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KN – ORCC Joint Program

Kanata Nordic is excited to announce that we will continue to enhance our cooperative training  with the Ottawa River Canoe Club (ORCC).  XC and paddling have many common elements and synergies in terms of training and it made sense to continue with our initial efforts of last year.  The two clubs also have many things in common in terms of promoting an active lifestyle, athlete development, and training.  This joint venture permits both Clubs to share resources, volunteers and coaching ... More

Withdrawal

Having lived and spent most waking hours with cross country skiers for the duration of the Paralympics and a few days before, and having had the opportunity to ski from morning to night I will confess a certain amount of withdrawal particularly with no significant skiing opportunities in the Ottawa area. This posting is somewhat triggered by  having read Claudia and Dirk VanWijk's  "Trackside" blog which I linked to through the NCD website.  In their posting they refer to a compulsion ... More

March 25

It is good to be home again.  I already miss the atmosphere of the Paralympics, the Whistler Olympic Park, the wonderful people and the fantastic skiing in the Callaghan Valley.   It is quite something to be on well groomed trails with over a metre of base and then two hours later to be in Vancouver surrounded by green grass and the fragrance of blossoms. All good things come to an end eventually, and being a feorrunner at the Paralympics has been the experience of a life time.   ... More

Parting shot…

This one is about 500 metre elevation above the Olympic Park.  7 kms of climbing with no flats, followed by some down hill, a little flat, and then another 250 metres of elevation gain over 4 km of rolling ups and downs.  Well worth the effort. More

March 20 – Relay

I have missed a few days but will catch up later. Today is the relay event which I have not quite determined all the rules for yet. As I understand it each country enters three skiers that cannot exceed a total classification of 288? Every paranordic athlete is given a classification based on their disability.  For example a totally blind skier would have a lower classification than a visually impaired skier with peripherial vision.  Similarly, some sit skiers have some leg mobility ... More

A Day Off (March 19)

No Nordic events today, therefore, half of the forerunners decided to make a ski up to the Callaghan back country lodge.  The weather forecast is perfect with a high of 4 or 5 Celcius and clear skis.  With temperatures well below freezing overnight we try to time our ski to avoid hard icy snow, and yet beat the soft mushy snow as the temperature rises and the sun hits the trails.  Given the variability of conditions we decide to skate.  The lodge was built for back country skiers that ... More

Forerunners (March 19)

As described earlier the forerunners ski the courses before each event to insure trails are “skied in” before each event.  We also close the course 10 minutes before the event, and ski sections during a race if there is heavy snow falling, for example.  In the past few days it has been quite warm during the day and well below zero overnight.  With the first event at 10:00 the course is typically hard and very abrasive when we arrive.  For the Sit-ski course we cannot use wax or ... More

Nordic competition photos

Rob D'Arras and Margarita Gorbounova in the biathalon on the first day of competition Alex Novikov in the 20 km freestyle Brian and Robin McKeever in the 20 km freestyle (gold medal race) More

A Day Off

Today is a day off for the nordic events and the forerunners. I have taken advantage of this to see my sister in Vancouver, although a day of skiing was tempting. The recreational trails, and the competition trails, are wonderful. They are postcard beautiful, the grooming is impeccable, and the climbs and downhills offer a challenge that we do not see that much of in the Ottawa area. At the higher elevations the vistas are magnificent and it is interesting to ski over short sections of ... More

Competition Day #2

Today (Sunday) includes the 15 km men's sit-ski in the morning, and the women's 10 km sit-ski in the afternoon.  The women will do 3 x 3.3 km loops and the men 4 x 3.75 km loops. Effectively sit-skiers have lost mobility of their lower body, however, because each skier may have a different disability there is a classification that is used to adjust times to "handicap" the skiers with more lower body strength for example. A sit-ski generally consists of an aluminum frame with a low seat; ... More

The first day of competition

With opening ceremonies out of the way (the forerunners did not attend) we are all set for the first day of competitions which includes an 800 metre sit ski biathalon course, and a 1000 metre standing biathalon course. Both courses have some challenging climbing. All sit-skiers do three laps with shooting occuring after the first two laps, and the standing athletes do the same thing on the 1000 metre course. For the Paralympics the biathalon range has been moved to the main nordic stadium.... More