (NST) superstars were out for a training ski. The younger athletes were goading each other into getting autographs and become much bolder when they discovered that the likes of Chanda Crawford and Devon Kershaw were pretty friendly and happy to chat with the kids.

As it turns out the balmy weather we are enduring and sloppy race conditions are somewhat the fault of the NST. The Haywood Ski Nationals were delayed a week so to accommodate the end of the World Cup, allowing Canada’s (and now the world’s) top ski racers to be present. Apparently the City of Quebec was very keen on the races taking place on the Plains of Abraham, The conditions at last Saturday’s Sprint on the Plains were marginal to say the least, and now its even worse with more grass there than snow. Even still the city was willing to pay for the 200 truckloads of snow required to cover the race course. But race organizers said Non, and todays Open Men/Women race will take place at Mt St Anne.

After a somewhat disappointing day yesterday, everybody was looking forward to today’s Individual Sprint. If there is something Hollyburn Racers are good at, it’s sprinting. Lucas got the ball rolling with the fastest qualifying time for Junior Boys. After that Zayne was 5^th Fred 17th and Adam 20th. Sam Morris 31^st by a mere 0.4 seconds missed out on qualifying in the top 30. On the girls side everybody made it into the top 30. In Juvenile, Kate Weaver qualified 3rd, Jenya and Lauren from Whislter, 12^th and 29^th respectively. Jenny Wildi 22^nd made it into the Junior Girls top 30. Despite excellent efforts, Quinn and Kayden didn’t qualify for the heats.

At the coaches meeting the night before, Jake had lobbied, to no avail, to start the race an hour earlier knowing that the soft snow was going to make for challenging conditions. After the qualifier the heats were delayed an hour so melt water could be pumped from a pond that was threatening to overtake a section of the race course. The race course was quickly turning to mash potatoes. For the past two days coaches were busy swapping the limited supply of big baskets amongst the racers.

This is where the day started to fall apart as conditions were going to favour the lighter racers. Lucas at 210lbs, who had posted the fastest qualifying time on the early morning frozen snow finished last in the 1^st heat. Skis sinking and poles plunging. Zayne one of our lighters skiers crashed in the 1^st 50 m and chased the pack to finish 3^rd., and had it not been for the crash Zayne would have advanced for sure. Fred and Adam had equally frustrating races, but Fred made it into the next round as the fastest 3^rd place finisher officially known as “Lucky Loser”. (Tough crowd eh?) Fred finished 9^th in the B final.

But today was Katie Weaver’s day! She was solid through the quarter and semi-finals and made a herculean effort to close the gap on the leader putting her in contention for first place. It was obvious from her uncharacteristic stumbling as she approached the finish line that she operating at the limits of exhaustion. Barely able to support herself in the finish area she still had energy to give and get hugs from all her rivals. She finished third but the first place skier was an American skier and doesn’t qualify for National medals. So Silver for Katie!

Haywood XC Ski Nationals - Quebec City

Day 1 Haywood Ski Nationals – Quebec City

Team Sprint – Plains of Abraham (POA)

The interesting thing about ski racing or racing of any kind is that you never know when it will be your day. And while it may not be your day, somebody else can be having a good day. When you have done everything you can to prepare, Luck or sometimes, lack thereof can play a big part in the outcomes.

While the Nationals are situated at Mont Sainte- Anne, race organizers decided to hold the sprint races on the historic POA. Situated near Old Quebec City, just off trendy Rue Grand Allee. Unseasonably warm conditions made for mushy, dirty snow and on some sections of the course it was clear that some snow had to be shoveled onto the racecourse to make do. BC Team’s skis were heavily rilled and structured to help evacuate water film build up and eliminate suction from the ski base. Team BC’s skis were clearly faster than other skiers.

The team sprint format sees two competitors per team with each team member completing 3 legs of the .8 km course. A lap takes a little over 2 minutes. The fastest 2 -3 teams (??) advance to the final round. A total of about 6 kilometres of sprinting in mushy snow by the day’s end, gruelling to say the least.

Hollyburn saw four athletes make it to the final, Lucas Putnam-Rea/Fred Weaver and Zayne Heyes/Sam Morris as well as two other BC Team members from Larch Hills: Thomas Hardy/John Connor. I’m not 100% certain on this, but I believe luck helped out John and Thomas a bit. While they were looking strong and about to qualify, John got his ski, and legs, crossed in the hand off zone, once he got untangled he put in a great chase to finish third in the heat. So he either qualified as a Lucky Loser, or they were qualifying to 3^rd place.

The first lap Lucas lead out of the gate and pulled away from the group up the first hill and Zayne was sitting about 5^th but still in contention. After the hand off to Sam they were still in a good spot and Sam was looking strong, but this was where Luck threw a curve ball. In the pack, another competitor stepped on Sam’s pole yanking the basket off. He tried to get over the top of the hill with a few extra pole pushes, but snapped the shaft. BC Team coach Darren Deroche was at the top of the next hill where he handed Sam a pole but despite a big effort with only one pole, he had slipped back a few spots.

On the final lap John Connor attacked on the downhill section and made a strong push to jump from 3^rd spot to second. Fred crossed the finish line a good 10 + seconds ahead of John giving BC a One - Two podium finish and Hollyburn its first ever Gold Medal at a National Champs. Zone 4 results showed only a 4 second lead but Fred cruised into the finish taking it easy.

Other Hollyburn Athletes who competed today.

Katie Weaver, Jenny Wildi and Quinn Wildi are veterans of 1 previous Nationals.

Adam Woods who is having his best race season ever and should excel in the distance races.

Kayden Sim - Didn’t compete today but look for good things from him later in the week. This is his first Nationals.

Kalum Utley – May race later in the week but he is suffering from a recent soccer injury.

Thursday’s Forecast for Quebec City 21 degrees!!