.: Canmore World Cups

It’s finally time for the highly anticipated Canmore World Cups! So far the races have not disappointed. There’s been lots of action and excitement!

Thursday I raced my first race, the 15km mass start classic. The race started out fast and only got faster, with lot’s of different racers leading the charge throughout. I hung in with the lead group for the first of three 5km laps, then dropped back a bit to ski at my own pace. I ended up catching a group of skiers ahead of me going into the last lap and skied with them until the finish. The race was really tough, but I was able to enjoy it and take in the experience. It’s pretty fun to be able to race with the best in the world. I was ranked 55th going into the race and ended up finishing 47th (8th Canadian).

Friday was a rest day, and today was the skate sprint (which I did not race). I went for a training ski in the late morning and tested some skis for tomorrow’s race with fellow Yukoner Graham Nishikawa. Afterwards I hung around to watch the sprint heats. The races were really exciting with lots of thrills and spills.

Tomorrow is the 30km pursuit. Race time will be at 12:30pm local time and will be televised live CBC and also streamed live on cbc.ca. Hopefully the pace is a bit more relaxed off the start so I can hang in with the leaders a bit longer than in Thursday’s race! Should be fun!

Below are a bunch on photos from the past couple days.