formerly the Snow Farm Winter Sports Academy with proven strategies and historic precedents
What we do...
- Give young people opportunities for personal growth transcending age and international boundaries, using Nordic winter sports well known for their unique qualities of community.
Below - NZNSD members after many successes in the [international] Aust. Hoppet 2006
What we can offer - for all ages...
- Three tiers of membership... more >>
Contact Us - email: admin@nordicnz.com
Queenstown and Wanaka weather forecasts by local David Crow... more>>
Vital Statistics for New Zealand...
- 12 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT+12).
- New Zealand operates daylight saving time which commences on the last Sunday in Sept., when 2.00am becomes 3.00am, and ends on the first Sunday in April of the following year, when 3.00am becomes 2.00am, or GMT+13.
- International dialing code is 64
- Money is $NZ dollar and is usually less than the US and Aust. dollar. Credit cards and EFT POS widely available.
- Language: English predominates
- Health: high grade medical and emergency facilities available. 111 is the ph. number for emergencies.
Monday, October 20, 2008
progress discussions to date for summer plans , range development etc.
All-in-all, a busy day and a positive and fitting end to the 2008 season, in which so much was accomplished.
The Hoppet
Here is some news republished from Jan Wood of the Wanaka Nordic Ski Club. Firstly a photo of Emily and Kathy Deacon and Briar Alexander at the Australian Hoppet...
This is what Emily Deacon had to say:
"The Australian Loppet was a great week. Briar, Mum and I arrived on Thursday in time for the night sprints and show, and spent Friday getting to know the course. I was doing the Joey Hoppet - 7 km sprint race.
We had a hot day both Friday and Saturday, great for wearing our lycra. The race went pretty well, though unfortunately we had registered late so I got put at the back for the start, and I had to fight my way through the crowds! It was still a good race and interesting skiing by trees and the huge dam.
I ended up getting 9th in my age group (under 14‚s). We did find we were almost famous in Aussie though, with heaps of people coming to talk to us and we got our photo‚s taken. It was a great experience but will be nice to get back to our quiet ski field."
The Adams family, who are still members of our Ski Club, also raced in the Hoppet, after dashing back from the Merino Muster. Their results and Briars, are as follows ˆ
Briar was 10th in W12, Tori Adams was 6th in W10 with
same time as Emily for finish. Hayley W8, Mary Adams 3rd in
W40. Oli 7th in M8. All did Joey Hoppet of 7 kms.
Ric did 42 kms = 26 for M40.
Mini Merinos
Meanwhile much praise has to go to Ray and the Mini Merino group back at the Snow Farm, for their achievements, typified by the size of the group which has come about simply because it's so much fun...
Two groups, each with 10-12 children, have gone thru this season, so that's a good number of youngsters who can be filtered up into the NZNSDA when they are ready. One of the Dads, Ray O‚Brien, with a little help from Ella Maluschnig and parents, has done a great job with the wee ones and is thinking next winter of starting a Middi Merinos‚ group as well.
Nordic Race Series
Peter Soundy and John Alexander [on the right below] have done a great job in putting on these races each weekend over the winter to give Club skiers and others opportunity to compete and improve their rankings...
The series has been very successful and all thanks go to Peter and John for putting in the work of setting the courses, collating the results, and generally running these events. The series has enabled younger skiers and older skiers to all race together - fathers and mothers against sons and daughters!
NZNSDA Coaching
Our new coach Alexi did a stellar job. Here we see him discussing strategies with Team Manager Liz...
Liz has had about 20 in this group under the expert tuition of Alexei and latterly Andrea Fancy. After their big trip away to Canada last January, they are having a summer at home to consolidate and build, with summer training, on the amazing tuition passed on by Alexi.
Biathlon
Strong growth here - Liz and some others went to Aust. and trained with the Aust. army, a range has been built, and rifles are being accumulated. Much has been achieved in a relatively short amount of time
Have a good summer!
posted by Nordic NZ # 2:59 PM
Robin McKeever...
Thrilling racing was to be seen on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday of last week, with competitors from Australia, Canada, Japan, France, Switzerland and of course New Zealand. NZ's Nat Anglem skied very well in the B Final of the Sprint on Saturday as did Andrea Fancy skiing for New Zealand in the Women's B Final. Katie Calder was unable to take part on Saturday due to bronchitis but did extremely well on Sunday in the Freestyle, coming in 3rd behind Canada and Japan. Andrea gained 5th place, with Sam Bondarenko 11th and Anna Hogg 12th. Stiff competition came from the two Swiss girls but Katie beat them both off. The Men's Freestyle final was won by Robin McKeever of Canada (a regular Snow Farm visitor) by 7 hundreds of a second over Masaaki Kozu of Japan. Exciting racing to be sure! Once again Nat did very well, placing 12th in a field of experienced World Cup skiers.
Masaaki Kozu...
MERINO MUSTER
The next big race on the horizon! This Saturday 23rd August. But you don't have to be an aspiring Olympic skier to take part in this race. Thankfully there are races for the ordinary folk too, so now it's everybody's chance to enter and have fun. Get your entry forms in to the office. Don't wait till the day to see what the weather's doing as it's more expensive to enter then. Just trust that it's going to be OK on the day and go for it. As usual, a number of volunteers are required to help out, so if you're not skiing, please get in touch with Sarah at the office and she'll assign you a job. If you have any friends who might like to help also, register them as well. Thanks a lot from Mary!
posted by Nordic NZ # 10:13 AM
We're also happy to draw your attention to a new web site for the Wanaka Nordic Ski Club
posted by Nordic NZ # 10:57 AM
We have also just had confirmed that The Community Trust of Otago have confirmed their support for our development programme for another year. This support has enabled the association to secure the services of Alexei and 2008 is now certain to be our best year yet.
posted by Nordic NZ # 9:42 AM
Alexei is one of the top junior coaches in the USA, and has held a number of senior coaching positions in Eastern USA since 1992 including his current position as head coach and snow sports director at Vermont Academy. He holds sports coaching qualifications from Russia and is a former member of the USSR Nordic team.
