The First Time Trial

With record November snowfall in Southern Onterrible, the UW Nordic Ski Team decided to hit up Duntroon Highlands Nordic for their first real ski of the season this past Saturday morning.

Despite disgustingly soft and slow snow, the decision was made to go ahead with the first on-snow team time trial of the season. A rough 5 or 6 KM (we’re not really sure) course was set out, and a leisurely 10.45 AM start time was set for the first showdown of the season. Due to reckless enthusiasm and a lack of interest in basic math, a mass start was decided upon, and the start line was drawn careful with some ski shuffling.

The entire men’s team was in attendance, including coop boy Derek Hartman. Not including the coaching staff, the start line held 7 men and 3 women. Conditions were destined to play a major part, as the Highlands Nordic grooming crew had difficulty keeping up with the 60 cm of snow that had fallen the day before. A less than aggressive mass start saw a tight pack in the men’s field for the first 2 km until Kieran Jones made a break for it and started to spread the field out. Things stayed spread out until the start of the second lap, when Yudai Nakagawa realized that it was in fact a 2 lapper, not a 1 lapper, and put on the jets, catching Jones near the end of the second lap. It’s still unclear how realizing that he had to do TWO laps rather than one made Yudai faster, but that’s Yudai.

An intense finishing race developed down the home stretch, with Kieran nipping Yudai by a boot length. This was mostly due to Kieran he realizing that passing was impossible on the narrow trail stretch into the finish and making sure he was in front for it. Sorry Yudai.

In the women’s race, things were considerably more spread out, as the slim 3 women field didn’t pack up as tightly as the mens. With Kelly Skinner still recovering from popping out her first child over the summer, and April Ross opting for a single lap, 2008 OUA All-Star Nellie Dow took the win convincingly. Luckily for the men’s team however, they all managed to stay ahead of her.

The full results tables follow:

Position	Name	Lap 1	Position	Lap 2	Position	Total Time
1.	Kieran	10:46	1	10:49	2	21:35
2.	Yudai	10:59	2	10:36	1	21:35.1
3.	Nolan	11:07	3	11:34	3	22:41
4.	Colin	11:07	4	11:59	5	23:06
5.	Cam	11:10	5	12:04	6	23:14
6.	Andrew	11:40	7	11:40	4	23:20
7.	Derek	11:28	6	12:15	7	23:43

Position	Name	Lap 1	Position	Lap 2	Position	Total Time
1.	Nellie	11:59	1	12:23	1	24:22
2.	Kelly	14:12	2	14:23	2	28:35
3.	April	20:40	3

The answers to last weeks question is obviously not Ottawa.

This weeks super difficult quiz – Should you sign up to play Fantasy Nordic Skiing?

Also, we will be starting a new feature. With the ski season approaching, we will be profiling each Waterloo athlete, one a week. Stay tuned to learn everything you wanted to know about Waterloo’s Nordic Skiers, and a whole lot you probably really don’t.

Peace out, a-town.

Photo of the Week

This new feature will involve a pretty basic concept. We here at UW Nordic Blog will post a picture. It will be of something neat. You will look at the picture. You may even submit your own pictures.
It's just that simple. Enjoy!






Yudai Nakagawa, after his second place finish in the Time Trial
Photo Credt: Surabhi Venkatesh, on Yudai's camera (it's a pretty cool one)
Submit your own photo's via email to kieranj@magma.ca. Web transfers of money, love letters, admissions of guilt regarding the consumption of Kieran's cookies, and general questions about UW Nordic are also accepted at this email.

Skiing and Snow!

First skiing in Waterloo!
November 16, most of the Ski Team managed to crawl out of bed, see that the city was covered in 3-5 cm of white stuff and head to the illustriously groomed Westmount Golf Course.
Pretty solid skiing, a little wet in places, and absolutely a crown skis day, the tee boxes were still fun to jump off.
With 2 hours of skiing under our belts, next stop in the Tour of Southern Ontario Skiing is Duntroon Highlands, where rumour has it there is 5 km of groomed trail, a new deck and a taco eating contest. (okay, so I lied about that last one)
Take notes here, folks, Waterloo has snow and Ottawa doesn't.
Which University should you apply to/attend? Stay tuned for the correct answer to the difficult quiz next week.
Until then, quit sitting in front of your computer and go outside and ski.

