Kickin' off National Championships with a silver medal!

I couldn't have asked for a better start to Canadian National Championships! It was my final goal of the season to win a medal at National Champs as a first year senior and I did just that today. It was a small start list but included the entire Senior National Team (to the exception of Olympian JP Leguellec). It was an extremely competitive finish, with the top four with in 32 seconds after 20km and four shootings. Scott Perras won 17.1 seconds ahead of me, with Scott Gow only 3.9 seconds behind. It was a great start to the week and I look forward to three more races! Schedule for the week includes:
Wednesday 20km Individual: results (http://www.zone4.ca/results.asp?ID=3879&cat=890)
Thursday 10km Sprint
Saturday 12.5km Pursuit
Sunday 3X6km Mixed Relay

Stay posted for more! Cheers supporters sponsors and everyone who helped me out this year!

100 followers!

My first blogging bench mark! I'm very appreciative to see the support and am setting my next goal to 200 followers in the next 30 days! Thanks everyone for the interest, comments and support. Its motivating to keep it updated when I know it'll be read. Post a comment and Ill be sure to check your blog out.

Cheers!

Sound track to my day.

I'm procratinating my typical day-before packing before heading off across the country tomorrow morning! This always includes listening to my iPod (complemented by an Apple iPod Hi-Fi System). Lately Ive been in a "we goin' make it" genre. I would best describe it as hiphop where rappers inform the privileged viewers how hard their child hood/up raising was and that their hustle alone brought them to riches! Ive lived my whole life in the dreamer's mind state of "just wait till I make it big" so naturally the lyrics are motivating to me.  Also, a deep bass is essential for enjoyment.

 Here are the YouTube links to today's top 5 picks of  "We goin' make it" music:

1. Eminem Ft Lil Wayne - No Love (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV2ssT8lzj8)
2. Tinie Tempah Ft Eric Turner- Written In The Stars ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgFyi74DVjc)
3. B.O.B. Ft. Eminem-Airplanes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BViLuaN-JYM)
4.Briccs Ft. Akon - Stay Down (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3Hgx_EDfcE)
5.Akon Ft. Blewz-So Fly (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev6b7CFXtgo)

I also have this stuck in my head...

Jessie J Ft B.O.B. - Price Tag (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMxX-QOV9tI)

So go get ya hustle on followers!!

Final prep before Biathlon Canadian Championships!

For training this morning Rocky Mountain Racers had a time trial for final prep before leaving for National Championships. It was a 6 km sprint, basically to make sure everyone was on top of their game before the last major competition of the year. I was quick on my skis and shot 9/10 which was a perfect indication I'm in good form for Nationals! I was 28 seconds behind my team mate Scott Gow (also one miss). Ill be hunting him with the first race (10km Sprint) on March 24th! 

Event info at: http://www.biathloncanada.ca/dbfiles/1371.pdf

Cheers!

15km Classic (National Championships) picture update!

Here are a couple pictures form my last race at 2011 Haywood Ski Nationals in Canmore, AB! I had a decent race and finished 27th out of 121 starters in the open men category. It was a good come back from Sunday and left me hungry for the next few weeks of racing! Pictures by team photographer Sylvain Beaudry (www.teamgrizz.blogspot.com)!

Cheers to all my sponsors, followers and supporters!

Last race at XC National Champs!

I finished my National Championships today with the 15km Classic distance race! After a very disappointing skate race on Sunday I was really depending on a good race today to keep my motivation up heading to biathlon Nationals at the end of the week. I had a controlled race with a decent effort and finished 27th, a minute out of the top 10. It wasn't a perfect race but it was at my ability. I didn't try to do anything special and ended up with a solid result. I will leave the improvements for the summer training! It was a good day for me. Pictures to follow shortly!

Open Men Results: http://www.zone4.ca/live.asp?id=3814&cat=9&lap=F&c=1

Biathlon?!?!

As a biathlete (cross country skiing and marksmanship to clarify), I have had to answer some of the most mindless questions in sport. I worked at the Whistler Olympic Park doing biathlon demos for tourists last summer and thought I had heard it all! I was reminded this weekend about people's pure lack of understanding of the sport. Some examples form my past:
1. A woman standing by her car looking around at the Olympic biathlon stadium, "Sooo. Where do they shoot?"
2. A woman trying shooting for the first time, "I didn't know they were aloud guns in Canada!"
3. A man lies down and looks through a screw hole in the butt plate and says, "I cant see anything!"

I could go for days... Biathlon is an Olympic sport and is the most televised winter sport in Europe! The TV ratings are only seconded overall to Soccer. In Europe its bigger than Hockey is in Canada! Here are two biathlon clips...see if you can figure out which ones real!

Sorry this one is just in German, but still an amazing race!

Hit the wall: Hard!

My first race of National Championships was one of the worst races of the season for me. In the 10km (3X3.3km) skate race I had a great first lap (6th fastest lap time of the day) but hit the wall hard shortly after. I finished 34th in a field of 126 starters. I was too excited and perhaps wasn't fueled properly before the race. I went out too fast and also didn't have enough simple sugars leading up! I learned that I can't be national champion today, its something I have to build up over the summer and wait till that speed is my ability. I tried to go for it today and payed the prize. My body just didn't respond how i wanted it to. At least I'll never make that mistake again, but it's disappointing it happened at one of the most exciting races of the year...Next race Tuesday!

Results 10km skate: http://www.zone4.ca/live.asp?id=3814&cat=9&lap=F&c=1

Norwegian mens team donates to tsunami relief!

The Norwegian mens biathlon team of Ole Einar Bjorndalen, Alexander Os, Emil Svenson and Tarjei Boe had an exciting finishing lap to take the relay gold in Friday's race! It was a close finish with Russia 13 seconds behind and Ukraine 20 seconds behind. In thought of the tsunami that hit Japan the same day, the team donated 10 000 euros to the victims. A good example of how been a professional athlete can be more than self glory!

Martin Fourcade First Gold Medal - Biathlon WCH 2011 Khanty Mansiysk Pursuit Men

Epic finishing lap in 12.5km mens pursuit finish at World Champs this week! Fourcade coasts to victory with a three way sprint for silver and bronze...check it out!

Lars shoots like a Champ in Ruhpolding!

A video from earlier this season of Lars Berger with perfect shooting. It's what every biathlete dreams of!

XC Nationals in Canmore start Friday!

Cross Country Ski Nationals kick off this Friday in Canmore! The races will start with the very exciting, spectator friendly team sprint down town on Main Street Saturday at 10am. My first race is the 10km Free on Sunday followed by the 15km Classic on Tuesday. For full schedule check out (http://www.skinationals.com/2011/schedule-races-events). The forecast for the weekend is sunny with "warm" weather the rest of the week... perfect for spectating!

Trail sports webcam http://www.trailsports.ab.ca/webcam.htm

Great Day for Canadian XC Skiing!

After Becki Scott won her Olympic gold in Salt Lake City it seemed to spark a sudden improvement in the Canadian women's performance. I think Dev and Alex's race today is breaking the international ice for Canadian men. Both have already had phenomenal results at the Vancouver Olympics and Tour de Ski this year, and I think these results today will really benefit the entire team. It gives a confidence that they have the skills to win and the Euro's ARE beatable! I'm looking forward to the rest of World Champs and Sochi in 2014!