Thursday, January 24, 2013
NEWS FLASH UPDATE
Folks, UWNN has a serious news update to make with regards to last weekend's racing. It has been brought to our attention(/calculated by coach Colin) that we have tied for the overall men's team points from Ocup #2 in Walden. The tie was with Guelph who had a significantly larger number of skiers. But alas, it is about quality and not quantity. This is a significant result for the UW Nordic ski team as we have been struggling in the past few years for enough numbers to even have full teams. Walden was a great confidence building race, and we can expect that this result will give us a boost to bring our best foot (ski) forward for upcoming races. A NorAM you say this weekend? No problem. UWNN (as well as the team) will be there ready to rock'n'roll. See ya on the trails!
Monday, January 21, 2013
Ocup #2- Bring your Woolies to Walden
This past weekend the UW Nordic Ski
Team competed in the first of their three major race weekends of the
season. The race was the Ontario Cup
#2, held in Lively, Ont. (near Sudbury) hosted by Walden Nordic Ski Club. The team travelled up as per usual on the
Friday preceding the event to pre-ski
and get a feel for the race course. The
race format for the weekend was middle distance classic race on the Saturday
and a longer distance skate race on the Sunday.
The forecasted weather conditions for
the weekend also proved to be challenging.
For Saturday a mid-range temperature between -2 to -6 and lots of fresh
snow meant there was some figuring out to do for selection of the perfect grip
wax. And with Sunday's plummet to -19,
it was expected to be a slow day for skating- even with the right choice of
wax.
The men got the first crack in the
tracks (or what remained of them) in Saturday's classic race, being the first
race scheduled off the clock. Saturday's race was also an interval start,
with skiers starting at intervals of 30 seconds. The entire men's team laid down some solid
and consistent races. The women were
starting a little later in the morning, which meant that the snow would be
that much softer, the hills that much more chewed up, and the tracks a little
bit less useful. Nonetheless, the
women's team of two strode to the line, in a field that was somewhat less
competitive than the men's.
Saturday's race
results:
Men's:
|
Place
|
Name
|
Total Time for
10km
|
Time off of First
Place
|
|
Junior Men
|
|
|
|
|
7
|
Colin Elliot
|
38:59.0
|
3:19.4
|
|
9
|
Ryan Fahey
|
39:43.4
|
4:03.8
|
|
Senior Men
|
|
|
|
|
3
|
Tim Rhodes
|
37:28.8
|
1:14.5
|
|
6
|
Glenn Hartman
|
38:51.7
|
2:37.5
|
|
10
|
Nolan Beanlands
|
40:49.3
|
4:35.1
|
|
21
|
Colin Pilkey
|
56:16.3
|
+20:02.0
|
Women's:
|
Place
|
Name
|
Total Time for
5km
|
Time off of First
Place
|
|
5
|
Alison Stephenson
|
22:01.0
|
1:45.0
|
|
15
|
Katie Madden
|
26:10.3
|
5:54.3
|
After a day of racing, warming up,
cooling down, testing skis and locating teammates, the team was ready to head
back to the hotel for some recovery time.
This time was spent by taking painful ice baths, (not so painful) naps,
watching a hockey game or two, eating some delicious and healthy food, and
prepping for the next day of racing. An
important aspect of the nights in between races is to debrief that day's
races- figure out what you did well and what mistakes you could learn from-
and to set goals for the following day's races. Speaking of the next days races...
The expected temperature plummet did
in fact play out, and by the time the early morning run rolled around it was a
balmy -19 with a windchill of something even more ridiculous. Nevertheless, the races were held and the
team bundled up to the point of being unrecognizable- and then some. There was grease, tape and double layered
buffs on all of our faces, in an
attempt to keep the frost from biting.
All circumstances considered, the team had a general, overall better
day from the results perspective.
