Cross Country long distance starts with Sit Ski's

Cross Country long distance events are divided over two days: Sunday for Sit Skiers, Monday for Standing Paralympians. Interval starts every 30 seconds, will see the Women race 10km - the 3.3km course 3 times, and the Men 15kms - 3.75kms x 4 laps.

The courses have changed significantly since the Olympics, in that the sit-ski course leaves the north end of the stadium (where the spectator area was) and connects in the blue course heading down to Way Out, then up until the bottom of Downhillers Dream, where it crosses over to the Biathlon area, reconnects into the cross country terrain through the Biathlon Warm-up loop and back through the Cross Country stadium. Less vertical making the course work well for the sit skiers.

Canadians competing tomorrow are:

Colette Bourgonje; As an able-bodied athlete, Colette Bourgonje of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, rose to the national level in cross-country running. She became an athlete with a disability in 1980 after an accident. She then took up wheelchair racing and later cross-country skiing in the sit-ski class. This elementary physical education teacher has competed in five Paralympic Winter Games: Tignes-Albertville 1992, Lillehammer 1994, Nagano 1998, Salt Lake City 2002 and Torino 2006. She has also competed in three Paralympic Summer Games, including Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000. A member of the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame, she has a career total of eight medals — four from the Summer Games and four from the Winter Games.As an able-bodied athlete, Colette Bourgonje of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, rose to the national level in cross-country running. She became an athlete with a disability in 1980 after an accident. She then took up wheelchair racing and later cross-country skiing in the sit-ski class. This elementary physical education teacher has competed in five Paralympic Winter Games: Tignes-Albertville 1992, Lillehammer 1994, Nagano 1998, Salt Lake City 2002 and Torino 2006. She has also competed in three Paralympic Summer Games, including Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000. A member of the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame, she has a career total of eight medals — four from the Summer Games and four from the Winter Games.

Men Sit-Ski:
Sebastien Fortier
Lou Gibson

When Dirk called this afternoon, he had just finished another 15 hour shift, and it was still snowing. No problem for Cross Country skiing - but alpine visibility had events postponed until the heavy fog lifts. The beauty of the mountains - continuous surprise weather !

Grooming for the Para Olympics is actually quite a bit trickier than regular demands, in that the tracks must be on even ground for the sit-skiers at all times - which means a lot of raking and hand grooming for perfection.