Day 1 -- Monday March 9th -- Interval Start Free

Video

Day 2 -- Tuesday March 10th -- Training Day

It's the end of another day at Nationals and I'm sitting at my computer listening to the rain pour outside. The current temperature is 9°C. Tomorrow's race is going to be interesting. Temperatures are expected to get colder throughout the day, and winds are supposed to be very strong. We used klister today for our training ski, and I found the Swix KR40 worked best. We'll certainly be adding significant structure to the ski bases if it's really wet on the trails. The stadium has been very wet, as it's the most exposed to the sun and wind. It's different to be skiing on trails where there are melted running streams. 

Leah starts the interval start classic race early in the day at around 11:00 AM, followed by Tyler at 1:00 PM, the Juvenile Boys at 1:30, and the Junior Girls at 2:30.

The Bed & Breakfast has been working out really well. Joyce and her staff have been excellent hosts, and they have provided us with amazing meals. Lasagne on Sunday, turkey on Mon, and home-made pizza, Caesar salad, and chicken catitori on Tuesday. I think we may have leftovers tomorrow. I don't think the kids realize how good they have it; Jane and I certainly do. From coaches making sure the athletes have the best skis possible and a kitchen staff making amazing home cooked meals, the athletes are being treated like royalty. 

It's been fun to date despite the abnormal weather conditions at Highlands Nordic. Lots of mud and melted snow. The people are excellent and friendly, especially our waxing neighbours from Newfoundland.

Day 3 -- Wednesday March 11th -- Interval Start Classic (Open/Junior Men/Women)

The only races held today were the Open Men and Women which included the Junior Men and Junior Women. Therefore Leah raced and the others didn't.

The conditions were considered too treacherous and too windy. The trails were incredibly icy, and there was concern over falling trees on the trail. I guess the race jury decided that the older categories could handle the difficult situation.

The entire Manitoba team was out to cheer Leah on. Leah ended up in 16th position out of 30 skiers; 90.8 % behind the leader. 

The younger category Interval Start Classic races were deferred to Saturday morning. As of now, the Classic Sprints are still planned for Thursday.

Here's a video of Leah's race today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=785q-04xdC8
If it doesn't open immediately, it may be because it hasn't been verified yet by the YouTube administrators. 

It's now snowing considerably, and it appears the lawn at the B & B will again soon be covered with snow. The temperature however is falling fast and the windchill is considerable. The expected high is now -10°C for tomorrow, but the winds are still expected to be high. Windchills could be a problem especially for a sprint event. 

On another note, with regards to results, Jane and I have talked to the athletes about looking at their results with a different perspective and that is to see what their percentage time is behind the leader. It tells a different story as follows: 

From Monday's results:
Leah Kirchmann 18/34 92.6%
Jennie Hissa 53/60 82.7%
Nicole Dubois 21/60 90.0%
Amie Mathews 18/60 91.0%
Tyler Horton 53/72 86.5%
Erik Charabin 71/79 77.0%
Jordie Baird 63/79 80.0%
Alex Druwe 57/79 81.4%

Day 4 -- Thursday March 12th -- Classic Sprint (Juvenile Boys/Girls and Junior Boys/Girls)

Sorry to hear you're all in a deep freeze. We woke this morning to a snow covered lawn. It's amazing to see how quickly the weather can change here.

Here are today's results from the Classic Sprint race including the placing and the percent behind the winning time:

Alex Druwe 33/66 85.2% 
Erik Charabin 37/66 85%
Jordie Baird 51/66 82.0% (had a stumble on the culvert underpass)
Tyler Horton 61/70 82% (had two falls on the uphill - deep snow conditions)
Amie Mathews 33/62 84.3%
Nicole Dubois 47/62 79.0%
Jennie Hissa 52/62 78.1%

Here is a video link from today's race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCgG5rgQ8bs .

Leah is our lone racer for Friday.

The next time the rest ski is Saturday morning.

Day 5 -- Friday March 13th -- Classic Sprint (Open/Junior Men/Women)

Today was a race day for Leah. She qualified in 13th for the classic sprints and she ended third in the quarter final. She was however not considered a
lucky loser, the fastest third place finisher, to advance. She placed 13th overall. 

See the video of the day's event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWyuM2dhouI.

We're about to head off to the banquet in Collingwood. The rest of the team pre-skied the course today for tomorrow's interval start classic race that was
originally suppose to take place on Wednesday. The races will take place between 10:00 AM and noon. Wish us luck.

Day 6 -- Saturday March 14th -- Interval Start Classic (Juvenile Boys/Girls and Junior Boys/Girls)

Today we had much warmer temperatures at Highlands Nordic for the interval start classic race for the Juv and Jun categories. 

Here are the result percentages for today:
Jennie Hissa 59/62 79.8%
Amie Mathews 31/62 87.9%
Nicole Dubois 37/62 86.4%
Jordie Baird 57/71 80.4%
Erik Charabin 60/71 79.8%
Alex Druwe 40/71 82.8%

Tyler Horton injured his shoulder in a pre-ski of the course on Thursday, so it was decided he would not race; however, there is a good chance he will be
race ready on Sunday. Tyler was an integral part of the grip and glide team for today's race. His help was very much appreciated. 

Cheering on the course were Rob, Jane, Leah and Tyler. Here is today's video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEx_J5Yt0SQ.

Day 7 -- Sunday March 15th -- Mass Start Free

We're all safely back home in Manitoba. Here's today's video from the day's races ... it was a wonderful day in Duntroon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74MJ0twuKtg.

The results for Sunday’s Mass Start Skate races are as follows:
Leah 8/28 - 93.5%
Tyler 47/70 - 84.8%
Amie 29/55 - 87.44%
Nicole 38/55 - 85.1%
Jennie 51/53 - 75.9%
Alex 56/74 - 77.9%
Erik 59/74 - 77%
Jordie 60/74 - 76.8%

For those of you interested, the following is some information on the various types of grip and glide waxes used and tested during the week. 

Each test ski was zeroed and then prepared with a Swix HF8 base. Each ski had a different flouro cover applied to it
Powders such as Swix’s FC8 and FC10 
Rub Ons such as Skigo’s C22, Vauhti’s Gold Fox, and Zero Fox. 

The glide skis were tested as close as possible to the race start time to determine which one would be best to use. For example, for Sunday’s race we
found the Zero Fox was working well, so we used it for the race. 

We also tested for structure. Structure wasn’t as important on the initial days of racing while it was icy, however on the last day, a deep rill was used due to
the wet conditions. 

As for grip, we tested the following klister combinations for Saturday’s race:
50% Start Universal with each of the following on separate skis:
1. 50% Star Techno 
2. Swix KR40
3. Rode Multigrade
4. Rex OY
We found the Start Universal mixed with the Rex OY worked best along with a Swix VR75 as a cover to prevent further ice buildup. 

As much testing as possible was done together as a group so that the athletes could have “buy-in” as to what wax should be used for their race. 

   This page was last updated on March 16, 2009