Women's:
|
Place
|
Name
|
Total Time for
10km
|
Time off of first
place
|
|
4
|
Alison Stephenson
|
37:07.4
|
+2:53.3
|
|
10
|
Katie Madden
|
39:49.8
|
+5:17.6
|
Men's:
|
Place
|
Name
|
Total Time for
15km
|
Time off of First
Place
|
|
4 (senior men)
|
Tim Rhodes
|
46:06.9
|
+2:13.0
|
|
5 (junior men)
|
Colin Elliot
|
46:08.2
|
+5:09.1
|
|
6 (senior men)
|
Glenn Hartman
|
46:14.3
|
+2:20.4
|
|
24
|
Nolan Beanlands
|
49:27.1
|
+5:33.1
|
And with the first big weekend of
racing at a wrap, it was time to hit the road for a long bus ride back to
Waterloo. Upon arrival in Waterloo we
were warmly welcomed with a fresh layer of snow, which hopefully will be skied
on the majority of this week. The next
bout of racing is coming right up this
weekend at the third race in the Haywood NorAm race series, taking place at
Highlands Nordic in Duntroon, Ont. Stay
tuned!
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Yuletide Race Results
Women's Results:
|
Place
|
Name
|
Total Time
|
|
13
|
Alison Stephenson
|
25:50
|
|
22
|
Katie Madden
|
28:18
|
Men's Results:
|
Place
|
Name
|
Total Time
|
|
16
|
Glenn Hartman
|
21:43
|
|
19
|
Tim Rhodes
|
21:48
|
|
27
|
Colin Rhodes
|
23:35
|
|
28
|
Ryan Fahey
|
24:06
|
|
29
|
Nolan Beanlands
|
24:11
|
Christmas time, ski time
After a long and
snowless December, patience was running dry just in time for Mother Nature to
give in. Winter camp was the light at
the end of a long tunnel of final exams, a month of long days spent by
seemingly endless hours of studying, and a mark of the beginning of the holiday
season. There was just one problem up
until this point: there was no snow to be seen.
Hold it. There was one other slight-well, maybe kinda
big- problem. The world was scheduled to
end, that's all. Anyway...
There had been snow previously in
December-both in Waterloo and at Highlands-
however, many days of rain and forecasts of 10° weather destroyed any hopes that skiing might become
anything less than a privilege. The plan
for winter camp was still rolling but Coach Colin warned us of the possibility
of having to rollerski, so we prepared ourselves for the worst. Thursday morning dawned and upon arrival to
Highlands there was still no sign of any of the white gold under the
rainbow. But luckily by Thursday night
the leprechaun made it to the pot and on Friday endless amounts of white gold
were falling from the sky and everyone was more than happy with their share.
In short, we got lots of snow. No
really, LOTS of snow.
The majority of team members arrived
throughout the day on Thursday-Fri. Morning, those being Coach Colin, Coach
Derek, Tim, Alison, Katie, and Nolan and Ryan F. Arriving from Ottawa. The rest
of the stragglers were expected to arrive throughout the weekend.
To continue with the strength building
that has been a part of our fall training, the official first activity of the
training camp was a strength circuit.
The circuit was by no means your standard circuit. Though it was plain and simple: large numbers
of push ups, squats, dips, and sit ups were expected- you pick the format. It was reported that everyone was able to
complete this task, except for Coach Colin who may have put his coaching
dictatorship to use.
Friday was skate day. Not figure
skating, not hockey skating- not even skateboarding- but you guessed it,
skate...skiing! Remember, we ARE the Nordic Ski team , we do actually ski
sometimes. The day started out with some
technique work: no poles, weight shift, hips forward. After each of us fully mastered each and
every major technique point we moved to the hill to do some offset work and
video analysis. This was a very useful
tool for improving technique, but it was hard to focus for there were much more
serious matters on our minds: tuna toasties.
We used our new found technique to ski as fast as we could back to the
farm house to indulge ourselves in the winter camp delicacy. On a less serious note, the post-nap scheduled
ski was 'downhill technique' which, at first, there was some focus but as soon
as variations on the drill were introduced- 2 people, 2 skis, going backwards,
skiing blindfolded, and the infamous
Zoro- all serious concentration was lost.
That wrapped up the first full day of winter camp. The day on snow, that is. There was much more to come in the evening-
the main part being the gift exchange.
