By John Cowan
World champion sit skier Collin Cameron of Bracebridge and newcomer Nathan Perry from the village of Port Sydney were both recently in action against some of the world’s best in Canmore, Alberta.
Collin is a member of the National World Cup team while Nathan is a member of the provincial development team.
Nathan spent a week participating in a national para-Nordic training camp. At this time, Nathan was training with the best para-athlete skiers from across Canada under the supervision of the world’s most decorated winter Paralympian, Bryan McKeever, and next Gen Coach Graham Nishikawa who was Bryan’s guide. Former Huntsville High School Nordic Ski program coach and current Cross Country Ski Ontario Para Nordic Technical Director John Cowan brought three Ontario athletes and a Nova Scotian athlete to the training camp. The athletes were working on improving their technique and strategies to enhance their race plan for the season. They were also afforded the opportunity to use the national team’s brand new roller skiing treadmill and hear from the strength and conditioning coach from the Canadian Sport Center Calgary.
(John Cowan)
Some of the athletes were able to get classified by international classification assessors while in Canmore which enables them to compete at the up-and-coming Canada Winter Games being hosted in Prince Edward Island and other international events.The classification process places a visually impaired athlete into one of three categories. For standing athletes who have amputees or paralysis which allows them to stand are in one, and athletes who are not able to stand for long periods of time, or can only sit, are in another. For the visually impaired, the process examines the athlete’s visual acuity and light sensitivity, if they are declaring being visually impaired for competition. Another category examines their range of mobility around joints to establish if the athlete is capable of standing or sitting for competition. Each category is given a percentage of their completed time to create their finishing time.
On the final day of the camp, the team drove to Lake Louise to ski the Great Divide trail with a low intensity long distance ski. Although the trail is on a gentle slope downhill for 8 kilometers to the British Columbia border, the adage: what goes down must come up, is true. A cold overcast day was the perfect incentive to keep moving to generate warmth. And there were a lot of opportunities for the coaches to work on specifics with athletes to modify their technique.
While the Canadian camp was being held, the Americans had been holding a training camp for two weeks prior to the Canadians’ arrival. Great Britain Snowsport had one athlete in attendance who arrived on the last day of the Canadian training camp. The trails of the Canmore Nordic Center Provincial Park were filled with the best North American para-athletes. Many of our provincial para-athletes were in awe to see that they were part of a bigger community and to get a glimpse of the carbon fibre sleds designed by race car manufacturer McLaren Automotive.
After the training camp, the World Cup team selection trial races were held. The Americans had the world’s most decorated paralympian in both summer and winter sports in attendance, Oksana Masters. The Canadians had a plethora of top para-athletes including world champions Collin Cameron, Mark Arendz, Christina Picton, Natalie Wilkie, Brittany Hudak, Ethan Hess, Lyne-Marie Bilodeau, Levi Nadlersmith, Jesse Bachinshky, and Leo Samarelli.
Ontario athletes Nathan Perry, Madison Mullin, Logan Larivierre, and Nova Scotian Emma Archibald all had the opportunity to compete with the best on a World Cup-quality race course. Collin Cameron and Nathan Perry were the only two male sit skiers from Ontario. All of the provincial team skiers were in the latter half of the results. Nathan’s technique goal was to complete the 180o hairpin turns without falling out of his sled and also to work on his cadence for climbing a 600-meter climb. Nathan successfully completed his goal and finished the distance with some new technical goals for the future. Collin Cameron lapped the best in the world on both days to take first place. Oksana Masters took the win by lapping the best female sit skiers in the field. Fonthill resident and former captain of the national para sledge hockey team Christina Picton came in second place. (As of the time of this article being written we have heard that Oksana had to undertake some surgery. Cross Country Ski Ontario para-Nordic development team wishes Oksana a speedy recovery.).
The provincial para-athletes in attendance were in awe of the speeds of the national team skiers and were so excited to be skiing beside them and learning from them. The opportunity of the provincial athletes to interact with other provinces and nations enabled the dialogue, ‘showing is believing.’
Arrowhead Nordic Ski Club has an opportunity for local athletes with disabilities (blind standing, amputee standing, sit skiers) to try skiing. Local ski coach and provincial para technical director John Cowan along with One Kids Place will be offering skiing opportunities for local athletes in the future. A detailed press release will happen at another time.
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