New Features!

So I have enabled a few new features, one of which should let you comment on what I write.
Go wild.

Mono Nordic Results - FINALLY

Mono Nordic just posted there results for the trail run which happened back in the middle of October. Waterloo managed to pull top 4 in the open category, but there are so many categories it's difficult to figure out overall placing.
The Open Men's Table:

1	Nolan Beanlands	20:18
2	Cam Moore	21:57
3	Kieran Jones	22:09
4	Colin Rhodes	22:12

Overall it looks a little different.
1. Nolan Beanlands UW 20:18
2. Mike Weersink UofG 20:51
3. Patrick Sullivan N/A 21:34
4. Matt Brown N/A 21:53
5. Cam Moore UW 21:57
6. Kieran Jones UW 22:09
7. Colin Rhodes UW Alum 22:12

On the women's side,
4. Nellie Dow 27:00
6. Kelly Skinner 28:43

For more detailed information, please visit http://www.mononordic.com/

Stay tuned more more news and results from the UW Nordic Ski Team

UW Fall Camp

This weekend, (Oct. 31 to Nov. 2) the Waterloo Nordic Ski Team headed to Highlands Nordic, in Duntroon Ontario for their annual fall training camp.
Attendence contained all the Waterloo Nordic regulars, a coop student or two, several prominent alumnus, and a couple of rookies.
The camp started out quickly, with Mike 'Knees' Neilly leading off a killer strength workout on Friday night, making sure that everyone was aware that they had shown up for a training camp, not a wilderness retreat.
Saturday morning dawned sunny and clear, but chilly. Not chilly enough to snow, however, so a long rollerski/technique session commenced with brand new father/head coach/inspirational speaker/organizer extraordinaire Justin Faulkner calling the shots. Most athletes managed to get in both skate and classic technique evaluation before giving in to eat lunch, check out the highlands ski swap, or regret their decision to wear shorts and get frostbite on the knees.
After a crucial post-lunch break for sleeping, the team decided to hit the Highlands trails for a hike, and after a quick ski walking tutorial from last years OUA All-Star, this years superstar, and perennial technique virtuoso Cam ED Moore, the majority of the team got down to exploring the extensive Highlands Nordic trail system. Others, most notably rookies Nolan 'Beans' Beanlands and Andrew 'JR' Jeffery, went for the afternoon intensity, racking up a few intervals before the post-workout soccer game.
Saturday night involved eating, saunas, goal setting, and realizing that it was daylight savings time and therefore actually an hour earlier than everyone thought.
Sunday morning dawned bright, early, and sore for most. Preparations for the ever-popular Mountain Mania 4.8km uphill timetrial had begun the night before, with people choosing techniques from running to double-poling and skate rollersking. Once the sign-up to suffer was complete, the TT kicked off at 8:30.
Running were Jamie Tremaine and Surabhi Venkatesh. This was followed by double-poling enthusiasts Yudai 'Guns' Nakagawa and JR Jeffery. The most popular choice, skating, saw Knees Neilly, alumni Greg Brigley, Nelly Dow, Beans, D-Rok, and Kieran T. Jones attack the hill. Last, due to the fact that he was the only one doing classic, Cam ED Moore went at it.
After one run of the hill, most were content with the amount of pain they had endured for the morning, and headed back to the farmhouse for a rest. A select group however, opted for a second attempt. Yudai attempted the rare double-double-pole, and Andrew switched to the shoes for his second go, and both were accompanied by HC Justin Faulkner, who exercised his authority as coach to detail his wife on childcare while he double-poled the escarpment.
Bagged after the mornings race, naps were taken, lunch was eaten, and a general cleaning of the farmhouse was done before the inevitable ski hike of the Bruce Trail.
2 hours of ski hiking, some light spelunking and bouldering later, the team decided to pack it in and head back to Waterloo for some sleeping and some school.
Solid weekend of training, and check the fall camp off the UW Ski Team schedule.
With a little luck, the next time we're in Duntroon for a camp, there will be snow involved.