Friday, September 24, 2010

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Big Leagues


A week of high pressure racing is over and I have the day off to update all my supporters before training starts again tomorrow. Over the last 4 days the World Cup Trials for the Canadian Biathlon Team took place in Canmore Alberta. The races took place on a paved track at the Canmore Nordic Centre on roller skis to name the top Canadians who would be representing Canada at the first World Cup in Ostersund, Sweden. The top man (behind two pre-qualified athletes based on their results last year) would be named to the World Cup Tour and the next 5 men would be attending the IBU (International Biathlon Union) Cup Circuit.

This is my first year competing in the Senior Men Category and it is an entirely different class to Junior. The competition was at a whole new level and these races were the best way to show me how well I have to perform for me to reach my goals this season. I finished the week ranked 8th overall, one position off qualifying for the first tour. The immediate emotion was disappointment. I have trained the last 11 years to be at this level and I trained the entire year with this goal in mind. Ive spent thousands of dollars and trained thousands of hours to get to where I am right now. Who wouldn't feel unrewarded?

But rewards come to those who earn it. This morning I had two options. I could accept that I tried my best, or I could realize that everyone tries their best, and my best needs to be better. Ive trained hard all year, but so has everyone else. Ive spent thousands of dollars, so has everyone else. Ive made sacrifice, been disciplined and dreamed big.
So has everyone else. Of course everyone goes hard, its a standard for any professional in any sport. My next step in my athletic career is stepping out of my comfort zone. For me this means been meticulous with my training. Its too easy to skip the small details, but together they can make the difference between where I am and where I want to go. I have come to a point where I need to make every little detail work to my advantage. Despite the recent heart break, I feel awake and ready to improve. I have the skills, I have the training base, I have the coach, I have the motivation and I am in the best shape of my life. This week really showed me that I could either 1. simply wonder why I didn't perform well enough to make it, which would probably result in a bitter mood and loss of motivation or 2. I could figure out exactly what details I need to change in my training and racing and start improving them.These are the big leagues and its time to go big or go home!

Thanks for following,

Monday, September 20, 2010

Final Results World Cup/IBU Cup Trials

Here are the final results from the last week of racing! Brenden Green and JP Leguellec have been pre qualified off of their results from last year. These races determined the one remaining World Cup Spot and the 5 IBU Cup Spots.


Day 1Day 2Day 3Best 2
24 1Nathan Smith93.22100.45102.20101.33
25 2Brendan Green103.3999.0096.95101.19
26 3Scott Perrras97.78100.5798.5199.54
27 4Tyson Smith99.0187.4697.9698.48
28 5Patrick Coté96.8198.0698.5698.31
29 6Scott Gow96.8196.3498.9097.86
30 7Marc Andre Bedard94.0394.6898.9796.83
31 8Mat Neuman92.6394.0493.4793.76
32 9Beau Thomson92.3889.2194.6893.53
33 10Aaron G.89.0791.5393.6292.58
34 11Joel Pacas92.3887.0988.4390.40
35 12Kurtis Wenzel75.6284.9482.7483.84
36 13Aaron Neuman79.4481.9881.9081.94
37 14Johnny Forward80.9479.1880.06
38 15Mark Arendz80.7471.5576.15

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Overall Results (Day 1 and Day 2)

