Westerns

Westerns this year was in Canmore, and it was a mini-tour.  Three races in three days, a 10km classic, a skate sprint and a 15km skate.

The races started off well for me.  I had a good 10km classic race,  I started off a little hard and faded a bit near the end but it was still a good race for me.  I was 1st U23 and 4th Open Men.

The next day’s skate sprint was ok...nothing special.  I felt pretty bad in my qualifier and qualified 27th.  I felt a lot better in my quarterfinal but made a few tactical mistakes and ended up 4th in my heat and didn’t make it through to the semifinals. I ended up 20th on the day’s results. 

The last day was a tough one for me.  My skis weren’t very fast, but that’s not the only reason for my poor performance, I also felt pretty tired and couldn’t seem to find my top racing gear.  The race wasn’t terrible, it’s just that I was hoping for a lot better....I ended up 11th Open Men on the day and finished 9th overall in the mini-tour (2nd U23).

I decided to stay in Canmore for a bit to train before going down to Ottawa for the Eastern Canadian Championships, which is another mini-tour this weekend.  Right after Easterns I fly out to Livigno, Italy for a little high altitude training camp before the U23 World Championships in Turkey.  Should be fun and I’ll try and you updated!

Me in the 15km skate race at Westerns.  Photo thanks to Angus Cockney.