Alexei will add a new dimension to our programmes this year, and will be assisting NZNSDA in other administrative and management roles including coaching clinics and event management training. He will arrive in mid June and as well as running all of NZNSDA's programmes will be available for private and group instruction.
posted by Nordic NZ # 10:50 AM
See below entries.. they now have accompanying photos posted by Nordic NZ # 7:17 PM
2nd prize 1 night's accommodation at Snowpark #31541 Duane Te Paa, Arrowtown
3rd prize NZ Skydive #1105 Shirley Kelly, Wanaka
4th prize Treble Cone - 2 day passes #1530 Ken Gousmett, Queenstown
5th prize Wanaka River Journeys #2035 Ruth Anderton, Christchurch
If you should require any further information please contact Peter Soundy
posted by Nordic NZ # 2:39 PM
The day started with minus 15 and light snow , rising to minus 7 by midday and racing time; tricky conditions to sort out wax in and the new snow didn't stop till about 20 mins before the race....classic style and interval start, which meant each racer was trying to beat the clock, as well as the next person on the course in front of them. I headed for the 5 km loop, which the boys did twice that the course had a few good steep hills in it and was testing enough for them. Sam and Anna had just one loop and Katie and Sarah had a 3.5 km loop , which I skied the day before and found there was enough 'bite' in the last two uphill rollers to slow you down if you were tired. Haven't seen results as yet but go to www.zone4.ca again; the team felt they were only middle of the pack but see results for sure.
With all the changing in degrees of coldness over this trip we have been really fortunate to have such warm feet; for this we owe our thanks to the NZ Sock Company who sponsored us with 5 pairs of socks each. It was great to have three different weight of sock to choose from, depending on the temperature outside as many days, it has been a snow day, but now we are back to Vancouver, the precipitation has turned to rain!! It made interesting driving back to the city yesterday as we left cloudy skies at 100 mile house, then light drizzle, fog and finally buckets of rain as we neared Vancouver. The drive down the Fraser Canyon was the big mountain and river landscape again, but night came early and we missed seeing landscape for the skinny part of the journey as we neared Hope and the Avalanche area again; a tricky bit of road with long trucks throwing lots of spray at the window....big thanks to champion drivers John and Antoine tho' who delivered us safely here.
We have had really good driving weather for the rest of our trip and most days we had a long drive, the weather gods have cleared the road of snow enough for us to feel safe and very often delivered a bit of sun and clear skies too to brighten our spirits....how do Canadians keep smiling when they have winter weather from October to April!! We have anecdotal stories over the trip of weather up north near Prince George of minus 45, and radio reports of even more in the interior provinces as the wind chill adds at least another 10 degrees it seems.
Wildlife has also stayed put away from the roads and not embraced our vehicles, such as our friendly kangaroo in Australia! The boys have been hanging out to see some 'beasties' up close and finally were rewarded with sighting two Moose on a trail as they headed out for snow mobileing the day before the race; Antoine also had a Deer dance across the road in front of him on route to the waxing room, and our car load also saw the most beautiful winter owl perched in a tree as we drove back to billets, Barb and Mike Matfin out at Lone Butte. Barb very kindly took all the boys for a snow mobile adventure, including big boy John, as she had a few 'skiddos' parked at home, as it is family past time. Their faces were all full of smiles after that fun, especially after spotting the Canadian Wildlife at last.
Well time to wake the travellers, hit the mall for the last shop and head out for the airport..... maybe via the Aquarium as we hear it is really worth a visit. Sadly it is also our final day of enjoying the company of Antoine and Shawnda as they head off for their trans- Canadian journey home to New Brunswick and a new working life. Shawnda has been a real rock, having survived the crash course on life with teenagers, and how to feed 13 in one sitting!! We really hope this is not the last we see of our wonderful Antoine as words can not express what he has given the team over his brief years with us, and especially in this last month.... it has been more than coaching, it has been mentoring at its best, with lessons on life included. I speak for all parents to say what a fine young man he is and such a blessing in our young athletes lives. Please come visit us again soon!!!
So farewell to our great Canadian tour and let the planning begin for any future youth exchange for our Nordic skiers.
I leave you with my thought for our journey home: Live life, love life, and love what makes you happiest. :-) Liz Conroy, Team Manager.
posted by Nordic NZ # 4:43 AM
Tips Up Cup results are downloadable/viewable at this link
You will note Samantha Williamson didn't race that day and Sarah and Katie wanted to do a longer distance so joined Anna in the longer 5 km skate which was for the older age group, with Anna first and Sarah second; also taking home first place medals were Mark in his age group, and another senior member of our support team, plus Matt and Andy 2nd, 3rd for their age group. As it was a club race, their wasn't a huge field but a race non the less.. the medals were a real delight but sadly wont make it home 'thru Customs as they are made of shortbread with 1st lined in icing! [We have photos 'tho]
Sunday also anther clearer day with glimpses of sun and the hint of a wind.... the race on day before was really a bit of a warm up as this day, most of the team did a minimum of 15 kms, Sarah included. Katie was having her off day and rested at home but all the rest out there doing a great job. Note Well, the TOTAL distance skied by any team was 75 km, so if only 2 in the team, that was 32.5 km each. I will need to update you with who did what distances as I was away at the Biathlon and it is not clear from the results page at www.silverstar75.ca; needless to say, a lot of skiing was done and all finished by 12.30pm. The team and supporters were very lucky later that day at the prize giving as at least half took home great door prizes of Nordic ski-related gear from local sports shops in the area; with great cheers from the crowd, the highlight for the team was getting vouchers to Domino Pizza won by John and Antoine. [Give them food and they are so easy to please!!]
My visit with the Biathlon Bears group was very informative with a chance to chat with shooting coach, Mike Schmok and other parent supporters about equipment options and rifle choices they had made, see some new designs for stepped supports for younger athletes to rest their rifle on for prone shooting, and also see the wide range of biathlete from age 8 'thru to age 16. This club has been using the Biathlon Bears program now for three years and it has great benefits to move the young biathletes 'thru a graduated program over this time.
