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OUA 2013- Race Report Version

The UW Nordic ski team gave a grand finale t to their last official, and most sought after race of the year.  What a season's worth of training was aimed to peak for: the 2013 OUA Nordic Ski Championships.  The event was held by Lakehead University at Lappe Nordic ski club, in Thunder Bay, Ont.

The OUA race format varies year to year, alternating short and long distances between the two disciplines, skate and classic.  This year's format was a middle distance skate race and skate team relay on the first day, and a long distance classic race on the second day.  The race distances were 5 and 10km skate races, for the women and men respectively, a 3.75km relay and 10 and 15km distance classic races.   Results from both middle and long distance races went towards an individual combined score by time and points from all three races contributed to an overall team score.  Six members of the men's team, two members of the women's team and two coaches made the trip to the three day event.

The women were the first to the line and proved some respectable results.  Fourth year Alison Stephenson skied a personal OUA best into 20th place in 20:17, and just twenty seconds behind was Katie Madden in 25th.  In the men's field the Warriors seemed to cross the line in pairs. Oliver Conway-White led the warriors in a remarkable 14th place in 32:55 and a close two places behind was Glenn Hartman in 16th place, in 33:16. Rookies Ryan Fahey and Colin Elliott crossed as 20th and 21st, a mere two seconds apart, while Tim Rhodes and Nolan Beanlands were 29th and 30th respectively.  This gave the Warriors a final day 1 result of having all athletes rank within the top 30 OUA positions.

The relay portion of the day gave the men's team an opportunity to show their strength as a team.  Each team consisted of three athletes, each to ski 3.75km and tag off to their next teammate.  Waterloo had one team, consisting of Glenn Hartman, Colin Elliot and Oliver Conway-White, step to the line.  The Warriors battled it out for places 3rd, 4th and 5th, along with Queen's and Laurentian's A team's.  In the final lap, Conway- White secured a solid lead on fourth, narrowly missing out on third place in a sprint to the finish.  The combined results of the individual skate and relay races gave the Warriors a solid team result- which, given the right effort the following day, could mean a top 3 OUA placing for the men's team.

To finish off the OUA Championships, once again, the only two women on the UW ski team stepped to the line for the 10km classic event.  The course was different this time- two 5km laps, consisting of both uphills and downhills of considerable size.  The coaches were able work out an outstanding wax combination of both optimal grip and glide, which rang in some terrific results.  Stephenson and Madden claimed places 24th and 36th in the women's race, in 41:24 and 43:58.  Conway-White continued to lead the men's team with a stellar performance, coming in 8th place with a time of 47:15- just above a minute off the leader.  The remainder of the men's team followed eagerly in a close pack behind with Rhodes in 16th, Fahey in 18th, Hartman in 19th, Beanlands in 23rd and Elliott in 32nd.

The combined results of the weekend proved some outstanding rankings for the Waterloo Warriors.  Oliver Conway-White’s combined times awarded him with a top 10 overall finish, naming him a 2013 OUA All-Star.  This, along with other team member's personal best's, led the men's team to an overall 3rd place OUA finish- notably the top result for the Warriors in recent years.

Tis the Season

          Hard to believe that we're already past mid-February.  Somehow the season that you spend the rest of the year training for and daydreaming  about the day when there will be snow seems to pass in an instant filled with a flurry of weekends with long car rides, hotel rooms, warm ups and start lines, and weeks with exhaustion, midterms, and skiing at Bechtel in between.

Who says we have to ski on snow? 

          Skiing at Bechtel?! Yes, we've been doing lots of skiing at Bechtel, and the skiing has been good. The racing has also been quite good.  So good, in fact, that I can say that it's been the most successful season, results-wise, that the UW Nordic ski team (UWNST) has seen in a few years.  Since the past update we have been in attendance at the third stop of the Haywood NorAM race series in Duntroon, Ont. and more locally, Mono Nordic invitational in Orangeville, with some nothing-short-of-epic training weekends in between.

          The weather  in Southern Ontario this season has been a tad bit moody.  Our first supposed-to-be-race weekend of the year turned into more of a water ski show than anything.  And although the official Snow Dog race was cancelled, we still managed to squeeze a race in at good ol' Highlands, which had a surprisingly high attendance.  Only two UWNST member's were keen enough to suit up, so Coach Colin and Katie took on the entire field consisting of Guelph, U of T, and various members of Highlands.

Oliver and Glenn take
on the quarter finals

Ryan powers up yet another climb

 The next event was Walden (see previous post), and somehow within those two weeks Highlands was able to accumulate enough snow to host a great NorAM event.  The first day of racing was a classic sprint day, and the course couldn't have been better.   Backwards up the stadium and racer out, around the haripin , lots of double poling and back down.  The second race day was a 10km for the women and 15km. for the men.  The course was just as epic- but in a much different way.  To directly quote Coach Colin, "the course will be good for those who like to suffer"...  It was a 5km loop- but in the course of one loop was two trips from the very lowest point of Highlands to the very top.  So that's 4x up for the ladies, and 6x for the men.  Yup, it was a lot of climbing, my quads thought so too.  For a full race report of both days  check out the official Warriors website  http://www.varsity.uwaterloo.ca/news/2013/1/28/NORDIC_0128135545.aspx.

          The UWNST was not in attendance at the Easter Canadian Championships, as it would have been the third consecutive weekend in a row of racing.  Although most other universities did choose to go, the UWNST is bound to see some direct benefit from this by being more fully prepared for the OUA championships this upcoming weekend.  Instead, the trip was made to Hardwood Hills for a fantastic training weekend.  Mother nature decided to turn itself against Highlands once again, as they were still closed from lack of snow from the second meltdown of the season.

Skiing and Studying- easily done when you can ski to
school.

          To continue with the moodiness, Southern Ontario got the biggest dump of snow it's seen in a while.  Really though.  UW was even closed for the first time since 2008.  This of course led directly to members of the UWNST suiting up and hitting the streets, libraries, Laurier, Waterloo park- anywhere and everywhere that was skiable- and that was everywhere.

 The amount of snow that we got also meant that the Mono Nordic Invitational was a go, so the next day 5 athletes travelled to Orangeville:  Alison, Katie, Glenn, Ryan F. and Colin P.    The snow was soft and the course tough.  It was the same as the invitational trail run that Mono hosted in the fall- 5km of seemingly unending hills.  But it was a gorgeous sunny day and a real treat to have a race that close to home, which made for a positive attitude all around and a great race day.

Lots of sunshine and snow at Mono
Nordic

The OUA championships are now in the line of sight, and they will be hosted by Lakehead University at Lappe Nordic in Thunder Bay, Ont.  Eight Waterloo athletes and two coaches will make the trip and be competing at their very finest in a deep field of Ontario's best university skiers.

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!

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!

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!