After more than 30 years of involvement in the cross-country ski scene, Claude Laramée has never expected any hoopla. Fittingly, that’s exactly what he got. “When you do volunteer work, you don’t do it with the goal of getting recognition,” pointed out Laramée. “You do it with passion, in my case passion towards cross-country skiing. It’s out of the blue. Not expected. Didn’t see it coming. “I got the phone call … I was wondering why is he calling me? So I was...
Julie Beaulieu has a canny way of describing Nordiq Canada’s Gold Medal Profile. “It’s not a magic bullet … it’s a destination brochure.” Beaulieu, acting high performance manager for Nordiq Canada, is one of several individuals who have drawn up what is called the Podium Pathway, a roadmap to collecting medals internationally in cross-country ski disciplines. The two main ingredients on the pathway are the Podium Track Results and the Gold Medal Profile (GMP)....
At the finish line of the World Junior Championship individual start 10-kilometre skate-ski race on a frosty mid-February Finnish afternoon in the village of Vuokatti, national team coach Erik Bråten had a piece of Jeopardy-style enough-to-warm-your-heart trivia for one of Nordiq Canada’s emerging talents. “Erik told me: ‘Only one other guy has done this before, win an individual medal at this level. I think you might know his name’,’’ recalled 19-year-old Olivier...
Sharing down time with teammates and competitors from other nations during an international sporting competition is typically a highlight of the experience. During the COVID-19 pandemic, not so much. “I remember very clearly the third or fourth night we were here, when we actually started eating at buffets with other teams, I remember walking into the room – okay, we’re eating in the same room as three or four different teams, all from the same buffet!” recalled...
He spent a spell as a reindeer herder up in the wilds of northern Russia; over two decades ago, his younger self set out on a wildly ambitious, three-year Paris-to-Montreal bicycling trip with $280 in his pocket and faithful dog Misha along as sidekick. He’s conducted over 1,000 lectures to school groups on the benefits of activity aligned to the outdoors and worked alongside Nordiq Canada instructors on how best to deliver the cross-country ski message. Benoit...
