. Thomsen D'Hont: Weekend #2 update

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Weekend #2 update

The first NorAm races took place this past weekend up at Silver Star mountain near Vernon, BC. The race weekend that used to take place at the end of November has always proved challenging and I've never been able to nail down two solid races at that high of altitude. I guess I have to keep searching for and working on any weakness that may be holding me back from racing well at 1700m above sea level...

Regardless, I had a successful weekend with two good hard efforts to chalk up to experience. The first day, the classic sprint, is a format I am usually decent at. With a longer and more difficult course this year, it truly separated the men from the boys, and unfortunately I was out-classed on this epic course on the day. I skied it pretty much as well as I could have, so I am happy with that.

The distance race was a revelation, as I was able to turn around a near-bonk on the 2nd lap, into a composed 3rd lap by simply adjusting a normal race breathing pattern, into a new and faster rate that I normally cannot maintain. I went for it and it worked out. The payoff was my best Silver Star distance race ever. I was by no means in the fight for the W, coming in at 39th place in a large and deep field, but the race was fun for me on a day with difficult conditions when others were hating life at certain points. Its funny, I keep having these feelings lately where I sense that a good distance race performance is just around the corner...

Warming up for head to head heat racing on Saturday in the 1.4 km Classic Sprint.

Rounding the corner at the bottom of the new bridge at Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre. I skied my quarter final pretty much as best I could and conserved as much energy as possible for the final push to the line, but unfortunately was dispatched by some better finishing kicks.

Our Silver Star trip ended with a highly contested game of pond hockey. As my 3rd time on ice with a hockey stick, I am confident in saying that I can now somewhat handle a puck from time to time. Luckily I wasn't too out of place in terms of skill level.

This weekend we are in Rossland, BC for the next stop on the NorAm series. This weekend is a mini-tour style event, with 3 races happening from Friday to Sunday. There is a skate sprint on Friday followed by a 10 km skate and a 15 km classic pursuit-style on Sunday based on Saturday's results.

Today we skied up at the Paulson trails up and over the mountain pass near Rossland instead of at Black Jack. Up at the higher altitude trailhead we were met with new snow and freshly groomed tracks on narrow, winding trails - perfect for a meandering 30 km distance ski.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Bio

I was born and raised in the North in the city of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. Yellowknife is a bustling mining town that is in a dark winter deep freeze for much of the year. It is in these dark, cold months that I learned to ski out on meandering snowmobile trails. In Yellowknife there is a sort of ski season trade-off; we have 8 months where skiing is possible, but with the harsh temperatures we have mid-winter, skiing is nearly unbearable for half this time. These conditions have reinforced values such as perseverance, drive, focus etc… and it is these values that have helped me get to where I am today.

When I was a youngster up in the ‘Knife, I was always outdoors, living the childhood that skiing greats like Bjorn Daehlie have attributed their success to. I would hunt, trap, camp, fish, and explore the land around where I lived year-round. I was skiing at a very young age and eventually hopped on the Jackrabbit bandwagon at the age of 7. I flew through the different colour levels and before I knew it I was on the High Performance team. This was a big step – lots of famous skiers were part of this group back then (famous in Yellowknife, anyways). I raced some big international competitions as a Midget through to Junior. I would throw the best I had at Alaskans, Greenlanders, Scandinavians, Russians, and Northern Canadians at the Arctic Winter Games. I was always a pretty small guy so it was a while before I could compete. My results consistently got better and at my final Arctics’ I demonstrated my improved skills and brought home the coveted Golden Ulu for my home contingent of the NWT. It remains to this day one of my greatest accomplishments.

AWGs aren't the only races I did - I would be at all the big Canadian ones too. As a midget (12-13) through to juvenile category (14-15), I would hit up Alberta Cups once or twice a year, along with Western Canadian Championships being an important annual event. As a juvenile I started to make it out to Nationals and by that time I was really hooked on skiing and every year of racing motivated me more and more.

The past few years have been an adventure. Out of High School in summer '07 I became part of the National Team Development Centre based out of Thunder Bay, Ontario. This was my first real time on a high calibre team with other highly motivated individuals working towards the same goal of national and international skiing success. Needless to say, this year was a great stepping stone for me. After my year with the NTDC, I moved out to Whistler, BC to be part of the Callaghan Valley Training Centre (CVTC). Being based out of the 2010 Olympic venue offers an amazing environment for a developing cross country skier and the facilities are second to none.

Intro

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Weekend #2 update

No comments: