The UBC Nordic Ski team takes on skiers from across BC at the 2nd Provincial Cup on Mt. Macpherson Trails.
Last weekend the UBC Nordic Ski team had a busy couple days of races in Revelstoke BC. This trip was particularly special because despite a lengthy (7hr) drive to and from, almost all of our team was able to attend the race series. This meant plenty of cooking, driving, and fitting lots of sweaty bodies and equipment into a bungalow Airbnb 45 minutes outside of Revelstoke.
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| Team picture in our new suits from Jakroo | Ready to drop into splits at any moment. |
The race attracted a huge crowd of eager skiers between the ages of 5 and 55+, on the brand new Mt. Macpherson trail system constructed just this past summer. The UBC team did very well, bringing the largest contingent of University skiers. The team found success across the board, with Claire, Katia, and Freya all qualifying for the B-Finals in the Open women divisions of the Classic Sprints, Claire moving on to claim 2nd in the Senior Women category. In the Men’s division, Cary and Blakely moved onto the Finals, coming 2nd and 3rd in the Senior category respectively.
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| Cary chasing the competition on the uphill of the classic sprint. | Alia and Claire waxing some skis, thanks to Hollyburn for all the wax help! |
Claire Grall, athlete and team finance officer described the course as “Short but tricky, with a sharp turn that resulted in quite a few wipeouts over the course of the day.” Thankfully, Claire managed to balance on her skis just as well as she balances our books!
The second day was a 10km skate distance race. This gave the opportunity for some of our endurance specialists to thrive. Matan had an especially good race, skiing strong to finish 5th in a competitive Senior Men’s category. The full results and timing for the weekend can be found here: https://zone4.ca/event/0577bd20-205e-11e9-a2ea-0a3339e60348/.
When/where can you see us tear up the trails next? Up next for the team will be the Coast Cup happening at Whistler Olympic Park on Sunday, February 3rd followed by the Western Canadian Championships at Telemark Nordic Ski Club in Kelowna, BC on February 8th and 9th.
Athlete Profile of the Trip:
Name: Madison Brown
YOB/Racing Category: 1998
Hometown: Bend, Oregon
What are you studying: Geology with an Environmental Science Minor
Skate or Classic: Skate
Favourite spot you’ve xc skied and why: Backwoods of Mt. Bachelor because of all the adventure skis I have had there.
Go-to breakfast meal: Oatmeal with blueberries, and banana and a fair amount of coffee
Favourite seasoning/sauce: Pesto on everything
Favourite studying building: Woodward library for intense studying, IKB mid floor for less intense
Smooth or crunchy pb: Crunchy
Trip/race you’re most looking forward to this year: Nationals in Ottawa
If you could go to the olympics for one sport (other than xc): Marathon, all about that distance life
Favourite board game: Scrabble
Potluck dish of the trip:
Homemade chocolate peanut butter cookies by our Airbnb hosts!
Quote of the trip:
“Unforgivable”
Non-training related highlight of the trip:
Playing the naming countries game, and (sometimes) beating the geography students.