Once back in Rossland after Soldier Hollow, it was time to prepare for the Haywood NorAm Western Canadian Championships at Whistler Olympic Park. On Wednesday January 18th, we piled into the van and drove to Al Fischer’s house in Whistler (a huge thank you to Al for all that he does). The next day was snowy with mild temperatures. After the coaches did a fantastic job prepping our skis, we headed out for a short training late in the morning to test skis and prepare for the skate sprints on Friday. It was a great effort by all and we saw some good results in the heats. Saturday was a tough classic distance race with extra difficult waxing conditions. Nonetheless, our supreme wax team did our skis to their usual high quality, and there were some fantastic results and efforts by the team. Finally, Sunday was a super fun skate team relay. For this race, groups of three people each raced a leg of the race to achieve an overall team result. It was very fun to be able to race with other skiers from BC as a team rather than as competitors. As soon as the podium presentations were over, we quickly packed up the van and trailer, and hit the road. We stayed the night in Osoyoos before making it home early on Monday. A big thank you to all the volunteers, Dave Wood, Dave Reynolds, Bob and Nathalie for all the waxing, course support and cooking, and to Al Fischer for letting us use his house.