The rules for the exchange are simple: Bring a gift, trade the gift,
guess who's gift you get. The kicker is
that that gift has to be under $5, and it can be anything from a pack of gum,
to some old ski boots you found in your basement. The point being, it can really be any
(ridiculous, or not) household item that you wish to discard.
To fit the schedule accordingly,
Saturday was classic day. As a team we
usually only skate rollerski, so getting some solid miles and technique
sessions on classic skis is imperative.
We did a whole heck of a lot of no poles and video technique which as
confusing as it may be (at least I always find it confusing) makes a whole heck
of a lot of difference. That afternoon
we had a classic time trial amongst ourselves which, although racing probably
felt a little rusty for most, was a good opportunity to have a less serious
first race on snow. On a side, but more
exciting note, Kikkan Randall decided to show up at our technique session. We tried to give her a few pointers, but she
wouldn't have any of it. The only
alternative was to invite her in for some tuna toasties which c'mon, you have
to admit, you shouldn't say no to regardless of how famous and/or fast you
are. Sadly, she didn't show (which meant
we didn't have to give up any tuna toasties) but I guess it was pretty cool to
be skiing at the same venue as one of the fastest world cup female skiers.
To finish off the training camp we
participated in Highland's annual Christmas time race, the Yuletide blast. The race was well attended by many top
university skiers and the amount of snow that the area received over the
previous days meant a very snowy course.
Race results to follow.
Exams done? Check. Training camp done?
Check. This could only mean one thing:
that it was officially Christmas holidays for the UW Nordic ski team! It was
time for everyone to go home to Christmas dinner's, cozy houses, friends and
family. Happy Holidays!
Friday, October 26, 2012
UW Nordic News (and Ski team) back and at 'er- and you thought you didn't miss us...
 |
| Fall camp attendees at their finest |
Now while it may have seemed that the
UW Nordic Ski Team has been up to nothing at all (as we obviously don't do
anything unless there is a media report from UWNN), the reality is quite
contradictory. In fact, we have been up
to a whole two months worth of various activities. Did the media report staff take an unknown
and unexpected leave of absence you're wondering? Better yet, how will we find
out crucial information about our most beloved ski team (like the specifics of
what they ate at fall camp)? And, oh, on the topic of food, did they actually have a team THANKSGIVING DINNER?!?
Yes, in fact, they did. And it was quite delicious (and, no, the media report
staff did not take a leave of absence, but suffered a severe case of what
(around here) is a quite common disease indentified as "midterms" ).
 |
| Just a bit of ultimate... |
 |
| Maybe getting a little intense... |
The first item on the agenda for the
UWNST for fall 2012 was the recruitment of rookies. The men's team was quite successful this
year, acquiring five new members, however the women's team receives a failing grade on this end as, sadly, there are no new women's team
members. New on the men's side are Colin
Elliot from Banff, Alta, Ian Holstead and Ryan Fahey from Ottawa, Dylan Jones
from Huntsville and 2nd year Colin Pilkey from Peterborough. Quite the crew. And yes, we are now "Ryan"
squared, "Tim" squared (this
is not new) and "Colin" cubed.
If you're ever in doubt as to who is coming at you full speed ahead in
snazzy Waterloo race suit, yelling either of the three names will give you a
3/5 chance of getting the name right.
Second on the agenda: Fall Training
Camp.
 |
| The full women's team atop of Mt. Mania |
The layout and
schedule for fall training camp are essentially the same every year. Traditions
need to be maintained. We arrived Friday
afternoon/night and promptly ate a delicious dinner of gnocchi with avocado, eggs,
chicken, amongst many other delicious things.
But it may have been just a little bit too delicious- there was many a
sore belly during that night's run and strength session, but it was a
rock-solid workout nonetheless. On
Saturday we perfected many a technique and hit the Highlands trails for some
ski bounding intervals. And of course,
what would be a fall training camp without the one-and-only-five-kilometre-uphill
race of your life? A pretty soft camp.
There were three distinct categories: double poling, skating and
one-pole skating. The majority of athletes
participated in the skating category, a few of the guys toughed out the double
pole, and Katie had no choice but to use one, lonely pole. Full results of Mountain Mania to
follow. After some fun on the mountain
we hit yet another set of trails, a part of the Bruce trail and did some
classic cave climbing.
