Nipissing Nordic hosts Ski Training camp
Some of the fastest varsity and junior cross-country ski racers in the region gathered at Nipissing University recently to share in their final preparations for the upcoming ski season.
Nipissing was joined by National Ski Team coach Eric Bailey, along with one of his athletes, Andy Shields, now the top junior man in the country, and Pavlina Sudrich, the new Ontario Ski Team Head Coach. They proved themselves in the axe throwing competitions that rounded out the coaches' days, and were a great help in fine tuning our athletes for the race season.
The training camp took place over three days, with much support from the university, the North Bay Nordic ski club, community sponsors and amazing volunteers. Cross-country skiing is a sport that depends heavily on volunteers for athlete support, and North Bay showed itself as a ski community living up to its national reputation, capable of putting out elite ski racers with a strong base of recreational skiers committed to their sport and their community.
The athletes carried on their usual training schedules of two workouts a day, made more fun and intense by competition from others. After a trail run on the campus trails, a strength and agility session in the new Athletics Center, ski striding intervals up the Laurentian ski hill, nordic walking on our trails again, rollerskiing technique work, and a recovery game of disk golf, the training weekend was capped by the local testpiece time trial- head to head repeats of the Monastery Hill. The race was run on rollerskis in classic technique, with athletes doing up to six repeats of the hill depending on age categories. A new course record was set on the men's side, with Andy Shields throwing down a first lap time of 1.35.6 that beat out the previous record of 1.35.7 set by National Development Center skier and teammate Chris Hamilton. Nipissing Nordic skiers put in performances that bode well for the upcoming varsity race season, which kicks off with the Nipissing Invitational race January 21 and 22.
If you're interested in volunteering to support the skiers for one of those race days, please contact Nipissing Nordic/North Bay Nordic Coach Toivo Koivukoski at toivok@nipissingu.ca