The size, the scope, of what he took on a quarter-century ago continues to astound Martin Richer. “Some parents,’’ he laughs, “joke to me: ‘Hey, Martin, you cost me a lot of money! “‘Since Coupe des Fondeurs, the whole family skis!’’ No offence taken. The teasing is wholly good-natured. Because everyone in town understands the three weekends of the Coupe des Fondeurs school-age cross-country ski races have become a staple of winter life in Saint-Jérôme, a city of...
It is closing in on 14 years since then-Caledonia president Doug Cadden tapped Kevin Pettersen on a shoulder, wondering if he’d be interested in joining the local Ski Club’s board of directors. “And I’m thinking: ‘This is the opportunity to stand on the shoulders of giants. The people who had built the Nordic Centre here in Prince George (B.C.) up,” Pettersen is reminiscing of that day in 2009. “I just thought: ‘If there’s any small thing, I can do to keep the...
The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” – Albert Einstein The aim, says Chris Jeffries, is to “reframe the conversation.” To “change the tone of the discussion.” “If we didn’t do this,’’ assures Nordiq Canada’s freshly minted High Performance Director with flat certainty, “we were never going to have unity. “Never have buy-in from athletes, never have buy-in from coaches. “Basically, standing pat meant pushing against our community to try and...
Nearing Christmas, 1975. Two months out from the XII Olympic Winter Games being held in Innsbruck, Austria and a 20-year-old Sue Holloway was, in her own words, “definitely on the bubble.” “I was in no way a shoo-in to make that team,” admits the first Canadian athlete to ever do the double, competing in both a Winter (cross-country skiing) and Summer Games (canoe/kayak).” I had to work very hard. “So, I was very nervous. There was a lot of stress. “Of course, I...
School, refuting the claim of shock rocker Alice Cooper’s anthem of the early ‘70s, is never out, at least for Emily Nishikawa. And won’t be, at least not for the next three decades or so. “Awesome,’’ is the way 11-year member of Canada’s national women’s cross-country team describes the beginning of her first full year teaching Grade 2 students at Golden Horn Elementary School in Whitehorse, Yukon. “I’m loving it. “I’ve known this is what I wanted to do for a...
