Nationals 2011

My 9th National Championships is in the history books and I am satisfied with how the week played out. At the end of the event I ended up with two aggregate awards: 3rd in senior women and 2nd in U23 women.

The first individual race was the 5km skate last Sunday. Usually I love 5km races but the tough World Cup course in Canmore is my nemesis and The Wall gets me every time! I felt good and paced the two laps fairly well, bonking a bit on the last climb before the finish but still getting across the line. I finished the day in 5th place overall. I ended up with a bronze medal for Canadian senior women since an American won the race and junior Annika Hicks had an awesome race and also finished ahead of me. Emily Nishikawa had an amazing race and was the Canadian champion!

Photo: Bill Thompson

Next up was the 10km classic individual. I was having trouble dialing in my grip before my start and my coaches were trying to take excess klister off my draggy skis 3 minutes before my start. I grabbed my skis, sprinted to the start (knocking over a fence) and skied into the start track 45seconds before my start time. I took a few deep breaths then started off. I was a little frazzled and had trouble focusing at the start of the lap but I felt good and was able to maintain a fast pace. I ended the day in 3rd place, getting the silver medal in the Canadian finishers. This was my best distance race of the season and I was happy with how I skied it despite the frenetic start. Brittany won the race so an AWCA girl stood on the top of the podium again!

At 9:30 the next morning I was back at it in the classic sprint qualifier. I didn't feel very peppy and had trouble finding my top gear so I qualified in 7th. I felt better in the heats and made it into the final. I finished the day in 5th place, 4th Canadian.

The last race was the 30km skate which is definitely not my strongest event, especially when I'm tired! I stayed with the front group for maybe 2/3 of the first lap then realized that I couldn't sustain their pace and dropped off the back. I skied the rest of the race with Alana Thomas and set our own pace. I finished the day in 14th. It was really nice to have someone to ski with the whole race as I skied larger portions of my last two 30km races by myself.

Working with Alana and Stephanie in the 30k. Photo: Bill Thompson

The week ended with a fancy banquet at the Banff Springs then a night out in Banff. It was nice to unwind after a stressful week! I decided to do one more set of races before calling it quits for the season. I am going to Sun Valley, Idaho on Sunday to compete in the US Spring Series. There are 4 races in 5 days, ending with a hill climb up a downhill ski run. Should be fun!