Now living in Ottawa, the Trinidad and Tobago citizen Mark Rajack has been working with team XC Ottawa for the past two years now to improve his skiing. In doing so he has reached his goal and qualified for this years world championships in Falun Sweden, and was allowed to bring four of us with him as coaching support.
We of course jumped at the opportunity! I am very pleased to be here along with Steffan Lloyd, Colin Abbott (XC Ottawa alumni), and Michael Vieira. Here are some photos of our trip so far...
Day 1: The 36 hour travel day
Landing in Montreal at 6:15 pm... long day/night/time change ahead
2nd sunrise in 24hours, cool
Made it to Sweden! bus ride from Stockholm to Falun
the food situation got pretty desperate...
... but we made it!
Coaches table
Athlete table
Day 2: Skiing the World Championship Course!!! Awesome!
Photo break halfway up the Murderbakon (literal translation: death climb)
Checking out the city of Falun
Charlotte Kalla has a nice smile :)
Staying healthy! High Five!
Near Falun
Officially a World Ski Championship Athlete!
So is this guy... followed Petter Northug around a bit on the course.
Wished good luck to Periane Jones!!!
Mike Vieira chilling
Day 3 & Day 4:
Day 3: Race Day for Mark! 10km Skate Qualifying event
The qualifying event is for countries with athletes who do not meet the FIS points World Cup Standards. These athletes compete against each other in a 10km individual start race, and those who finish in the top 10 get to take the start in the big event, the 15km Freestyle (for the men) or the 10km Freestyle (for the women).
Mark raced well but did not make the top 10 in a strong field of 79 athletes from all over the world.
Mark racing the 10km Skate
We got to attend the opening ceremonies of the 2015 Falun World Ski Championships!
Day 4: Sprint Day! Mark Races, and so does Alex Harvey!
Mark got to race the sprint qualifier!
Norway's women were strong as usual!
Justyna Kowalczyk striding her way to winning the sprint qualifier!
We had fantastic seats as you can see!!!! :)
Bransdall striding up the first climb!
A panoramic shot of the roaring stadium that surrounded the waves!
Head to head racing! Go ALEX!
... and the Norwegian wax bus, because why not... it's huge!
Mark is all finished his racing now, but we have a few more days here on site in Falun.
We will be around until the end of the skiathlon day! If you watch closely you might be able to pick out our large Canadian flag that we wave furiously during the races!
More pics to come!
Andre M.
Wished good luck to Periane Jones!!!
Mike Vieira chilling
Day 3 & Day 4:
Day 3: Race Day for Mark! 10km Skate Qualifying event
The qualifying event is for countries with athletes who do not meet the FIS points World Cup Standards. These athletes compete against each other in a 10km individual start race, and those who finish in the top 10 get to take the start in the big event, the 15km Freestyle (for the men) or the 10km Freestyle (for the women).
Mark raced well but did not make the top 10 in a strong field of 79 athletes from all over the world.
Mark racing the 10km Skate
We got to attend the opening ceremonies of the 2015 Falun World Ski Championships!
Day 4: Sprint Day! Mark Races, and so does Alex Harvey!
Mark got to race the sprint qualifier!
Norway's women were strong as usual!
Justyna Kowalczyk striding her way to winning the sprint qualifier!
We had fantastic seats as you can see!!!! :)
Bransdall striding up the first climb!
A panoramic shot of the roaring stadium that surrounded the waves!
Head to head racing! Go ALEX!
... and the Norwegian wax bus, because why not... it's huge!
Mark is all finished his racing now, but we have a few more days here on site in Falun.
We will be around until the end of the skiathlon day! If you watch closely you might be able to pick out our large Canadian flag that we wave furiously during the races!
More pics to come!
Andre M.
Interesting Reading. . .
"Pack your paddle."