Monday was not a rest day as hoped by some team members as we headed one hour north east to the Larch Hills Nordic trails in the Salmon Arm area; a really lovely club filed with a rustic cosy log cabin to warm up in and eat lunch. Some adventurous members such as John, Antoine, Sam and Anna headed off for a big loop of about 15 or more kms while the lads thought they would 'go west a ways' to find some wildlife such as a moose.. .. thankfully, no joy for them. This ski area had predominantly groomed trails for classic stlye skiing as we are seeing this as the main recreational style used here due to the colder weather; we now appreciate how fast the kiwi snow is with our relatively warmer winters that favor the skate style.
Feb 5th and another light snow day with powder of at least 8-10 cm, -9 again with a slight wind chill. Team training involved a ski for some over to the Sovereign Lake system, using the connecting trails from Silver Star. Not too far as the crow flies and it gives any one staying in this area another set of trails to choose from not far from your door if staying here in the Silver Star resort. We have been so lucky to 'stay put' here for our last fortnight and share the homely accommodation in the Puzzle House, a great place to rent and really great location re access to lifts, trails and the village shops.
Part of the winter carnival had a great tour that Jenn and I took too, with a snow shoe trip through the Ghost Forest for a delicious lunch finish at the Wild Woodsmans Hut; it was Ladies Day out and a lot of fun and a chance to experience snow shoeing. the real fun part was learning to Glissade which was basically Bum Sliding down snow shoots.. heaps of laughs and something we both tried with success. The tour finished with an interesting sleigh ride, being pulled behind Fred and Barney, the large Belgian horses that seem related to Clydesdales but smaller; aromatherapy was provided free of charge, and great jokes told by the sleigh driver as we proceed along the Bridal Path to the village. The day ended with a surprise visit from kiwi Roger Deacon, who had flown the coop from his Invercargill GP practice to take in some BC winter air and skiing; great to see him and a chance for him to ask the team first hand about this great month we are having in BC.
Wednesday is final day here and pack up day so I am guessing a few last bits of shopping, skating at the pond and maybe a game of Shinny or two; John Hogg is determined to head off on the last of his trails to take in the Round the Mountain route, with a couple of the older kids in tow; packing and sorting will be the order of the day for the remainder in readiness for our journey north to 100 mile House and a chance to billet with some local families who love Nordic skiing like us. We are keeping a watchful eye on the weather as the temperature warms up but more snow flurries forecast with big chance of rain on our return to Vancouver for Saturday night; its the last of our races that day as the team will enter another BC cup classic style race in the series. All are looking sharp and notably fitter, with big improvements in their classic style so we wait with baited breath for their results; what ever the outcome, it will be another great opportunity for them and another race to mark off in their training diaries for this truly exciting year.
My appropriate end for today, again from the walls of Bean to Cup cafe house...
"We do not remember days, we remember memories".
Ciao, Liz. posted by Nordic NZ # 4:34 AM
Coach Antoine had a great talk with the group back in Whistler about how important it was to work as a team, respect each other, and make sure they all have fun on this trip... this was very confirming for me to hear as Team Manager, and the kids are really taking this on board; hence we are having lots of fun in our kitchen as each night we get the team to pair up with another member to treat us to their culinary delights. So far we have had some interesting meals such as Prawn Stir Fry, Spinach and Blue Cheese Pie, Peanut Butter Curry, but last night topped it all as Mark and Matt decided we needed no vegetables and very little savory in our meals by dishing up Pancakes! Lots of Pancakes the size of your face,...such toppings as ice cream, blueberries, sugar and lemon, and of course, plenty of Maple Syrup. [We did manage to sneak in a bit of bacon to keep the savory factor in, but they even experimented with chocolate pancakes!! I passed on that one but it was a fine effort, if not quite meeting all the daily food groups required].
More snow training now as tomorrow Tips Up Cup @ Sovereign Lake, and Sunday is the 75km Teams race around Silver Star to raise funds for their local hospital. I also hope to join the local team to see some biathlon training on Sunday to add to my experience at Callaghan Valley with the Biathlon Bears program, so more news in a few days as it will get kind of busy here. Today is start fo Vernon Winter Carnival too so up here will be snow sculpting to watch plus heaps of other things too.
Leaving you with another thought for the day from the walls of Bean to Cup :
Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love, to work, to play and to look up at the stars. Henry Van Dyke. posted by Nordic NZ # 9:21 AM
Anyway today, it is positively warm in comparison as I left the house at minus 14 in a light snow storm... not the large fun fluffy stuff we seem to see in Wanaka, but tiny annoying bits that feel like grains of sand hitting your face. Consequently, we can see no sun today so we may review our training plan to a trip to town and the post instead.
On days like this, the cafes here in the village just fill up to bursting as there is not much activity going on in the snow for folk, and here at 'Bean To Cup' I am sampling the most delicious hot chocolate i have ever tasted..its like liquid chocolate, but you need the extra zing 'cos of the cold. Despite the chill, the team still headed out last night for a game of 'Shinny' at the pond [that is Ice Hockey, and they have really taken to it; they work up so much warmth, they lasted a good hour down there last night so are getting great fitness]. This actually corresponds to the large amounts of food they digest, as frequently we make enough food to feed 20, even tho' there are only 13 of us; thank goodness for bulk buying here at the superstores. Cereal comes in 2 kg boxes and tortilla chips bags are as big as a 3 kg sack of spuds!! Its great to see them all happy, fit and well tho' so it is money well spent.
I leave you with todays thought from the walls of the cafe...
"We can not direct the wind, but we can adjust our sails". Anon. posted by Nordic NZ # 5:07 AM
Saturday we headed for Telemark nordic area past Kelowna, for the BC cup skate sprints and we managed some podium places, Mark in 3rd for Junior Boys and Samantha, in 2nd for Junior girls, again for details go to the http://www.zone4.ca.
