All Done.

The beds were stripped, the dishes washed one last time, and the fridge was cleaned out.  Our Vernon home has been empltied. After a long trip we are all back home in Ottawa. (Except for my skis of course. Air Canada is far too incompetant to be able to deliver both myself and my skis to the same place. I hope to receive them before Tuesday night's practice.)

Our coaches mapping out the way 

Thanks to all. It was a great ten days with a fantastic group of people. A special thank you to Natalya for organizing, and Petr for all the long hours of waxing.



Natalya





Petr







See you out on the trails,

Allan

PS: Thanks for the 2000+ views!

The last race of XC World Cup Masters

The gang (with their Fresh Air Experience hats & ski bags)

Today is the last day. The last race is the 45 km classic style for men and 30 km for women. The house's start list included Cathy, Natalya, Heather, Ed, Parham, Erik, and Trevor.

Erik doffing his hat on way to a top 7 finish

Heather "scooch" on her 30 km ski

Ed in full stride (Nathan watching)

One of the many Grey Jays taking in the action

Parham (before unfortunately crashing out)

Trevor powering up hill

Cathy on her way to a top nine finish

Natalya blasting her way to an eighth place

We are leaving soon for the closing banquet. The women are pulling out their party outfits and the guys their well worn jeans and least worn shirts.

Even the dogs have their own trails here

Long distance racing...

Allan during 45 km

Hi all,

First off sorry about the video. Apparently it is too big for the vast majority of systems to view. Visualize, if you will, snow laden trees while Natalya does some flawless one-skate. She says "I feel like I am in Narina", after which Trevor (the videographer) replies "Are you the white witch?".

Also, sorry about the lack of updates for today. I was one of three people who did the 45 km skate-ski event today, and it was my turn to cook dinner at the house. It has not come up much on the blog (other than the "brulee chicken"), but the meals here have been outstanding - almost competitive. As many of you know my wife is a superb cook and some of it has rubbed of on me. We had a puttanesca pasta, Chillian bean and tomato salad, and a berry medley for desert.

Back to the  racing.... I had a personal best. I do love getting faster while aging. I wanted to break 3 hours and finished in 2:45 so I am very happy with my result. In fact the first 30 km, was faster than last week's 30 km race. Clearly the altitude effects have worn off.

Nathan (2nd from right)

Coach Petr showing us how it is done

For dinner tonight we had a house guest, Dave McMahon, the well known Ottawa skier, coach, teacher, and videographer. There are no pictures of Dave eating, but here he is during the 45 km skate:

My 9 teammates who didn't ski today did a great job cheering us on. So much so that at one point the guy in front of me asked "Are you some sort of celebrity?" 

Oh, and did I mention, 45 km is very tiring:

Allan recovering after 45 km

Winter Wonderland

Here is video from yesterday of Natalya skiing through the snow laden forest:

Relay day

Sheila Kealey with Parham

Today the relay races were run. For every age group each country can enter one team. Two people ski a classic leg, while the other two each do a skate leg. No one in the house qualified for any of the Canadian teams. Most of us went skiing. The group I was with did a loop of the Sovereign Lakes trails such that we ended up at the race site. By the time we got there it was snowing hard and very windy. Too cold for wet skiers to stand around in. As luck would have it we arrived just as Sheila Kealey finished her leg of the relay.

Tomorrow the racing resumes again with the long distance races. In the absence of new racing photos here are a few fun photos from throughout the week:

Aboriginal hoop dancers at the opening ceremonies

Fireworks

Snoozing

Skiing through the long shadows

Hanging out at the house

Freestyle cross country!

Gas masks and the fluorocarbons 

Wind blown icicles 

Coaches and their silly hats

Bratwurst + sauerkraut + onions + mustard = gas powered skier

Parham and the ministry of silly skiing

A rest day at Silver Star.

Lots of snow at Silver Star!

Today is a rest day day for all competitors. We all went to the Silver Star ski resort. Sovereign Lakes (where the competition is being held) is adjacent to Silver Star which has its own network of  XC trails in addition to the world class downhill skiing.

Five of us explored the XC trails, while the remaining six hit the slopes on downhill skis and snowboards. The five XC skiers decided to save our legs and took the lift to the top.

Cathy, Allan, Erik, Ed, & Parham at the peak of Silver Star

We skied out to Alder Point where there are panoramic views of the surrounding mountains that are spectacular.

The view today at Alder Point :)

The softly falling snow spoiled the view, but did provide for some fast skiing.

The gang at Alder Point

A smiling Erik

Allan - self portrait

Ed showing off his downhill technique

Lunch was at Bugaboos.

Did I mention that there is a lot of snow here?