After a fun and exciting Canada Games in Halifax, I am enjoying a much deserved rest back home. I finished the week with three gold medals and one silver medal. As icing on the cake I was selected to be BC's flag bearer at the closing ceremonies! I exceeded my expectations for the Games and had a fantastic time.
Departing from Canmore I was feeling less than optimistic about the upcoming Games. I had been feeling really tired since I returned from Estonia at the beginning of the month. I competed at the Eastern Canadian Championships February 11-13th in Ottawa and my body felt pretty bad. My legs were heavy and I wasn't recovering very well during the races. I finished in 3rd place overall in the mini-tour but I was not skiing up to my expectations.
I felt really tired training before the Games and cut some of my workouts short in hopes of regaining some energy. I had to catch the Alberta charter from Edmonton so we drove to Edmonton Friday afternoon and were at the airport Saturday morning at 4am. We were greeted in Halifax by some of the BC Mission Staff and eventually arrived at the athlete village in downtown Halifax. BC stayed in the Delta Halifax; a fancy hotel that was diminished somewhat by the bunk bed stuffed in beside the king-sized bed and the sound of jackhammers as the lobby was renovated.
After all the traveling and a 6am wake up to catch the bus to the ski trails, I was surprised at how good I felt skiing around the course and started to feel excited to race. Monday was our first race: the 7.5km skate individual start. I felt decent warming up and as I started the race my body was very responsive and I knew I could push hard and still recover. Emily started 30 seconds behind me and she was able to reel me in a bit and I ended up with the silver medal, 15seconds back.
Day 2 was the skate sprints. The course was short and fun though the snow was soft and deep on the climbs and corners. The organizers had to change the finish at the last minute as we could have tucked down the hill into the finish on the original course. The course was extended about a 100m so there was a proper finish. I qualified in 2nd place, 0.5 seconds behind Heidi. I felt good in all the heats and moved into the A-final. I tucked in behind Heidi until the last climb where I passed her and was able to maintain a small lead into the finish. I was super excited to get the gold!
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| Sprint podium: Heidi, me and Emily Photo: canadagames2011.ca |
Wednesday was a rest day and I chose to stay in Halifax since it would have taken 6-7hrs to go for a short ski (the ski site was an hour away and the bus schedule was terrible) so I opted to go for a run and do some sight-seeing. The next morning was the last individual event: the 10km classic mass start. I felt great warming up and my previous results gave me an extra boost of confidence. Emily Nishikawa, Andrea Lee and I got a bit of a gap on the rest of the girls towards the end of the first lap. Emily and I switched back and forth with the lead. I made my final attack on the last climb once again and was able to stay ahead into the finish. It was an exciting day for BC as my teammate Andrea Lee held on for the bronze medal!
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| Start of the race Photo: canadagames2011.ca |
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| Emily, Andrea and I on the podium. Photo: Jordan Cascagnette |
The last event was the 3.75km relay. The BC girls were hoping for a medal and the thought of challenging Alberta for the gold was in the backs of our minds but we knew we would all have to have great races to make that happen. Andrea raced the first leg and we started screaming as she entered the stadium in first place with a 15sec lead over Alberta! With that start, the rest of us just had to hold on to the lead and Heather Mehain and Rebecca Reid did exactly that in the next two legs. Rebecca tagged off to me with about a 15sec lead. I went as hard as I could in the first section then relaxed a bit into the finish when I realized the other girls weren't going to catch me. We brought home BC's first ever cross country relay gold (BC women were 2nd in 1979, and men were 2nd in 1967)! The boys also had a great day and finished in third, after losing a valiant battle with Quebec.
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| Relay team: Me, Heather, Andrea and Rebecca |
BC also had a strong para-nordic team and won lots of medals: Lou Gibson and Courtney Knight (guide Andrea Bundon) both won 2 silvers and a bronze and Mary Benson won a silver medal.
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| The BC medalists after the classic race. Photo: canadagames2011.ca |
My body felt great all week and I recovered well. The courses were perfectly suited to me with lots of rolling sections, short climbs and transitions. Thanks to Chris Manhard, Neil Manhard, Kerry Finch and Dave Battison for amazing skis every day. Also thanks to Kristen, our fabulous Mission staffer for all her help!
As a final bonus I was selected to be BC's flag bearer at the closing ceremonies. I was greatly honoured to be chosen and I was proud to lead BC's athletes into the ceremony.
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| Photo: canadagames2011.ca |
The last day was a long one full of the usual "hurry up and wait" that goes along with an event of this size but we eventually made it our hotel in Edmonton at 1:15 am (4:15am Nova Scotia time!) . We crammed all our gear into the cars and drove back home yesterday morning. The next races are the National Championships from Mar. 11-19 in Canmore. I am excited to sleep in my own bed for a few weeks! Since the beginning of December the longest I've been in one place is 7 consecutive days so it will be nice to fully unpack and put my duffel bag away.
Thanks for reading my rambles!
Alysson
Congratulations!!!
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