Yesterday we travelled north by 2 hours to the Overlander club to ski a Loppet at Skate Lake, weather was sunny and a light -8 , with the odd flurry later in the day. Most of us did the minumum 10 km, even Me on Classic, and the hard outs went for 30 and 50km!! Guess who, Anna at 30 and Mark and Antoine did 50!! Fantastic effort too with placings in the top 5, see Overlander CLub for results, not out yet, check later tonight. Antoine showed us what it is like to 'hit the wall' as an athlete as he said he had to stop at 40 kms for 10 mins and couldn't even think straight! Boy did he look pale when he arrived in too. So today is a quiet day and tomorrow night we will have a training session with the Silver Star club juniors. Later in the week some are going to take in a hockey game in Vernon and we are planning a trip to Slmon Arm club too, if we can.
Tomorrow, we celebrate Mark's birthday here too, so there is a bit of fun in store.
Thats all for now, touch base in a few days.
Smiles from the cold, Liz. posted by Nordic NZ # 8:28 AM
The team did a good work out yesterday with classic training down on the Silver star trails, preceeded by a friendly inter-team night game of ice hockey on The Pond, which is literally 500 m from our house. It is a lovely little area where you can ice skate and play hockey and go Night Tubing, just amazing!
Jeni and I took the Meadow trail and did a 4 km ski to catch glimpes of some local wildlife, so far just a little chip munk we think, altho word out in the local news is that just up the road a black bear came out for a visit about 3 days before our arrival! Apparently he woke up early in the season so we dont want to see him again thanks! Also forgot to mention in Whistler, at the Body Shop in town, a little Bob Cat strolled in for a visit there too... enough of animals, and back to the team.
Wed. night was also a chance for some of the team, including John Hogg, to join Nat Anglam and Ben Falconer for a quick fun race down the road a bit, at the Sovereign Lake trails, bringing home a bag of sweets and a bit of wax as their prize. Apparently their attendance doubled the numbers attending so it was a very low key thing altho the trail circuit was challenging enough. We have yet to visit there in daylight as it is about 3 km down the hill from this village and we didn't realise there were so many trails right here at the village. Thursday and Friday will be prep training days for races at the Telemark Field which is the trails closest to Kelowna, and more in the BC cup series so watch this space!
I leave you all with this quote on the wall above me here at the internet cafe and wish you all well and thanks, Liz Conroy
..."Live a Good Life, and in the end, it's not the years in the life, it's the life in the years" Abraham Lincoln.
posted by Nordic NZ # 8:34 AM
Thought road would be just a bit snowy with sand on top, which it was but was a bit surprised to see road signs for 2/3 of that bit of road saying 'Avalanche area - no stopping'. Not much traffic on that road and after Cache Creek we headed for Kamloops and the big highway 1 for a short while then turned off to Vernon and arrived at Silverstar Resort in early evening with big full moon and lots of fun to be had as all found the hot spa waiting for us - with temp of -12 to chill us as they all took turns soaking, a hot dinner was made.
Everyone very well and in good spirits .... this little village is just so enchanting with all the bright Victorian style and paint finishes. posted by Nordic NZ # 9:54 AM
Team have just raced last 2 days and coach is very pleased with them. Light snow and calm on Saturday and beautiful sunny and -6 only on Sunday; Saturday was a Classic Sprint and Katie and Sam both made it into B final races, today, it was Sarah and Samantha, Mark and Matt's turn to shine with placing in top ten for their Skate races.
For results go to www.zone4.ca and look at any of the BC cup #2 results. Catergories are as follows:
Katie and Sarah = Midget Girls
Anna = Juvenille Girls
Sam = Junior girls
Boys = Junior boys posted by Nordic NZ # 9:41 AM
You will all understand what we mean when you see the winter olympics here in 2 years time as now most of us have skied on parts of the olympic trails; I even headed off and did 1.5 of the Biathlon trial but there are many undulations and as you know hills are not my strong point [yet!]. I am to improve over the next few weeks though.
The team are all getting into a routine of skiing, playing and each pair of them, taking turns at cooking us a meal with delicous results. We are all well feed, and well shopped too!!
The team are good at hunting out bargins, here in Whistler and also in Vancouver [the girls favourite shop was called Skinny, where they all have anew wardrobe, Plus MEC for all our snow boots, and for the boys ...defintely 'Cows' in Whistler- a specialty icecream store where they have been known to have one treat and then go back to try another within half an hour!!]
posted by Nordic NZ # 9:38 AM
the team leaving Queenstown airport...
We had a nice stay at the tidy, altho cosily appointed rooms at the Ywca. The team just loved arriving in the airport, as did I with a tear in my eye too, to the beautiful airport building with lovely things to see along the way to the customs, we were going ok but had a delay with Matt and Andy in a que for a chinese flight so there was a hold up there and finally got out the other side to see smiling Antoine waiting for us all.
We loaded up the car and all the rest of us took of on the 40 min bus ride., thru lovely Vancouver. Folk are very nice and chatty here, Meet Yvonne who is kiwi that has house at Whislter to get the key, and she menetioned there is a land line at that house so will text it thru or email it tonight so you can ring us there all this week if you want.
We then sorted the cars and are getting a big twin cap ute with a big tray open boot to fit all the bas, on 4wd and also keeping the other 7 seater, so will look at getting chains.
Next was a trip to Sears Mall and the Food court where we ate a late lunch early dinner as it started going dark at 5 pm!! Fell happily into bed after 9pm and up with the birds today for our departure by land to Whislter via more shops at Squamish for supplies.
Smiles all round from the team, not too cold here yet at 9 degrees in Vancouver last evening, but heading for Whistler today with minus 4 on the board....
Bye for now, Liz and the Team posted by Nordic NZ # 5:54 PM
getting packed and snow reports checked. Last minute travel plans are
being tidied up and all the team are humming!! Antoine and Shawnda
have already departed our shores and are catching up on a little
'Aloha' sunshine, surf, and mountain climbing!!... while we bask in
the beautiful summer of the central lakes region.