The next two items on the list are of
a more competitive nature: our team 3000m. time
trial and the Mono Nordic trail race. Full results for each event to
follow.
 |
| Turkey time. |
Amongst many pancake breakfasts , the
team decided to step it up a notch. With
Thanksgiving fast approaching we decided it was about time to cook up a bird of
our own- and so Katie and Alison hosted the first annual ski team Thanksgiving
potluck dinner. It was nothing short of
epic, complete with sweet-potato/squash mash, stuffing, cabbage salad
and...Timbits for dessert? You betcha.
The fall has been full of lots and
lots and lots (and lots) of training- just as fall's should be in the life of a
Nordic skier. This upcoming weekend we
have some Bechtel trail clearing to do and an epic 3.5 hour rollerski, complete with a strength-on-skis
sesh and 30 min. tempo, should be a blast no doubt.
This is University
of Waterloo Nordic News (in case you didn't get the acronym) signing out. Have yourselves a fabulous Halloween weekend!
P.S. What's with all
this Frozen Thunder business clogging up all of our newsfeeds? Sheesh.....(yeah
ok, so I'm just very jealous *sigh* would really like some of that white stuff
of my own...)
 |
| Yours truly, the Highlands pigs. |
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
UWNST goes International- Funf World Championships 2012
 |
| Race officials busy doing official kind of things |
For those of you who are not familiar with the funf (in which there is really no excuses not to be) it is a 5-sport event consisting of swimming-running-classic skiing-biking-skate skiing, probably in that order. Race start was scheduled for 11:15 am. in the PAC pool. Why such a late start you may ask? It is not important, just that the funf is a much higher level of event than most of you may be used, and we will put up with none of this early start business.
 |
| Smiling for the camera gets you technique points in a funf |
After the run component athlete Ryan decided he would give the others a fair chance, and so decided that going home would be the best option. The only pair in the race also decided that this would conclude their 2012 funf career, for reasons that had nothing to do with lack of motivation. 
Colin had some speedy laps classic skiing around ring road and was able to sneak by Tim, although the transition to the bike once again gave Tim the lead and this order that was maintained throughout the rest of the race. Ladies and gentlemen, we have our Overall Funf World Champion: Tim Rhodes, winner of the third consecutive funf here at UW.
This concluded the funf season and all athletes will be taking some much needed time off of their super-funf training in preparation for next year's funf training-which starts exactly one year after the date of this year's funf, provided the funf is scheduled on the same day.
 |
| Funf champ 2012 wearing some ultra-reflective gear. Even Chrissy came out to support the cause... |
 |
| In a press release with UWNN all we could get out of Coach Coling was something about '#@!%-ing cramps'... |
That is UWNN live coverage of the funf, over and out.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
OUA 2012
Believe it or not, the time for the
OUA Nordic Ski Championships came around again. This year they were held the weekend of
February 24-26, and once again at Laurentian University. This meant that it was scheduled during
reading week, and that most people were at home enjoying some time off with their families. So when the time came to board the bus at
the PAC on the Friday morning, just when we thought we had reached at ultimate
low of team members on the bus, we scored even lower: two people. Coach Derek and athlete Tim Hughes were the
only to representing the team leaving Waterloo. But not to worry, the majority of athletes
were to meet in Sudbury via their own ways of transportation, with Ryan,
Alison and Glenn hitching a ride with Carlton , Martha coming from Timmins
with her parents and Katie getting picked up by the bus at home in Parry
Sound. The ride up was through a snow/slush
storm, so what a relief it was to arrive in Sudbury to skiable, trails, cold
weather and lots of snow.
Every year, the format for the OUA
race weekend changes. This year the
format was middle distance classic and
relay race on Saturday and long distance skate on Sunday. The classic race was 5km and 10km for the Women and Men
respectively, and the skate 10km and 15km.
The relay was not a team sprint like last year, but a 3 by 3km. relay
race.
We awoke to a beautiful, sunny day
Saturday to start off the weekend and the team put forth their best efforts
for the morning's classic race. Results as follows:
|
Place
|
Name
|
1st 5km. Split
Time
|
2nd 5km. Split
Time
|
Total Time for
10km.
|
Time off of First
Place
|
|
23
|
Glenn Hartman
|
14:29
|
15:17
|
29:46
|
+ 4:19.4
|
|
31
|
Tim Hughes
|
15:30
|
16:06
|
31:36.9
|
+6:09.8
|
|
34
|
Ryan McNamara
|
15:54
|
16:20
|
32:15
|
+6:47.9
|
|
39
|
Derek Hartman
|
16:17
|
16:32
|
32:50
|
+ 7:23.2
|
|
Place
|
Name
|
Total time for
5km.
|
Time off of First
Place
|
|
40
|
Alison Stephenson
|
19:12
|
+4:.21.0
|
|
43
|
Katie Madden
|
20:18
|
+5.27.9
|
|
45
|
Martha Sutton
|
20:27
|
+5:36
|
Now, after the classic race was done
the focus was put into good quality recovery, as the relays were to follow
that same afternoon. This involved a
proper race cool down as soon as possible after the race and some recovery
food as soon as possible after that.
Also it must be noted that, despite being retired, Coach Derek decided
to enter the classic race to be able to give the Men's team a full team. The Women's relay was on first, the Warriors
stepped to the line with a team of Alison Stephenson, Martha Sutton and
Katie Madden.
|
Place
|
Leg #
|
Name
|
Time
|
Total Time
|
Time off of First
Place
|
|
10
|
1
|
Alison Stephenson
|
9:35.7
|
28:01.1
|
4:46.6
|
|
|
2
|
Martha Sutton
|
9:46.5
|
|
|
|
|
3
|
Katie Madden
|
8:38.8
|
|
|
|
Place
|
Leg #
|
Name
|
Time
|
Total Time
|
Time off of First
Place
|
|
10
|
1
|
Tim Hughes
|
7:42.4
|
22:45.9
|
3:24.8
|
|
|
2
|
Ryan McNamara
|
7:51.7
|
|
|
|
|
3
|
Glenn Hartman
|
7:11.8
|
|
|
The end of the relays wrapped up the
first day of OUA racing. The winners
for both the Men and Women's individual races, as well as both relays were
Lakehead team members and teams, giving them a lead in the overall team
points. Despite being an OUA category
race, many of the top racers were athletes that are currently full time or are
racing at the NorAM level, making both the Men's and Women's fields pretty
deep. After an especially exhausting
day of racing, the Warriors went back to the hotel for some napping, feeding,
race talking, and yet more sleep. We
arose yet again to a beautiful, crisp sunny day for the second day of
OUA's. Skate results are as follows:|
Place
|
Name
|
1st 5km. Split
Time
|
2nd 5km. Split
Time
|
3rd 5km. Split
Time
|
Total Time for
15km.
|
Time off of first
Place
|
|
20
|
Glenn Hartman
|
14:24.1
|
14:56.5
|
14:43.6
|
44:04.3
|
+4:42.9
|
|
34
|
Tim Hughes
|
15:40.5
|
15:50.1
|
16:23.5
|
47:54.2
|
+8:32.8
|
|
37
|
Ryan McNamara
|
15:31.3
|
16:08.8
|
16:45.8
|
48:35.9
|
+ 9:14.5
|
|
Place
|
Name
|
1st 5km. Split
Time
|
2nd 5km. Split
Time
|
Total Time for 10km
|
Time off of First
Place
|
|
28
|
Alison Stephenson
|
18:02.8
|
17:57.1
|
35:59.9
|
4:40.9
|
|
30
|
Katie Madden
|
18:12.5
|
17:53.8
|
36:06.3
|
4:47.3
|
|
40
|
Martha Sutton
|
20:15.2
|
20:34.7
|
40:50.0
|
9:31.0
|
Alas, the Waterloo Warriors had
posted some great results yet again.
Considering the depth of both field's each athletes rankings were
commendable, overall rankings can be seen at www.zone4.ca.
The next and last
race on the agenda will be the Ontario Cup #4, hosted by Highlands Nordic in
Duntroon, Ont. Congratulations Warriors!
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