EASTERNS2010 - what an amazing weekend !

A Quick wrap up to share the excitement out on the snow at Nakkertok this past weekend...635 athletes raced in frigid conditions - so cold, that Saturday's Skate race start time was delayed by two hours to let the air warm up....the manually moved-by-100's-of-volunteers snow helped the groomers produce perfect conditions making for fast conditions. The downhills were slick - so much so that snow plowing on the in-run to Dirk's Dive was not an option...tuck and giv'r was the best approach. The stadium looked stellar with sponsor banners lining the fencing, banners flying in the wind, the PA system pumping out fantastic music, and letting the hundreds of spectators know who was up next or coming down the finish lane.
We also introduced an eco-friendly approach to food and fluids at these Easterns, congruent with the Olympic Green Theme. From the response of over 300 athletes bringing their own bowls, cups and spoons to the Food Tent for their lunch - it was deemed a hit. My favourite were the colourful IKEA cups that were washed and rinsed on the spot for the Finish fluid feeds. And minimal packaging was all recyclable. Yeah !
The amazing part of running a race of this magnitude is the need for volunteers. And this is an area that Nakkertok seems to do well in...not only did we receive compliments on how well the race ran, but my favourite is " that everyone is so happy and friendly". A huge thank you to all volunteers that contributed this weekend, and this is not Nakkertok members alone, we had skiers from across the Ottawa/Gatineau snow-base come out to help make the weekend a big success - thank you !

Here's a great video clip from Dave McMahon from Sunday's Classic Mass starts :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HOPp50rdKg
And you can view race results on Zone4 - for Saturday: http://www.zone4.ca/results.asp?id=2747 and Sunday: http://www.zone4.ca/results.asp?id=2746

Eastern Canadians....this weekend at Nakkertok

We beat the rain !

Monday's rain gave us quite the challenge in Ottawa, but volunteers at Nakkertok, our ski club came out in droves to shovel snow back on to the race trails. "It's like 15cms fell", described Dirk Van Wijk, chief of course at the 2010 Eastern Canadian Championships. " 15 cms of snow was shovelled on Saturday in anticipation of the rain. Then today, two crews of volunteers shovelled again: on to the areas that the rain took out, and stock piled two huge areas that I'll be able to distribute tomorrow into key areas with the Piston Bully". Rob Lafleur has also committed another PB 200 to make sure we're set for Friday's training day. 635 athletes from across the country have signed up on Zone 4 for the weekends races. Athletes representing Eastern Canada, travel the distance once a year for this "largest xc ski race in Canada". This year in addition to Eastern athletes, skiers from the Yukon, Alberta and BC will be travelling the distance to race in this Nor Am competition to collect valuable Cross Country Canada (CCC) ranking points.

Spectating is free ! And a day ski pass at Nakkertok Nordic Centre is only $10. Nakkertok boasts excellent conditions despite the twist of weather that has hit the region. Marc Mineault, Nakkertok's chief groomer will be maintaining the 30kms of recreational trails all weekend long, while the competition focuses the big machines on maintaining the 7.5kms of Olympic calibre race trails that criss-cross 5 times through the stadium for maximum spectator viewing per lap. A spectacular snow shoe trail system has been added to Nakkertok this season that starts in the Stadium and heads north up the ridge and over a pristine wilderness that is waiting to be discovered.

Races start with Saturday's Individual Start Skate Competition at 9am. Sunday will host the Classic Mass Start Races, again at 9am.
Come out to cheer on your local favourites, your neighbour's kids or your home province !

We're looking forward to an exciting weekend !

Claudia and Dirk Van Wijk

proud owners of Nakkertok and active volunteers