What a day it was last Saturday [18 Aug. 2007] where everything could be described as SUPERB! Many people will agree that it was the best Muster yet, and perhaps we've said that before, but with the snow, the weather, the contestants, the organization and the results, I think we're justified in saying IT DEFINITELY WAS the best Muster ever!! The NZNSD kids will certainly agree, as many skied as they had never skied before and produced some amazing results. They will be extremely proud of themselves to have come such a long way in a few short years. With dedication and youth on their side, it's amazing what can be achieved. Congratulations also to Sam Bondarenko, 2nd in the 42k and Andrea Fancy, 3rd in the 21k. Well raced girls!
There was some wonderful skiing to be witnessed on the day, with Team USA coming to the fore with wins in all categories and the Japanese and Canadian disabled skiers right up there with the best of them. And of course the day wouldn't be complete without a mention of the two groups from Finland who came across the world to add colour to our Muster day. Apparently neither group knew the other was coming until they met up at the Snow Farm Lodge! They certainly set the standard for stamina with some of their 70 year olds doing the 42km in classic style! Let's hope they enjoyed their experience so much that they will return again.
Thanks to Jan Wood of the Wanaka Nordic Ski Club for the above text, and Christina Fritz for the photograph
posted by Nordic NZ # 11:39 AM
2008 Nordic Season news round-up
We had the juniors prize giving for end of season today, and a BYO /BBQ lunch at the Snow Park Wool shed all combined with a NZNSDA committee meeting, followed by Wanaka Nordic Ski Club meeting, then a meeting of Masters biathletes and any other interested persons toprogress discussions to date for summer plans , range development etc.
All-in-all, a busy day and a positive and fitting end to the 2008 season, in which so much was accomplished.
The Hoppet
Here is some news republished from Jan Wood of the Wanaka Nordic Ski Club. Firstly a photo of Emily and Kathy Deacon and Briar Alexander at the Australian Hoppet...
This is what Emily Deacon had to say:
"The Australian Loppet was a great week. Briar, Mum and I arrived on Thursday in time for the night sprints and show, and spent Friday getting to know the course. I was doing the Joey Hoppet - 7 km sprint race.
We had a hot day both Friday and Saturday, great for wearing our lycra. The race went pretty well, though unfortunately we had registered late so I got put at the back for the start, and I had to fight my way through the crowds! It was still a good race and interesting skiing by trees and the huge dam.
I ended up getting 9th in my age group (under 14‚s). We did find we were almost famous in Aussie though, with heaps of people coming to talk to us and we got our photo‚s taken. It was a great experience but will be nice to get back to our quiet ski field."
The Adams family, who are still members of our Ski Club, also raced in the Hoppet, after dashing back from the Merino Muster. Their results and Briars, are as follows ˆ
Briar was 10th in W12, Tori Adams was 6th in W10 with
same time as Emily for finish. Hayley W8, Mary Adams 3rd in
W40. Oli 7th in M8. All did Joey Hoppet of 7 kms.
Ric did 42 kms = 26 for M40.
Mini Merinos
Meanwhile much praise has to go to Ray and the Mini Merino group back at the Snow Farm, for their achievements, typified by the size of the group which has come about simply because it's so much fun...
Two groups, each with 10-12 children, have gone thru this season, so that's a good number of youngsters who can be filtered up into the NZNSDA when they are ready. One of the Dads, Ray O‚Brien, with a little help from Ella Maluschnig and parents, has done a great job with the wee ones and is thinking next winter of starting a Middi Merinos‚ group as well.
Nordic Race Series
Peter Soundy and John Alexander [on the right below] have done a great job in putting on these races each weekend over the winter to give Club skiers and others opportunity to compete and improve their rankings...
The series has been very successful and all thanks go to Peter and John for putting in the work of setting the courses, collating the results, and generally running these events. The series has enabled younger skiers and older skiers to all race together - fathers and mothers against sons and daughters!
NZNSDA Coaching
Our new coach Alexi did a stellar job. Here we see him discussing strategies with Team Manager Liz...
Liz has had about 20 in this group under the expert tuition of Alexei and latterly Andrea Fancy. After their big trip away to Canada last January, they are having a summer at home to consolidate and build, with summer training, on the amazing tuition passed on by Alexi.
Biathlon
Strong growth here - Liz and some others went to Aust. and trained with the Aust. army, a range has been built, and rifles are being accumulated. Much has been achieved in a relatively short amount of time
Have a good summer!
posted by Nordic NZ # 2:59 PM
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
FIS / ANZ CONTINENTAL CUP race photos and Merino Muster coming up
Photos and text to inspire re. the up-coming Merino Muster Aug 23, 2008 [thanks Jan Wood from the Wanaka Nordic Ski Club]:Robin McKeever...
Thrilling racing was to be seen on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday of last week, with competitors from Australia, Canada, Japan, France, Switzerland and of course New Zealand. NZ's Nat Anglem skied very well in the B Final of the Sprint on Saturday as did Andrea Fancy skiing for New Zealand in the Women's B Final. Katie Calder was unable to take part on Saturday due to bronchitis but did extremely well on Sunday in the Freestyle, coming in 3rd behind Canada and Japan. Andrea gained 5th place, with Sam Bondarenko 11th and Anna Hogg 12th. Stiff competition came from the two Swiss girls but Katie beat them both off. The Men's Freestyle final was won by Robin McKeever of Canada (a regular Snow Farm visitor) by 7 hundreds of a second over Masaaki Kozu of Japan. Exciting racing to be sure! Once again Nat did very well, placing 12th in a field of experienced World Cup skiers.
Masaaki Kozu...
MERINO MUSTER
The next big race on the horizon! This Saturday 23rd August. But you don't have to be an aspiring Olympic skier to take part in this race. Thankfully there are races for the ordinary folk too, so now it's everybody's chance to enter and have fun. Get your entry forms in to the office. Don't wait till the day to see what the weather's doing as it's more expensive to enter then. Just trust that it's going to be OK on the day and go for it. As usual, a number of volunteers are required to help out, so if you're not skiing, please get in touch with Sarah at the office and she'll assign you a job. If you have any friends who might like to help also, register them as well. Thanks a lot from Mary!
posted by Nordic NZ # 10:13 AM
Sunday, August 17, 2008
New Race Results page in this web site, and a new Wanaka Nordic Ski Club Site
...more >>We're also happy to draw your attention to a new web site for the Wanaka Nordic Ski Club
posted by Nordic NZ # 10:57 AM
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Biathlon Youth Talent Search (Skiing & Shooting)...
