Nationals From The Other Side
By:  Anna Geiger-Whitlock   (2011/03/31)

My first National Championships were in Canmore Alberta in 2002. I always remember it as a magical experience, gorgeous venue, lots of fast skiers, idyllic town and very, very cold weather. This Nationals was a bit different for me. Not only was it around zero all week but I was not racing after having to call my ski season quits this year before it even began due to a “mysterious illness”. I was excited to be able to go to Nationals with the team as assistant wax tech.

I have always loved waxing skis. I find it interesting, relaxing and it always gets me in a good mood for skiing. I had helped out all year at the races waxing and I have learned tons from John about race day waxing. The first race I helped out at this year was at the first Quebec cup at MSA. At this race I helped test and did a bit of brushing of skis. The next race was at Mt. Orford where I was head wax tech and where I spent half the time pretending to know what I was doing and the other half wondering what I was doing. I also helped out at Easterns where we were lucky to have Craig helping us out.

I had been looking forward to Nationals ever since I found out I was going. XC Ottawa waxed in the same room at NDC Thunder Bay and it was a good combo. There was lots of testing and brushing all week with a couple tense moments but all together, a fun experience.

I have always been told that coaches, parents and volunteers do tons of work…They really do. I particularly liked when I asked to borrow a head light from Megan to test in the morning and she said “have you been testing in the dark!"

It was great to see the skiers race. I particularly liked watching sprints where in junior men there were two Nakkertok finishers in the top 3 and the senior men’s sprints where my former team mate Lenny Valjas took the win. I even got to be the forth woman in the team sprint. I was so excited to be better enough to race even if I was a bit slow. I can’t wait till next year to be back racing. A year off has reminded me how much I love racing but I realize that I also love to wax!

Racing the Team Sprint! Photo Credit Bill Thompson

Waxing for the sprints. Special thanks to Andre and Colin's Dad for helping out waxing and to all the people who helped feed Fly and E-load during the Long distance day.