Coaches Corner

Making it Happen!
[December 30, 2006]

Snow in Northwestern Ontario has been measured in millimeters this year, and yet with the lack of snow, the Thunder Bay ski community still manages to rally together to make ski races happen.

Lappe ski club members, lead by their fearless leader Pauli Kakki, shoveled and snow grabbed enough snow to make a 3km classic track for the annual Boxing Day Classic.  However, a lack of skatable snow caused the Lappe contingent to postpone the Lappe Invitational to be held this Dec 30th and 31st.

The south end of the city has been blessed with a few more millimeters of snow, and with the help of some snowmaking, has remarkably good ski conditions in spite of the lack of white stuff.  When Peter Crooks, facility manager at the Kamview Ski Area and Bert Viljakainen president of Big Thunder Ski Club heard about the Lappe Invitational postponement, they suggested running a skate time trial.  Bert rounded up his Ontario Cup #2 race organizing committee of Big Thunder, Lappe and Kamview volunteers and then spread the word.  A day and a half later and the race was run with zone 4 timing and v-boards in place.  Mother nature cooperated with a minor blizzard the night before dropping a whopping 1.5cm to provide a polish to the trails.

The skate time trial provided a well needed race opportunity for local athletes who have already missed out on one Ontario Cup race cancelled due to poor snow conditions in Ontario.  It also allowed ski racers a chance to try out the new Kamview race course.  Lappe has “The Grunt”, Kamview has “The Groan”, aptly named by the number of groans coming from athletes as they climbed the back side of a Nor’wester Mountain.

The second Ontario Cup weekend is set to take place January 13th and 14th.  All are praying for more snow.  Three cm more snow will make skiing good, 5cm will make it great, or as Peter Crooks says, “mid-winter conditions.”

Lakehead XC Summer Training Camp
By L. Patterson
[July 17, 2006]

The snow has long since melted from the Nationals 2006 race site, and yet Ontario’s young ski racers train on.

Fifty three athletes attended the Lakehead XC Summer Ski Camp held in Thunder Bay from July 4th to 8th.  The 5 day training camp saw athletes in attendance from 12 different clubs coming from as far as Ottawa, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, North Bay and Atikokan along with many local participants from Lappe and Big Thunder Nordic Ski Clubs.  The National Team Development Centre was on hand to show the younger athletes their work ethic, dedication and the commitment required to help them achieve their lofty goals.  Positive encouragement by the NTDC athletes was an added plus to the camp.

Stephane Barrette, CCC’s new High Performance Coordinator for the East, was on hand to share his training and technique expertise.  Along with training assistance opportunities for the athletes, Stephane presented a Long Term Athlete Development power point for coaches, parents and club administrators.  The camp also provided an opportunity for coaching development of local coaches.

The Thunder Bay region provided a large variety of training opportunities.  Athletes took advantage of smooth pavement and grassy trails around the Kamview Ski Centre to rollerski and pole walk.  A strength circuit, 5km trail running race, critical speed test, NST Strength Test and a lengthy hike/run up the Sleeping Giant rounded out the training.  Lazy tubing down the Kaministiquia River was incorporated as a form of forced recovery.  The week was rounded out with a BBQ and beach volleyball tournament at Lakehead University.  Numerous draw prizes were graciously donated by Fresh Air Experience, CCC’s Sponsor of the Year.

The camp would not be a success without the local volunteers who help supply and organize meals and billeting for the camp, as well as coaching assistance from Patti Kitler, Eric Bailey and local Big Thunder Ski Club coaches.  Many thanks for a job well done.

Lakehead XC is a partnership between Lakehead University, Big Thunder Nordic Ski Club and NTDC-Thunder Bay.

Lakehead Dominates at OUA Nordic Championships
[February 18, 2006]

Lakehead swept the top 5 positions in the men’s 10km individual start classic event. The women also placed 5 in the top 10.

