XC Nationals

This last week I raced in two mid distance races at the Canadian x-c nationals. In the skate race I was 64th out of 124 open men and 22nd out of the Junior Males. In the classic race I was 90th out of 122 and 37th out of the Juniors. These races where great preparation for the biathlon nationals in New Brunswick next weekend. I am really excited for Nationals. Thanks for the cheering and the photo Sylvain Beaudry (http://www.teamgrizz.blogspot.com/).

World Juniors and Canada Winter Games

World Juniors proved to be a challenging adventure. The team atmosphere and the high level competitions made for a wonderful experience. I placed 81st in the opening Sprint out of 95 starters with 5/10 on the range not qualifying me for the pursuit. I spent the Sunday pursuit day rooting for Scott Gow and Vincent Blais, who both barred well in there opening races. After a long break I was really hoping to improve on my Sprint results in the Individual on Wednesday. I placed 61st which was a much better performance hitting all my prone shots and 75% overall. Scott broke the top ten giving us much to cheer about :). In the Relay we finished a sub-par 13th due to some poor standing shooting much regretted.

From the Czech Republic I flew straight to Halifax for the Canada Winter Games. I posted better shooting results at these events shooting a 75% average. I was 6th in the Sprint moving up to 5th in the pursuit and 5th in the Individual. Alberta swept the podium in all these races making them the clear favorite for the relay. We where a ways back from them but still on the podium in 3rd place. YEAAA BC!

I have returned from these races motivated to improve despite some downfalls including a nasty virus. I am looking forward to getting ready for x-c nationals and biathlon nationals coming up once my sickness perishes.

A great opportunity

Since the start of this season I have had sub-par performances not being able to bring fast skiing and good shooting together. Falling short of qualifying for World Juniors, and finding myself either way back in races or not being able to fight for a podium spot when it matters. On January 10th I was informed that I had made the Canadian World Junior Team and would be racing internationally representing Canada for the first time due to fellow team mate Aaron Gillmor accepting a spot on the Cross-Country Canadian Junior Team (great work!).

This is "a great opportunity" for me and has really switched the mood on the season. Despite -20 C temperatures here in Canmore I have been putting in some good hours to prepare for the Competitions and feel more confident with my shooting then ever before. We leave to the Czech Republic on the 23rd of January and come back on February 6th and then I'm off to the Canada Winter Games in Halifax. I am looking forward to the second half of the season and feel that it will bring better Results.

Silver Star Camp

I spent this last weekend in Silver Star, Vernon BC for the Biathlon BC Snow Camp. I got some good skiing in and enjoyed the company of my BC friends. The cold (-20 C) weather didn't stop us from having a 15km Individual Time Trial on Sunday in which I shot a disappointing 14. I was however the top male by a large margin setting me up well to qualify for the Canada Winter Games. I am looking forward to the first two North American Cups coming up in December which will also be used to select the BC team.

A New Season

Things are coming around after a hectic summer and a ill filled September. Last year I fell short of my goals of competing at the World Junior/Youth Championships which gave me a strong drive to make it in the 2011 season. My shooting has made big strides in the last months and I look forward to the Start of this season.