.: Canadian National Champs and the end of another season

Another Nationals has come and gone, as with another ski season.

My goal this Nationals was to win an individual medal. I accomplished this goal in the 15km classic race where I place 3rd overall and 2nd Canadian! (there was a Norwegian just ahead of me in 2nd overall). This was my best event and the race I was most looking forward too, so I was pretty happy to have been able to deliver and pull off a good performance when it counted!

The rest of the championships didn’t too badly either. I teamed up with Knute Johnsgaard for the Team Sprint and we took home a silver medal! Another Yukon team of Graham Nishikawa and Colin Abbott finished 3rd, just behind Knute and I, so it was pretty neat to have two Yukon teams finish on the podium!

The classic sprint was an interesting day. I didn’t qualify too well (20th), but felt a lot better in the heats. I felt strong in my quarterfinal and placed 2nd to move easily onto the semis. I was placed in a strong semifinal heat (the top three guys in my semifinal ended up taking the top three positions in the “A” final) and felt good early on but caught an edge and crashed in a fast corner at the bottom of the course. My chances of making the “A” final disappeared. I ended up placing 5th in that semi which moved me onto the “B” final. There are six racers in each heat, so the winner of the “A” final will be 1st overall, the last place finisher in the “A” final would finish 6th overall, and the winner of the “B” final would place 7th overall. Don’t ask me why they even do a “B” final..it doesn’t make sense to me either...Anyways, I still felt strong come time for the “B” final and won easily to finish 7th overall. 7th in one of most competitive sprints of the year is still a good result for me, but it was a bit sour as I knew I could have done better if I hadn’t have fallen.

Two races left, the 10km individual start skate, and the mass start 50km skate.

The 10km skate was a decent race for me. It was really fast conditions (really icy - my time was just under 22min for a 10km!) and really painful for the legs. I finished 8th overall and was 6th Canadian (two Americans finished just ahead of me).

The last race of championship was the 50km skate. I don’t really like 50s, I’ve never done very well in them. They’re too long for me to stay focused and pumped the whole time. Too often I get in a good pace and am cruising and then my mind starts to wander a bit then before I know it someone attacks and I find myself in the back of the pack trying to catch back up. You have to be continually trying to work your way to the front of the group, and since everyone else also wants to be in the front it’s a continuous battle, which is both annoying and exhausting. It’s much more tactical than an individual start. Anyways, going into the 50 I was sitting in 3rd place in the overall aggregate standings, and I really wanted to keep my top three positioning. I had a pretty good race (as far as 50s go) and finished 12th overall (9th Canadian, again there were a couple Americans ahead of me). Unfortunately for me, Brian McKeever (who was 4th aggregate before the 50) had a better race than me and got just enough points to overtake me for 3rd place aggregate (he finished the championships with 192 points and I with 189).

It’s funny, before the championships I would have said I would be very happy to finish the races with a medal in an individual race, which I did, but I still don’t feel satisfied. It seems like no matter how well I do, it’s never enough, I always leave wanting more. I guess that’s just how competitive sports work, and why we keep doing it..

Now that the season’s over it’s time to take a break, recharge, and make plans for next year. I’m still not sure what I want to do next year though, I have a couple options. I think I should have a shot at making the National Ski Team, and if I do, unfortunately I would have to leave the Yukon Elite Squad and join one of Cross Country Canada’s official Training Centers. If I don’t make the National Team I’m looking into seeing if I have any eligibility left to race in the NCAA program in the US. I should hear some news regarding National Team in the next couple weeks, so for now I guess I just have to wait...

Until next time, (below are some pictures from the championships)

David

Crossing the finish line in the 15km classic. Photo © Grant Abbott

Men's 15km Classic Podium. (l-r) 6th Kevin Sandau, 5th Sylvan Ellefson, 2nd Rune Malo Oedegaard (NOR), 1st Brent McMurtry, 3rd David Greer, 4th Graham Nishikawa. Photo © Grant Abbott