A New Beginning

Cross country skiing is demanding. It’s one of the hardest, if not the hardest, sport in the world. To be the best you need to train full time. That means training twice a day, every day. This means your whole day is consumed with training, fueling, and recovering. That’s a huge commitment. Most people can’t grasp the level of commitment needed to be competitive. Few, if any, other sports can match the cardiovascular, strength and fitness needed for cross country ski racing. Skiing full time for the past six years has taught me many valuable life lessons. It’s taught me a lot about my body, nutrition and the mental aspect of pushing myself to the absolute limit. It’s taken me around the world, racing in many different countries, and I have made many great friendships. I’m only 23 and have already achieved many lifelong goals, some of my highlights are: winning a silver medal in the 15km classic race this past season, and three silver medals in the Team Sprint Events (2009, 2012, 2013) at the Canadian National Championships as a senior, representing Canada at the World Junior (2009) and U23 (2012) Championships, achieving Canadian Junior and U23 Champion, several podium results at NorAm races as a senior, and winning a gold medal at the Canada Winter Games. Like any sport, eventually there will come a time when you have to leave full time competition. That time for me is now.

After getting word that I did not make the National Team, and will no longer be getting a development carding (funding), I’ve decided to “retire” from the life of full time cross country ski racing. “Retiring”, “quitting”….. call it what you want, I’m done. From the start I knew it was going to be a make or break season, and I guess it “broke”... even though I had by far the best season of my life. It is difficult for me to accept that after four years of Cross Country Canada’s support and my consistent improvement, Cross Country Canada no longer has faith in my potential. Without their funding, it is not realistic for me to continue. It is hard mostly because I know I still have lots of potential to improve. It’s not like I’m at the end of a long and prosperous skiing career and have given it everything I have...not even close. At 23, I’m just entering my prime years. I know that if I were to stick with it, I would keep improving, I could make National Team, maybe compete at World Championships, maybe even qualify for the Olympics. But that is over….

In some ways I’m glad I’m done. There are things that I will not miss. I will not miss the politics and drama of athlete selection from Cross Country Canada. I sometimes wonder if the people running the show are in it for the wrong reasons. The system seems broken and no one wants to fix it. Look at what our new team, the “Yukon Elite Squad”, accomplished this season. If a group of five guys with minimal coaching, support, and zero funding can compete with, and even better, some of the training center results on their own, something is wrong with the National program. Having spent many years in the training centre program, I have some ideas on how it could run more efficiently, but as I don’t want this post to sound bitter, I am going to post my “improvement” suggestions later…

Wherever I go from here, it will be a big change from what I’ve done the past six years. Skiing has been my whole life; it’s all I ever thought about. It’s all I know. It is going to be difficult just to drop everything I’ve worked towards. I am however, looking forward to getting on with the rest of my life. This is a new chapter in my life and there are so many opportunities. When I take a step back and look at the bigger picture, the skiing world seems so small. Over the years I’ve learned that if you stick around in the skiing world long enough, you are bound to have some doors open for you eventually. Yet I’ve come to realize that I don’t want to spend my whole life ski racing. There are many people still racing in their late twenties/early thirties and skiing is all they have known. I can understand how this happens; you get in a groove and just keep going. To be competitive you need to be willing to put the rest of your life on hold, to sacrifice a timely education/career, or even getting a good start on the purchase of a house. The older you get, the more time you’ve invested, and the more you want to see it pay off. For most of us, that just won’t happen in the way we hope it will. By the time you retire you’re so far behind your high school classmates career wise and financially, the costs may be questionable??

To close, I am happy with the choices I made; I don’t regret the time I invested skiing. I would highly encourage people to try racing and see where it can take you. Dream big and set standards and goals for yourself to make sure you keep on track. For younger athletes out there just getting out of high school and not sure if jumping right into full time skiing is the right choice for you, I would recommend looking into the NCAA. Unfortunately, Canada does not support sports scholarships in x-c skiing at university level, but many US universities do.  Many American universities have good ski programs in the NCAA circuit. The level of competition is very competitive, not quite as competitive as the Canadian NorAm circuit, but pretty close. I know many people who have taken this route and have thoroughly enjoyed their experiences. This could be a good way to get a taste of high level racing and get a better idea if you would like to do it full time. If you know for sure that you want to race full time, go for it! Just realize that you are putting all your eggs in one basket and be prepared for ups and downs throughout your career. If you do make it to the top, it could definitely be worth it!

I hope my story and experiences may help younger skiers see the bigger picture so they can make a more educated decision about what they want to do with their career in sport. No matter what direction you choose, strive to make the best of yourself, accomplishing that goal will grant you valuable confidence to tackle life’s challenges ahead.

I would like to thank my sponsors who have supported me along the way. Without my private sponsors I could not have stayed in the sport and made it to this level. Without your support I would not have enjoyed the world wide racing experiences I did. Your logos are on my website and I am truly grateful for your donations. Again, a sincere thank you! I will always promote your businesses.