Two new and exciting 2008 winter Biathlon opportunities... more >>posted by Nordic NZ # 10:15 AM
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Peak Projects sponsors vehicle for the 2008 season
NZNSDA has just received the keys to its new 7 seater 4WD sponsored by Peak Projects. The vehicle will be used by the new coach Alexei Sotskov for the winter and will enable some of the Wanaka kids to get up the skifield more regularly...We have also just had confirmed that The Community Trust of Otago have confirmed their support for our development programme for another year. This support has enabled the association to secure the services of Alexei and 2008 is now certain to be our best year yet.
posted by Nordic NZ # 9:42 AM
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
New web page - a calendar
There are no internal links yet, but you can see/use it at: http://www.nordicnz.com/calendar.html posted by Nordic NZ # 3:58 PM
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Appointment of new head coach for 2008
NZNSDA are excited to announce that we have secured the services of Alexei Sotskov as head coach for the 2008 season...Alexei is one of the top junior coaches in the USA, and has held a number of senior coaching positions in Eastern USA since 1992 including his current position as head coach and snow sports director at Vermont Academy. He holds sports coaching qualifications from Russia and is a former member of the USSR Nordic team.
Alexei will add a new dimension to our programmes this year, and will be assisting NZNSDA in other administrative and management roles including coaching clinics and event management training. He will arrive in mid June and as well as running all of NZNSDA's programmes will be available for private and group instruction.
posted by Nordic NZ # 10:50 AM
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Photos of Canadian trip posted
See below entries.. they now have accompanying photos posted by Nordic NZ # 7:17 PM
Friday, March 14, 2008
Site was off line
We regret this site was "missing in action" for a few days. We tried shifting the domain name to a new registrar, but as it turned out this involved some totally out-of-sync communication with register.com in the US and two NZ providers. It all got quite messy, but we were able to revert to the status quo. posted by Nordic NZ # 8:24 PM
Monday, February 25, 2008
Raffle Draw Results
1st prize Air New Zealand 2 airfares to Aus/Fiji ticket#1262 Kate Crone, Wanaka2nd prize 1 night's accommodation at Snowpark #31541 Duane Te Paa, Arrowtown
3rd prize NZ Skydive #1105 Shirley Kelly, Wanaka
4th prize Treble Cone - 2 day passes #1530 Ken Gousmett, Queenstown
5th prize Wanaka River Journeys #2035 Ruth Anderton, Christchurch
If you should require any further information please contact Peter Soundy
posted by Nordic NZ # 2:39 PM
Monday, February 11, 2008
Last Race and Heading for Home
We have now returned to Vancouver, and a temperature of Plus 7, for our final flight home after two wonderful nights in the company of some lovely Canadian families from the 100 mile Nordic area. Everyone was looked after very well with new friends made, and we are very grateful to the families and club members who helped us.The day started with minus 15 and light snow , rising to minus 7 by midday and racing time; tricky conditions to sort out wax in and the new snow didn't stop till about 20 mins before the race....classic style and interval start, which meant each racer was trying to beat the clock, as well as the next person on the course in front of them. I headed for the 5 km loop, which the boys did twice that the course had a few good steep hills in it and was testing enough for them. Sam and Anna had just one loop and Katie and Sarah had a 3.5 km loop , which I skied the day before and found there was enough 'bite' in the last two uphill rollers to slow you down if you were tired. Haven't seen results as yet but go to www.zone4.ca again; the team felt they were only middle of the pack but see results for sure.
With all the changing in degrees of coldness over this trip we have been really fortunate to have such warm feet; for this we owe our thanks to the NZ Sock Company who sponsored us with 5 pairs of socks each. It was great to have three different weight of sock to choose from, depending on the temperature outside as many days, it has been a snow day, but now we are back to Vancouver, the precipitation has turned to rain!! It made interesting driving back to the city yesterday as we left cloudy skies at 100 mile house, then light drizzle, fog and finally buckets of rain as we neared Vancouver. The drive down the Fraser Canyon was the big mountain and river landscape again, but night came early and we missed seeing landscape for the skinny part of the journey as we neared Hope and the Avalanche area again; a tricky bit of road with long trucks throwing lots of spray at the window....big thanks to champion drivers John and Antoine tho' who delivered us safely here.
We have had really good driving weather for the rest of our trip and most days we had a long drive, the weather gods have cleared the road of snow enough for us to feel safe and very often delivered a bit of sun and clear skies too to brighten our spirits....how do Canadians keep smiling when they have winter weather from October to April!! We have anecdotal stories over the trip of weather up north near Prince George of minus 45, and radio reports of even more in the interior provinces as the wind chill adds at least another 10 degrees it seems.
Wildlife has also stayed put away from the roads and not embraced our vehicles, such as our friendly kangaroo in Australia! The boys have been hanging out to see some 'beasties' up close and finally were rewarded with sighting two Moose on a trail as they headed out for snow mobileing the day before the race; Antoine also had a Deer dance across the road in front of him on route to the waxing room, and our car load also saw the most beautiful winter owl perched in a tree as we drove back to billets, Barb and Mike Matfin out at Lone Butte. Barb very kindly took all the boys for a snow mobile adventure, including big boy John, as she had a few 'skiddos' parked at home, as it is family past time. Their faces were all full of smiles after that fun, especially after spotting the Canadian Wildlife at last.
Well time to wake the travellers, hit the mall for the last shop and head out for the airport..... maybe via the Aquarium as we hear it is really worth a visit. Sadly it is also our final day of enjoying the company of Antoine and Shawnda as they head off for their trans- Canadian journey home to New Brunswick and a new working life. Shawnda has been a real rock, having survived the crash course on life with teenagers, and how to feed 13 in one sitting!! We really hope this is not the last we see of our wonderful Antoine as words can not express what he has given the team over his brief years with us, and especially in this last month.... it has been more than coaching, it has been mentoring at its best, with lessons on life included. I speak for all parents to say what a fine young man he is and such a blessing in our young athletes lives. Please come visit us again soon!!!
