Photo: Kit Richmond spent some time last week the Devo Team.
Busy season for event organizers looming ahead!!
Greetings all club members, new and returning. With snow on the hill many skiers have enjoyed an early start, and hopefully more base will accumulate in the near future.
Recently the Board of Directors met for a final pre-Christmas planning meeting. One issue that rose to the fore is that our annual events (Loppet, Coastal Cup, and this year a BC Winter Games race) will pose some challenges as many of our long-term race organizers will be away at Whistler helping to stage the Olympic events.
As a result we are in need of a number of volunteers to help with these events. Please contact a Director or reply to the club via email if you are interested in helping out; it is a great way to contribute to SNSC.
See you on the trails,
Rob Grantham
Club Veep
RACING TEAMS
Kit Richmond has been training hard with Coach Dave this past year in order to win a spot on Canada’s Olympic Team. Over the next two weekends, Kit will be competing in the Olympic trials at the Haywood NorAm Races. SNSC racing team members are very inspired by Kit Richmond’s dedication and skill level.
This coming weekend, December 12-13, Kit will be racing in Vernon, BC in the skate technique sprint races and the longer 10km skate technique race. The following weekend, December 19-20, Kit will be in Canmore, Alberta for the classic technique sprint races and the men’s 50km classic technique race. Kit is hoping to win one of those events and take one of the four remaining spots on the men’s Olympic team. Check out Kit’s Blog
SNSC racers Andrea Lee and Freya Wasteneys will also be competing for points to garner top spots in the country. Still teenagers, these two racers compete in the Junior Women category and hope to represent Canada at the World Junior Cross-Country Ski Championships in Germany the New Year.
More members of the SNSC Junior and Masters Racing Teams will also compete in the Haywood NorAm races for Provincial standing and for fun.
BC WINTER GAMES ZONE 6 TRIAL RACE
January 2nd., Mount Washington
Calling all skiers born in 1995 and 1996. This is your year to experience the BC Winter Games in Terrace on March 4-7, 2010. Coaches will be Marilyn Atkinson and Dave Battison.
YOU MUST PARTICIPATE IN THE TRIAL RACE TO BE ELIGIBLE. Four Girls and Four Boys will be selected, plus possibly more as ‘wildcard’ positions.
Registration information will be available soon.
More information: marilyna@shaw.ca , 250-338-9345
Marilyn Atkinson
OFFICIALS and HELPERS
BC Winter Games Trial Race January 2nd, Mount Washington OFFICIALS and HELPERS needed to organize and assist at the race. Please let us know you can help with putting this important qualification race on. We can fit you in to help no matter what your level of experience. Contact Marilyn Atkinson marilyna@shaw.ca , 250-338-9345.
COACHING COURSE
Coaching refresher course is now scheduled for Sunday, Dec.27 with Club Head Coach Dave Battison. Classic Technique 9-10 am and Skating Technique 10- 11 am. This refresher course is
aimed at all Rabbit Coaches and any other Coaches wishing to refresh their coaching strategies.
Coast Cup # 4 is set for Sunday, Feb.7 at Mt. Washington and will be run in the pm starting at approx. 1 pm.
RABBITS
If you haven’t made it up the mountain yet, the snow is great for playing and getting your skiing legs back before the Rabbit sessions begin. Also, for those of you new to the Rabbits program, or those who have forgotten about the Snow Goal incentive, remember to mark on your calendar all the days that you children have skied for a minimum of 1 hour. These days will be tallied at the end of theRabbits session to earn a Snow Goal sticker for their booklet.
Rabbit coaching groups are now beginning to be formed, so if you haven’t yet completed the Volunteer Opportunities form, found through the Rabbit icon at the top left of the club website, please take a few minutes to complete this. In order to ensure that we have sufficient volunteers to run the Rabbit program and events, skier placement will not be done until a selection has been made for each Rabbit family. Thank you.
DEVOS
What a great week of skiing. Everyone is progressing well with their technique, and having a lot of fun with our relays. Many thanks to new Devo coaches Matthew Blecha and Tim McGrady.
Devo Important Dates this winter:
Christmas Race Camp – December 27, 28, 29 – schedule to be announced soon.
January 2 – First local race – Classic technique. We will do race preparation for this. I will help with waxing for the event. More information to follow. Everyone should go in this. This is also the BC Winter Games trial race for those skiers born in 1995 and 1996.
January 9-10 – BC Cup#1 in Kelowna. Myself and several Devo members will attend with their families. It is a good chance to go in a bigger provincial race with club support. Anyone who is interested in attending please let me know and we will get ready for it. I will try to find some coaches to take my place to lead Devo sessions on the mountain.
February 7 – Coastal Cup race on Mt Washington. More information to follow.
March 5,6,7 – BC Midget Championships in Salmon Arm - Great province-wide race for skiers born in 1997-1998-1999 (2000) . We always try to go to this race as it is a great experience with 3 races in 2 days – classic race, sprint race and relay race. We will carpool and stay together in a hotel. Please talk to me if you have any questions about it.
March 27 – Vancouver Island Loppet
April 3 – Devo Wind-up
Early May – May Ski Camp – get ready for the next great year of skiing!!
Any questions or suggestions always welcomed.
Marilyn 338-9345
CALLING ALL YOUNG ATHLETES
As you may be aware, the CIBC Wood Gundy XC Ski Program for elementary schools is running again this year. And more than ever, with the Olympics around the corner, we want to inspire these young students. For every school that books, we do an orientation in the school before the students come up to Mount Washington for their first lesson. If you are a member of the Devos or of the Junior team, we’d like to have some of you join Karla or Elmar on these orientations, perhaps to tell your story, perhaps to just look great in your skiing duds, perhaps to answer any questions the students might have… whatever you are most comfortable doing.
To coax you a little, Rick is providing a little incentive for each racer that participates, each time he/she participates… A $5 Starbucks card. And at the end of the season there will be a snazzy draw prize up for grabs… your name will be entered once for every time you participate. The more often you help out, the more you win!
There are schools from both Campbell River and Courtenay so far, so hopefully there is a school near you.
If any of you are interested, please contact Karla at wikjord@shaw.ca or 250.898.9087 as soon as possible and I can fill you in on more of the details. There are three orientations that will be scheduled before the Christmas Holidays that we’d love your help with.
Thanks in advance to all those that express interest in helping out. And special thanks to Rick Morson of CIBC Wood Gundy for providing a little incentive for you all to.
Talk to you soon and Happy Trails!
Karla
Karla Wikjord
Coordinator, CIBC Wood Gundy XC Ski Program
