Hi from Canmore! I decided at the last minute to continue my early season racing trip in Silver Star to Canmore. On Sunday night following the pursuit race I cancelled my plane ticket, booked another one from Calgary a week later, found a ride to Canmore and looked for a place to stay. It turned out to be a good decision because the plane I was booked on to come back to Ottawa experienced some major delays through Vancouver.
I arrived in Canmore to some very frosty weather (-30) but there was snow and the forcast looked good for the race days. We bundled up and skied Tuesday and Wednesday and then on Thursday it was a balmy -7 for the race. It was a classic individual start 10km on very abrasive man-made snow. Due to some snow gun issues it was held on a 2.5km loop (which turned out to be the harder of the two 2.5km loops used in last year's World Cup). I had some trouble getting the right grip wax and in the end started the race hoping for the best. I found out on the first uphill that I didn't have enough grip at all so I did the best I could with what I had and did a lot of herringbone running out of the track. Now I know, I should have had some Vauhti Super Binder or even some blue klister under my carrot! (I had a less sticky binder that wore off fast).
In the end I was 16th which is a decent result given the obstacles. It is definitely hard to get the best skis without our trusty coach, John Suuronen, around!
Tasha Betcherman destroyed the field winning by a margin of 55seconds. Madeline Williams was second and the up and coming junior Brittany Webster was third.
The men's race was won by Dave Nighbor over Drew Goldsack and Lars Flora.
Today we had a rest day before racing both days this weekend. Tomorrow is a skate sprint and Sunday is a 10km skate mass start. No more grip waxing for me this trip!!
Full results from the race are at zone4.ca.
"Setting the Stage. Setting the Pace.
La mise en scène. Au rythme du client."