Steve Hart won the men’s race with first year Thunderwolf, Linnaea Kershaw, winning the women’s event. The men swept the medals lead by Stephen Hart. First year Thunderwolf, Phil Wood, took silver and Skeets Morel earned bronze. Following the medalists were Newfoundland’s Andrew Casey in 4th and Thunder Bay’s Jeff Cameron in 5th. Jesse Winter was a close 7th. Matthew Schoales and Doug Bolster rounded off the roster with a 14th and 22nd place respectively.

While Linnaea Kershaw’s brother competes at the Olympics for Canada, Kershaw brings home the gold for the Thunderwolves. In the women’s event Linnaea Kershaw won gold with veteran Thunderwolf, Rena Bode taking silver just 5/10ths ahead of third place finisher Carley Kenwell from Laurentian. Lakehead’s Mallory Deyne finished 4th, Emily Hayman 5th, Amanda Holdsworth in 10th and Thunder Bay skier Berit Dool in 14th. Rookie Ava Rudachyk finished a very impressive 15th.

In the relay event, Lakehead showed it’s dominance winning both the gold and silver medals in both the men’s and women’s event. Both the Lakehead A Teams won handily, but the B Teams had to duke it out with other rival universities. In the men’s 3x4km event, Jesse Winter had to fight back from last place after a fall at the start of the race. Winter’s tagged off to Phil Wood in second and Andrew Casey was able to hold onto the 2nd position although charging and challenging Lakehead’s A team.

In the women’s 3x2km event Lakehead A team won with a 48sec lead over Lakehead’s B Team. The Women’s B team also had their hands full trying to catch up. Amanda Holdsworth brought the team in 5th, Berit Dool made up one position and then veteran Emily Hayman put the hammer down to catch and pass Carleton’s and Laurentian’s A Teams to finish 2nd.

Lakehead looks to be in a comfortable lead going into tomorrow’s events. Women race 12km skate and men 16km skate.

Day 4 Slovenija
[February 4, 2006]

Juniors raced today under foggy conditions yet again.  Junior women completed a 5cl/5sk pursuit while Junior men raced a 10cl/10sk.

Highlights included Amanda Ammar’s tie for 7th place.  Amanda jostled for position within the lead pack throughout the whole classic portion of the race.  At one point she was in 3rd and came out of the exchange in 4th.  Early in the skate race, the leaders blew the doors open and spread the field out rapidly.  Amanda went back and forth between 4th and 7th throughout the skate portion.  A fast charging American sprinted with Amanda into the finish to tie her in 7th place.  Brittany Webster, only ski racing for 2 years, finished a strong 28th and posted a 22nd best skate time.

In the Junior men’s race, Alex Harvey, Haakon Lenes and Brent McMurtury had an excellent start to stay out of trouble on the narrow trails.  Chris Butler moved well through the middle of the pack throughout the classic portion of the race.  Alex Harvey battled in the top 20 for most of the race and posted a 9th best skate.  Alex finished strongly in 17th spot.  Chris moved up nicely during the skate picking off competitors one by one to finish in 30th position. Peter Nordthug won his 3rd gold medal and never lead the race until the last km.  A Japanese was in the lead during the 2nd last lap of the 2.5km course but the others in the lead pack forced the pace and did him in especially on the last climb.  In Kate Brennan’s words, “It was sick how they climbed that last hill!”

Other results:
66th Kate Brennan
69th Hanna Perry
72 starters

55th Haakon Lenes
62nd Brent McMurtry
? starters

For more results see: http://jwsc2006.com/index_eng.php

Day 3 - Slovenija
[February 2, 2006]

Today the U23 athletes raced a 10km cl for women and the men a 15km cl.

The sun of yesterday afternoon disappeared and we were left with fog yet
again. The snow has not disappeared but it hasn't gotten any better either.
The track was firm but starting to break down through out the women's race
and by the time the men got to the race course, many of the uphill tracks
were totally wiped out. Keep in mind that 72 men were circling the 2.5km
course 6 times to complete their 15km race. Traffic was heavy causing the
old snow to turn to sugar.

Sean Crooks was our Big Thunder representative today and put in a solid
effort. He was at a disadvantage with his late start bib but still pushed
hard along the disintegrating track. Sean is using the U23 Championships
for the Olympic Games starting in 2 weeks time. His next race will be the
30km pursuit in two days time.

