Sprint Prep

Beautiful snow in town this morning.

Took the bus at 7am up to WOP on my rest day, to see if I could bring Dirk back into town...was to be his rest day too. Scheduled back in August, when it was known that there was no event in the Cross Country stadium today. What was not known were the snow conditions. The snow that fell turned to instant slush, with temperature again at zero. 8-10cms did descend from the sky, which will make tomorrow's ski conditions amazing i am told. Why ? Cause it's already -3 degrees and tilling new snow into the old wet stuff as the temperature starts to drop will dissipate the moisture out of the snow making for better bonding conditions. Our evening crew is completing this task as I write today's blog.

Dirk's day off consisted of a 3 hour mid afternoon nap. He then headed right back up to Callaghan Valley to meet with the Jury, the course crew, and work with his groomers on the trails. They were all quite excited about the 'perfect' night coming up. Should be fast, firm tracks for Qualifications that start at 10:15. It will most likely get soft for the Heats that start at 12:30 as the temperatures are going up to 5 degrees, and sunny.

The Sprint course is in the sun. 1.4km for the Women, 1.6km for the Men. Both courses have been lengthened and the first up hill made steeper since the World Cup here in January 2009. This was done on purpose to avoid classic sprinters tending to use skate skis (no grip wax) and double pole the full distance.

Canada has some strong entries for tomorrow's sprints, especially in the Women's our traditional medal category. Sara Renner chose not to compete yesterday to conserve her strengths for classic sprints - her new specialty. Perianne Jones is our hometown favourite of course. She's looking strong and happy the few times I've seen her.

After a morning of running around I was able to fit in a fantastic triathlon to the end of my day:

Parked at the new Spa Skandinave that opened last weekend which is right on the Lost Lake ski trails, then changed into a bathing suit to enjoy the outdoor Spa experience with mountain views.

Met up with friends in the Village for the medal ceremonies and a live concert by Feist, had a beer at Black's overlooking the hill and watched the Fire and Light show of incredible Whistler talent jumping through flaming hoops just up from the Whistler Gondola.

Whew, need to recover now:)