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.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

My World Cup Debut



Yesterday I had a pretty cool experience. I got to race my first World Cup race here in Canmore. It was a classic sprint. I finished 49th and was very happy with my race.
3 of my NTDC team mates are also racing in these World Cups this week and we have been trying to figure out a penalty for coming last (i.e. shaving one eyebrow or something along those lines). I am happy that I don't have to worry about that after yesterday's race.

It was pretty intimidating lining up with the best in the world and having my entire race filmed. For the last 20min of my warm-up I was followed by a camera man who stayed within a metre of me the entire time. It was weird. One cool thing was that I got to keep my race bib.

Now I am getting ready to race in the 10km individual start skate race tomorrow and the skate sprints on Saturday. I skied the 10km course today and it is very hard so I might be shaving an eyebrow after all. There is a ton of climbing right off the start that I am a little worried about.
The skate sprint course isn't quite as technical as the classic sprint course was so I am happy about that. It definitely has a nicer flow to it. There aren't as many 180 degree turns in it.

Also, this morning we were informed that World U23 Championships in Poland are being postponed until the end of February. I was supposed to fly straight from Canmore this Sunday over to Poland to compete at the start of next month, but there is a serious lack of snow in Szczyrk. Now I have to quickly make some changes to my training and travelling schedule to make sure that I will be in top shape for U23s. I will spend today figuring out what I have to do. Maybe I'll be able to go to Eastern Canadians after all!




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