No stars this morning at 5am, when I took the bus to my early shift. Dirk was able to get a longer nights sleep, as grooming finished early last night....but tonight with the weather change, so will their schedule. His/their plan is to start grooming at midnight and through the morning with the predicted 5-10 cms of snow.
As you can see from the Nordic Combined photos, the blue sky is no longer. Great conditions though...not icy, but still fast out on the trails.
The Team Relay for Nordic Combined was fun to watch. First on the jumps, where the USA performed superbly. The accumulated jumping scores of all four teammates (Canada only has 1 NC athlete, thus no team today), dictated their start position and interval time off the leading country in the 4 x 5km xc ski relay.
One of the special components of being a marshal is to interact with the spectators. For many this is the first time watching a Nordic competition, thus it helps the crowd appreciate the racing if they understand what is going on. Today I met a family of four on the red/blue up that seemed to know more than I did about who's who and what's going on. When I asked the young lad - around ten if he was a skier, his dad proudly turned him around to show off his crest on the back of his jacket..." Calgary Nordic Combined Team". This is the Legacy that the Olympics brings to our country. Not sure if you've heard, but the Ski Jumps are now here to stay. Originally they were slated to be torn down after the Olympics, but enthusiasm from the Squamish / Whistler Nordics has convinced VANOC to keep 'em.
Thus, like the USA - watch out SOCHI...I bet Canada too will have a strong Nordic Combined Team in 2014.
thought I'd try this jumping out too ....
Always prep'ing one day ahead, today's courses were set up for the Nordic Combined races and the Team Relays tomorrow. The Team Relays are quite complicated to set up as two skiers ski the red classic course, and then two ski the blue skate course. Mass start, and transition zones as well as good space for the finish lane around the perimeter of the stadium makes for a lot of planning, marking, advice, and good 'ole hard work. Here's Burt drilling in hemlock branches to mark the start of classic tracks after a sharp down hill corner.
A ski after 'work' on Norwegian Woods is a great way to re-energize. And way too special to be skiing amongst the World's best. Most athletes, wax techs and coaches are out stretching their legs on these 'not-so-steep' inclines. Many were transitioning from yesterday's skate ski to classic as Magda Genuin, Italy here. Thought I'd share a part of it with you...with a video tape of my descent ... up until I was passed by no other than Canada's xc ski voice...Jack Sasseville :)
Jack has also been keeping a blog, one that has great insights into the athletes...do check it out:
http://www.hardwoodhills.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=125&Itemid=274An early walk home, Dirk and I chose to use the spectator walk-way (instead of the shuttle bus). Along the way the path crosses Madelay Creek and 'carvers corner', where a Haida totem pole is being carved as well as a snow sculpture...
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