Biography

I started cross country skiing at the age of seven. I was asked at my local daycare in Pakenham, ON if I would like to try the sport by Heinz Niederhauser, who soon became my first coach. I started skiing and racing in the National Capital Division and loved it. Every weekend there was a different race somewhere and a chance to meet up with all my friends and team mates.

When I was 14, I started racing the Ontario Cup series races. I qualified for the Ontario team that year and represented the province at my first national championships, held in Canmore, AB.

I spent 2 seasons training with the National Team Development Centre in Thunder Bay, ON before I made the move to Canmore last spring to train as a member of the newly formed Alberta World Cup Academy team. I am now starting my second season on the Academy.

With 2 world junior championships, an under 23 world championship, and four world cup races under my belt I am looking forward to another great racing season that will be filled with new adventures and hopefully some new opportunities that will lead me closer to achieving my goal of representing Canada at the Olympics.

Friday, December 7, 2007

First Races of the Season

Sorry it has taken me so long to update my blog. Internet access has been sporadic at best over the last few weeks, but a lot has been going on. Since my last update, I have raced my first two races of the season, the team and I have made the terrifying drive from Silver Star BC to Canmore AB in a blizzard, and I have raced once more in Canmore.

Getting back into racing wasn’t as easy for me as it has been in past years. Last year for example, I jumped in headfirst and won the first race of the year, beating out Olympians and national team skiers. This year however, I got nervous. I went into both the sprint and the 10km skate races with a lot of self induced pressure riding on my shoulders. I kept telling myself that people were expecting me to do well and I wanted to live up to those standards.

The results were nothing special. I finished mid pack in both races. I was 12th in the sprint and 17th in the 10km skate race. I didn’t think about my months of training, I just went in with numbers and placings in my head and I couldn’t shake them. I wasn’t having fun or enjoying what I was doing.

After the last race in Silver Star we packed up the van and made the drive to Canmore. The drive normally takes six hours, but it ended up taking us 32hrs because we drove right into a huge snowstorm so the highways were closed and we spent the night in a little motel in a very snowy, Golden BC.

With the delay it meant that when we arrived in Canmore we only had one full day before our next race. I spent that entire day considering not racing the next race and saving myself for the sprint on Saturday. With 8 races in 16 days, in three different provinces and three different time zones I had to decide if it was worth tiring myself out now. I made the decision to race the race, but to use it as a training experience.

Just by making the decision to race I was able to forget about all the pressure. I focused on all the things I have been working on in training and forgot about coming first. I wanted to use that race to have fun and I found myself smiling in the middle of my race. All of a sudden I remembered why I love to race. It’s fun.

**Pictures of Silver Star Sprints to come!**
Posted by at 2 comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)