The blog is back, this time to share the excitement and spirit of the Canada Winter Games. The Winter Games are held once every four years, and they are a chance for each province to bring forward their best and brightest athletes. This is week two of the games, the time block allotted to cross country skiing as well as many other sports including boxing, female hockey, gymnastics, archery, snowboarding, sycro, badminton, alpine skiing, curling and figure skating.
The Quebec team was flying out of Montreal, so our trip began with a bus ride from Ottawa to the Airport hotel. There we met up with the other athletes coming from all over Quebec. The next morning was an early one, with our organizers insisting on arriving 3 hours early for the plane. Granted, all our skis and wax boxes made it here, so I suppose its always better to be safe than sorry. The plane was a charter, and so was 100% full of athletes. Thats a lot of hockey equipment, skates and skis to fit onto one plane! I was lucky enough to be bumped up to first class, which was quite a treat! I dont think that I have ever wished that my flight was just a bit longer so that I didn't have to get up out of my seat...
Upon arrival we were shown around the athlete's village. Its a pretty cool setup! Instead of building all new facilities somewhere in the middle of nowhere, they put all of the athletes in three downtown hotels, connected to each other and the cafeteria by tunnels.
Last night was a lot of fun, Great Big Sea was playing, opened by Jeremy Fischer. The crowd was huge! Lots of energy, and the atmosphere was great. Granted, the masses of people meant that we we essentially watching a jumbotron on tiptoe. Oh well...
I am rooming with Anne-Marie, a girl from Quebec City, and Christine, a paranordic skier. I am really enjoying the chance to chat with her about how the para-sports world works, it something that I haven't ever really been exposed to. She is the para-kayaking world champion, and has some really neat ways of overcoming the obstacles presented to her.
This morning we woke up super early to hit the ski trails. The ski center is about an hour from downtown Halifax, and they have done quite a good job! I was talking to one of the head officials responsible for the event, and he said that a year and a half ago there were no trails at all, that he and some guy with a GPS were driving around on a skidoo trying to decide what would make the racecourse fun and exciting. They did a great job, the course is fast and rolling, wide enough to avoid tangle-ups but with enough corners to keep things interesting. Tomorrow should be fun!!
Sorry for the lack of pictures, I've been a bit more than lazy about carrying my camera around.
Martock Race Trails
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