XC Ottawa athletes have had a solid summer of ski training,
with regular team workouts at Mooney’s Bay and Sunday morning rollerski
sessions in the
Gatineau
Park. We begin the fall
with an additional weekend rollerski practice as we gear up for the racing
season, which is fast approaching! Many of our athletes will be racing the kickoff races
in the NorAm series in Canmore and Silverstar in late November.
Something else all Canadian skiers can look
forward to is World Cup ski racing returning to
Canada in January. Canmore will be
hosting this event, and several XC Ottawa athletes are looking to qualify to
represent
Canada
at these races.
Team Changes
We’ve had several changes to the team. Three promising new
recruits joined XC Ottawa in the spring. Justin Demers has been training with us
throughout the summer and progressing at a rapid pace. Lindsay Los and Zoe Braul
were in British Columbia
for the summer, but will join us this week. Also joining XC Ottawa is our
newest recruit, Alana Thomas.
Leaving XC Ottawa is Gavin Hamilton, who will pursue his
studies in exercise physiology at the University of Calgary,
and will be racing under the direction of Chris Jeffries and Mike Cavaliere
with the Foothills Nordic ski club. Brian Suke will not be racing with us, but
will be refining his already impressive culinary expertise. We will really miss both of these
guys!
We will also have a Western office this year, with Tom and
Ed McCarthy both living in Vancouver.
Together (!). They will be joining us for major races, and you can still look
forward to their contributions at www.xcottawa.ca.
Alana and Lindsay joined us for their first XC Ottawa practice at Mooney's Bay.
Here are a few pictures . . .