So farewell to our great Canadian tour and let the planning begin for any future youth exchange for our Nordic skiers.
I leave you with my thought for our journey home: Live life, love life, and love what makes you happiest. :-) Liz Conroy, Team Manager.
posted by Nordic NZ # 4:43 AM
Thursday, February 7, 2008
More Local Club races and a visit to a lovely club field
As forecast, it has been a busy few days of skiing. Tips Up Cup saw a sunny sort of day at the near by Sovereign Lake trails, about minus 7 for skiing and good conditions for classic skiing again/ the race was free style so all the kids choose to go skate with Jenny Connolly and I sticking with the tried and true classic method. A lovely rolling and gentle course with a bit of a bite at the end with a short, sharp hill.. nothing to the junior members but a final work out for Jen and myself.Tips Up Cup results are downloadable/viewable at this link
You will note Samantha Williamson didn't race that day and Sarah and Katie wanted to do a longer distance so joined Anna in the longer 5 km skate which was for the older age group, with Anna first and Sarah second; also taking home first place medals were Mark in his age group, and another senior member of our support team, plus Matt and Andy 2nd, 3rd for their age group. As it was a club race, their wasn't a huge field but a race non the less.. the medals were a real delight but sadly wont make it home 'thru Customs as they are made of shortbread with 1st lined in icing! [We have photos 'tho]
Sunday also anther clearer day with glimpses of sun and the hint of a wind.... the race on day before was really a bit of a warm up as this day, most of the team did a minimum of 15 kms, Sarah included. Katie was having her off day and rested at home but all the rest out there doing a great job. Note Well, the TOTAL distance skied by any team was 75 km, so if only 2 in the team, that was 32.5 km each. I will need to update you with who did what distances as I was away at the Biathlon and it is not clear from the results page at www.silverstar75.ca; needless to say, a lot of skiing was done and all finished by 12.30pm. The team and supporters were very lucky later that day at the prize giving as at least half took home great door prizes of Nordic ski-related gear from local sports shops in the area; with great cheers from the crowd, the highlight for the team was getting vouchers to Domino Pizza won by John and Antoine. [Give them food and they are so easy to please!!]
My visit with the Biathlon Bears group was very informative with a chance to chat with shooting coach, Mike Schmok and other parent supporters about equipment options and rifle choices they had made, see some new designs for stepped supports for younger athletes to rest their rifle on for prone shooting, and also see the wide range of biathlete from age 8 'thru to age 16. This club has been using the Biathlon Bears program now for three years and it has great benefits to move the young biathletes 'thru a graduated program over this time.
Monday was not a rest day as hoped by some team members as we headed one hour north east to the Larch Hills Nordic trails in the Salmon Arm area; a really lovely club filed with a rustic cosy log cabin to warm up in and eat lunch. Some adventurous members such as John, Antoine, Sam and Anna headed off for a big loop of about 15 or more kms while the lads thought they would 'go west a ways' to find some wildlife such as a moose.. .. thankfully, no joy for them. This ski area had predominantly groomed trails for classic stlye skiing as we are seeing this as the main recreational style used here due to the colder weather; we now appreciate how fast the kiwi snow is with our relatively warmer winters that favor the skate style.
Feb 5th and another light snow day with powder of at least 8-10 cm, -9 again with a slight wind chill. Team training involved a ski for some over to the Sovereign Lake system, using the connecting trails from Silver Star. Not too far as the crow flies and it gives any one staying in this area another set of trails to choose from not far from your door if staying here in the Silver Star resort. We have been so lucky to 'stay put' here for our last fortnight and share the homely accommodation in the Puzzle House, a great place to rent and really great location re access to lifts, trails and the village shops.
Part of the winter carnival had a great tour that Jenn and I took too, with a snow shoe trip through the Ghost Forest for a delicious lunch finish at the Wild Woodsmans Hut; it was Ladies Day out and a lot of fun and a chance to experience snow shoeing. the real fun part was learning to Glissade which was basically Bum Sliding down snow shoots.. heaps of laughs and something we both tried with success. The tour finished with an interesting sleigh ride, being pulled behind Fred and Barney, the large Belgian horses that seem related to Clydesdales but smaller; aromatherapy was provided free of charge, and great jokes told by the sleigh driver as we proceed along the Bridal Path to the village. The day ended with a surprise visit from kiwi Roger Deacon, who had flown the coop from his Invercargill GP practice to take in some BC winter air and skiing; great to see him and a chance for him to ask the team first hand about this great month we are having in BC.
Wednesday is final day here and pack up day so I am guessing a few last bits of shopping, skating at the pond and maybe a game of Shinny or two; John Hogg is determined to head off on the last of his trails to take in the Round the Mountain route, with a couple of the older kids in tow; packing and sorting will be the order of the day for the remainder in readiness for our journey north to 100 mile House and a chance to billet with some local families who love Nordic skiing like us. We are keeping a watchful eye on the weather as the temperature warms up but more snow flurries forecast with big chance of rain on our return to Vancouver for Saturday night; its the last of our races that day as the team will enter another BC cup classic style race in the series. All are looking sharp and notably fitter, with big improvements in their classic style so we wait with baited breath for their results; what ever the outcome, it will be another great opportunity for them and another race to mark off in their training diaries for this truly exciting year.
My appropriate end for today, again from the walls of Bean to Cup cafe house...
"We do not remember days, we remember memories".
