The first OUA race of the season was hosted by Nippissing in North Bay this past weekend. The original schedule for the weekend was a 10 and 15km freestyle race for the Saturday and a 6 and 9 km classic race for the Sunday for the women and the men respectively. However, the schedule for the weekend was in constant flux from the middle of the week due to the temperature forecast. From the middle of the week before, the temperature forecast for the weekend was calling for temperatures in the -20 to -25C for highs and lows in the -30C. As result, before even departing for the weekend, the races were pushed back to a noon start as opposed to the traditional 9 am start in hopes that the temperatures would be above the racing limit of -20C at start time.
The Waterloo team departed on the bus on Friday morning and then headed to Guelph to pick up their team and from there all headed towards North Bay. The bus continued the tradition of having some sweet artwork on the side, with the pattern this time being a Tiger. This was a close rival to the purple Gorilla that was the bus for a trip to Easterns last year. The drive up was a little interesting as there were multiple accidents on Highway 11, with lots of vehicles in the ditches and some fender benders slowing the drive. However, the bus driver did a masterful job of manoeuvring the Tiger and the arrival in North Bay was only slightly delayed over the original schedule.
Everyone on the bus proceeded to bundle up to prepare for the pre-ski. With everyone having looked at the forecast earlier in the week and the temperatures were forecasted to plummet from about -10C to -20C in the afternoon on Friday. Assuming that this plummeted was going to coincide with the arrival in North Bay, significant amounts of clothing was put on by most people. However, as everyone headed out, it was a balmy -12C and as such most were overdressed for the occasion.
After this, it was time to head back to the hotel for the typical pre race activities, like a delicious dinner, team meetings, and ski prep as required. Additionally, based on the forecast of a high of -19C for the next day, everyone had to mentally prepare to be racing in these conditions, along with preparing for dealing with keeping their extremities warm to avoid the potential for frostbite.
Saturday dawned with the meteorologists being correct with their forecast. It was approximately -24C when everyone arrived a little before 11am and proceeded to head out on course. Based on the forecasted temperature, the night before the organizers had decided to change the course to keeping the health of the racers in mind. The course was changed to a 3km, loop since these loop had smaller climbs and descents. With smaller climbs, the racers are less likely to burn their lungs breathing heavily than the larger climbs on the red loop. Additionally, the smaller descents mean less cold wind on the face and the potential for frostbite. With a change in the loop there was also a little change in the race distance. The men were doing 4 loops for a total of 12 km and the women 3 loops for 9km.
On the pre-ski of this new loop, all the skiers were getting their bodies and lungs adjusted to the temperature and deciding the best ways to protect their faces from the cold. This included various forms of hats, balaclavas, buffs and of course Vaseline on the exposed portions of the face.
While the race was originally scheduled to start at noon, this was pushed back to 1pm when it was determined that the temperature was not quite going to be warm enough to start at noon. This of course caused everyone to adjust their schedules and as a result, a game of ‘Janitor’ broke out on the bus.
By the time 1 pm rolled around, the temperature was officially -20C and as a result the race was a go. On the startline for Waterloo were: Nolan, Glenn, Tim R, Ryan and Derek, who despite still being on the IR, decided to start the race but classic ski instead. This was based on the facts that the organizers had guaranteed a track would be set on the entire course and the fact that the forecast for Sunday did not look promising, meaning that Saturday might be the only opportunity to race on the weekend. Additionally, Tim H was also on the startline in the Open men category. On the women’s side, Jess, Katie and Martha, who was also classic skiing for the same reasons, took to the startline.
The men got out first and proceeded to ski hard through the pain associated with racing and the temperatures. Once decent results were turned in with Nolan placing 18th, Glenn in 20th, Tim R in 26th, Ryan in 29th and Derek managing to beat some other skiers who skated and come in 31st. For the women, Katie had a very solid race and an excellent placing 14th for the best result among Waterloo skiers, Jess in 23rd, and Martha in 27th, also managing to beat some skate skiers. Full results on Zone4 (zone4.ca).
Everyone had different degrees of how the temperatures affected them, with the area around the mouth and nose obviously being cold from where the cold air was breathed in, to some having cold fingers or toes, but overall everyone came out fairly well. Additionally, everyone’s lung also felt it, but hopefully no major problems there.
After the racing and associated awards etc, it was time to head back to the hotel again to dry out, warm up and rest after a tiring day of racing.
The forecast for Sunday was much worse than for Saturday, as it was calling for a high of -26C and a low of -30C, therefore making it look like it was going to be difficult to get the race off. With this is mind, the Waterloo and Guelph team started to make some contingency plans for the next day. The decision was made to have alternative plans that, if the temperature was going to be too cold to race, then they would head down to Hardwood Hills to get some skiing in where it was forecasted to be a tropic -22C as opposed to -26C.
When Sunday morning dawned, it was -33C and the forecast was for a high of -26C around 3pm in the afternoon. With this as the temperature for the day, there was no chance that the race was going to happen and so everyone bored the bus to head south for some warmer skiing.
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