Day 1 Day 2 Ave. Of 2
1 Brendan Green 103.39 99 101.19

2 Scott Perrras 97.78 100.57 99.17

3 Patrick Coté 96.81 98.06 97.44

4 Nathan Smith 93.22 100.45 96.83

5 Scott Gow 96.81 96.34 96.58

6 Marc Andre Bedard 94.03 94.68 94.36

7 Matt Neumann 92.63 94.04 93.34

8 Tyson Smith 99.01 87.46 93.23

9 Beau Thomson 92.38 89.21 90.79

10 Aaron G. 89.07 91.53 90.3

11 Joel Pacas 92.38 87.09 89.73

12 Johnny Forward 80.94 80.94

13 Mark Arendz 80.74 80.74

14 Aaron Neumann 79.44 81.98 80.71

15 Kurtis Wenzel 75.62 84.94 80.28

Day 2: 10km Sprint

Mens 1okm Sprint Results at Canadian WC and IBU Cup Trials


# Name Start Finish Final 0:27:30
Men P S Total Time Time Percentage
1 Scott Perrras 02:00.0 1 1 2 0:29:21 0:27:21 100.57%
2 Nathan Smith 06:00.0 0 1 1 0:33:23 0:27:23 100.45%
3 Brendan Green 05:30.0 2 0 2 0:33:17 0:27:47 99.00%
4 Patrick Coté 00:30.0 0 1 1 0:28:33 0:28:03 98.06%
5 Scott Gow 00:00.0 0 1 1 0:28:33 0:28:33 96.34%
6 Marc Andre Bedard 02:30.0 1 2 3 0:31:33 0:29:03 94.68%
7 Mat Neuman 04:00.0 1 1 2 0:33:15 0:29:15 94.04%
8 Aaron G. 03:30.0 1 1 2 0:33:33 0:30:03 91.53%
9 Beau Thomson 01:00.0 1 2 3 0:31:50 0:30:50 89.21%
10 Tyson Smith 01:30.0 2 4 6 0:32:57 0:31:27 87.46%
11 Joel Pacas 03:00.0 0 1 3 0:34:35 0:31:35 87.09%
12 Kurtis Wenzel 04:30.0 1 2 3 0:36:53 0:32:23 84.94%
13 Aaron Neuman 05:00.0 1 2 3 0:38:33 0:33:33 81.98%
14 Johnny Forward 07:00.0 0 2 2 0:40:59 0:33:59 80.94%
15 Mark Arendz 06:30.0 0 0 0 0:40:34 0:34:04 80







Friday, September 17, 2010

First Day of World Cup/IBU Cup Trials

Results: 15km Mass Start

Sept. 17 2010
2 Mass Start2xLong - 3xShort
3 #NameStartFinishFinal TimePPSSTotal39:19.0
4 Men Miss%
51Brendan Green02:20.040:22.038:02.011002103.39
62Tyson Smith00:30.040:13.039:43.00011299.01
73Scott Perras01:00.041:13.040:13.02113797.78
84Patrick Cote01:40.042:17.040:37.01021496.81
94Scott Gow00:40.041:17.040:37.00000096.81
106Bill Bowler00:00.040:50.040:50.02011496.30
117Robin Clegg02:00.043:22.041:22.01023695.06
128Marc Andre Bedard01:20.043:09.041:49.01311694.03
139Nathan Smith00:20.042:31.042:11.04013893.22
1410Matthew Neumann02:10.044:37.042:27.02102592.63
1511Joel Pacas00:10.042:44.042:34.02101492.38
1611Beau Thompson01:50.044:24.042:34.01211592.38
1713Aaron Gilmor00:50.044:59.044:09.01121589.07
1814Aaron Neuman01:30.051:00.049:30.01134979.44
1915Kurtis Wenzel02:30.054:30.052:00.02033875.62

Saturday, September 4, 2010

First week in Canmore


My first week in Canmore consisted of unpacking, getting settled in my temporary place and racing with the National Biathlon Team in a 15km mass start time trial on Friday. I have been training with my new coach (John Jacques) for four days and started the race with the same guys ill be competing against for spots on the IBU Cup and maybe even the World Cup this season. I shot to my best ability hitting 19 out of 20 targets. I missed the last standing shot on my third of four bouts. With solid skiing this was enough for me to finish in 3rd place.just
behind National Team member Nathan Smith. Olympian, Brendan Green had
a demanding lead. This was a near perfect start to my training here
and proved I was on the level to achieve my goals this year and could
even be a threat for the final world cup spot. I am competing at the
North American Cup next weekend and World Cup Trials are the following
weekend here in Canmore. I am feeling confident with my move and
looking forward to the upcoming races! Unfortunately the team fee for
the first IBU cup will be $4100 and I will be forced to send alot of
letters out asking for support, if I make the team. Thanks for following!

(Picture credit to Daniel Giroux, www.flex-art-studio.com)