Chandra Crawford and Phil Widmer leave on an overnight train tonight to
Davos, to participate in a world cup in Switzerland this weekend.

Tomorrow will see Chris Butler and his fellow Canadian Junior athletes
racing the 20km pursuit for men and 15km pursuit for women.

Results from today:

Women
6th Dasha Gaizova
30th Chandra Crawford
32nd Perianne Jones
41st Madeleine Williams

Men
31st Dave Nighbour
37nd Graham Nishikawa
45th Sean Crooks
53rd Phil Widmer

Day 2 from Slovenija
[February 1, 2006]

The weather started out grey once again but colder.  Track conditions were bullet proof for the women’s race but the men faced fast changing snow conditions.  Wax techs were challenged with strict course rules and were unable to test wax for the boys until 30min before their start.

Highlights of the event were the efforts of veteran and future Olympian, Amanda Ammar.  Amanda showed spark and brilliance on the race course from start to finish.  At the 1km mark after 25 skiers she was in 4th place just 2 seconds out of the lead.  Since most of the top seeded skiers started in the first seed, Amanda held onto her position for most of the first lap.  Amanda had to duke it out with some quick late starters and managed a 6th place finish, just 12 seconds out of a bronze medal and 1.5 seconds out of 5th place.  This is Canada’s 3rd best World Junior finish in history.

Chris Butler looked sharp at the start of the race, and was challenging for a top 30 position.  The changing conditions may have played a factor in his final result as well as a challenging downhill which got the better of him.  He has the bruise and scrapes to prove it.

The rest of the Canadian team did not fair well.  For many, this week of competition is their first experience at an international racing event.

Amanda Ammar 6th
Britanny Webster 56th
Kate Brennan 65th
Hanna Perry 66th
81 starters

Chris Butler 56th
Fred Touchette 71st
Brent McMurtury 78th
Georg Jalkotzy 82nd
100 starters

Finally saw the sun today in the afternoon when the fog and cloud finally lifted and realized that there are mountains close by.  Now that the fog has lifted, I even notice that there is a large town across the highway from the race site. 

U23 athletes race a 10km classic for women and 15km classic for men.

World Jr and U23 Update
[January 31, 2006]

Here is a brief synopsis of day one at the World Junior and U23 World Championships held in Modved, Slovenija.

Snow conditions were worse than Slovenijian coffee.  Another warm, grey and misty day with snow as thick as the sludge found on the bottom of our coffee cups.  The course challenged the competitors with 12 inches of corn snow on 90% of the trail.  Staying on ones feet was top priority for everyone. Unfortunately, our Big Thunder representative and one of 3 Canadian medal contenders wasn't able to stay upright in the qualifying round.  Sean Crooks tripped up twice and managed a 32 place - the wrong side of 30 and therefore did not qualify to the heats.  Phil Widmer and Graham Nishikawa squeeked into the finals.  Phil, our 2nd medal contender, was alone in the lead but tripped himself on the final uphill before the finish.  Graham did not advance.

Our 3rd medal hope, Chandra Crawford, battled it out in the quarter-finals but the photofinish showed two athletes just ahead and failed to proceed to the semi's.  Perianne Jones qualified but did not advance past the semi-finals. Dasha Gaiazova surprised the field winning her B Final and placing 5th overall.

Our Junior Canadian athletes also struggled in the thick snow.  Alex Harvey qualified 16th and Haakon Lenes 28th.  Alex was leading his heat until his face hit the snow rather abruptly with 150m to go.  Haakon broke a pole on the first corner out of the stadium, and although made a fighting effort to catch up, was not able to crack into the top two.  No junior girls qualified.

Chris Butler did not race as he is saving himself for the distance events.  Chris races tomorrow in the 10km classic event.  Chris is upbeat and positive.  He likes the conditions and his light frame will definitely help him in the mushy snow.

Lisa P

Eric Bailey - we always knew he was full of hot air.

Perianne Jones sprinting to the finish.