Ciao, Liz. posted by Nordic NZ # 4:34 AM
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Another Week in Silverstar
Weather has been warming up towards minus 9 and with it we get a few light snow flurries, which makes skiing really great. We are tending to stay mostly with the classic style of skiing as it is easier to move the skis at this cold temperature, however last night the team got to join the Silverstar team for skate drills down at the Sovereign Lake Nordic area stadium. It was amazing to watch as it was about the size of our rugby field and the lanes are groomed and spread out across the arena area in rows of about 10; the kids would dash up and down doing 15 second sprints , 20 times over the hour; Katie and Sarah were with the younger grouping going around part of the light trail, doing 6 uphill sprints of 30 secs. Yes, remember it is dark here at about 5.20pm so it was already night and temp was about minus 10; they had about 30 young athletes out for training aged from 10 through to 19, I think, and this is their elite training squad who are noticeably featuring in the top 5 of all BC cup results to date. One member is an up and coming star bi-athlete and skier, who is keen to visit New Zealand, according to her mum, so keep watching out for this name in Canadian's youth results: Julia Ransom.Coach Antoine had a great talk with the group back in Whistler about how important it was to work as a team, respect each other, and make sure they all have fun on this trip... this was very confirming for me to hear as Team Manager, and the kids are really taking this on board; hence we are having lots of fun in our kitchen as each night we get the team to pair up with another member to treat us to their culinary delights. So far we have had some interesting meals such as Prawn Stir Fry, Spinach and Blue Cheese Pie, Peanut Butter Curry, but last night topped it all as Mark and Matt decided we needed no vegetables and very little savory in our meals by dishing up Pancakes! Lots of Pancakes the size of your face,...such toppings as ice cream, blueberries, sugar and lemon, and of course, plenty of Maple Syrup. [We did manage to sneak in a bit of bacon to keep the savory factor in, but they even experimented with chocolate pancakes!! I passed on that one but it was a fine effort, if not quite meeting all the daily food groups required].
More snow training now as tomorrow Tips Up Cup @ Sovereign Lake, and Sunday is the 75km Teams race around Silver Star to raise funds for their local hospital. I also hope to join the local team to see some biathlon training on Sunday to add to my experience at Callaghan Valley with the Biathlon Bears program, so more news in a few days as it will get kind of busy here. Today is start fo Vernon Winter Carnival too so up here will be snow sculpting to watch plus heaps of other things too.
Leaving you with another thought for the day from the walls of Bean to Cup :
Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love, to work, to play and to look up at the stars. Henry Van Dyke. posted by Nordic NZ # 9:21 AM
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tues. 29th January, More from the Cold Zone
COLD ...we in NZ do not understand the concept behind this word; at minus 20 yesterday the team lasted about 20 minutes of training only. As Antoine said, races are usually cancelled at this temperature, but now we have all experienced what this feels like, we understand a bit more about the word COLD. There were many layers and head and face warmers, and of course Mittens, but still the chill creeps in after a while, especially as you work up a little sweat. It is with great thanks to Peter Soundy from Peak Projects that we are all managing at all in the cold as the puffer jackets he gave the team have been a god send. Thanks Pete!Anyway today, it is positively warm in comparison as I left the house at minus 14 in a light snow storm... not the large fun fluffy stuff we seem to see in Wanaka, but tiny annoying bits that feel like grains of sand hitting your face. Consequently, we can see no sun today so we may review our training plan to a trip to town and the post instead.
On days like this, the cafes here in the village just fill up to bursting as there is not much activity going on in the snow for folk, and here at 'Bean To Cup' I am sampling the most delicious hot chocolate i have ever tasted..its like liquid chocolate, but you need the extra zing 'cos of the cold. Despite the chill, the team still headed out last night for a game of 'Shinny' at the pond [that is Ice Hockey, and they have really taken to it; they work up so much warmth, they lasted a good hour down there last night so are getting great fitness]. This actually corresponds to the large amounts of food they digest, as frequently we make enough food to feed 20, even tho' there are only 13 of us; thank goodness for bulk buying here at the superstores. Cereal comes in 2 kg boxes and tortilla chips bags are as big as a 3 kg sack of spuds!! Its great to see them all happy, fit and well tho' so it is money well spent.
I leave you with todays thought from the walls of the cafe...
"We can not direct the wind, but we can adjust our sails". Anon. posted by Nordic NZ # 5:07 AM
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
24th to 28th Silver Star and surrounding nordic areas
Hi again from the chilly north....outside temperature at 8 am today read -21.4, we are going to dress warm and not do much outside today!! Even the locals say this is a little chilly for this time of year and Katie reports hearing the weather of the cold Arctic Winds blowing our way for the next few days. Amazingly it is still sunny and clear skies, with the odd snow flurry as we drive about.Saturday we headed for Telemark nordic area past Kelowna, for the BC cup skate sprints and we managed some podium places, Mark in 3rd for Junior Boys and Samantha, in 2nd for Junior girls, again for details go to the http://www.zone4.ca.
Yesterday we travelled north by 2 hours to the Overlander club to ski a Loppet at Skate Lake, weather was sunny and a light -8 , with the odd flurry later in the day. Most of us did the minumum 10 km, even Me on Classic, and the hard outs went for 30 and 50km!! Guess who, Anna at 30 and Mark and Antoine did 50!! Fantastic effort too with placings in the top 5, see Overlander CLub for results, not out yet, check later tonight. Antoine showed us what it is like to 'hit the wall' as an athlete as he said he had to stop at 40 kms for 10 mins and couldn't even think straight! Boy did he look pale when he arrived in too. So today is a quiet day and tomorrow night we will have a training session with the Silver Star club juniors. Later in the week some are going to take in a hockey game in Vernon and we are planning a trip to Slmon Arm club too, if we can.
Tomorrow, we celebrate Mark's birthday here too, so there is a bit of fun in store.
Thats all for now, touch base in a few days.
Smiles from the cold, Liz. posted by Nordic NZ # 8:28 AM
Friday, January 25, 2008
22nd to 23rd Jan at Silverstar Resort, BC
We are all finally relaxing into our new lodging, with star features being the hot tub on the deck and the ski trail passing our back door!!The team did a good work out yesterday with classic training down on the Silver star trails, preceeded by a friendly inter-team night game of ice hockey on The Pond, which is literally 500 m from our house. It is a lovely little area where you can ice skate and play hockey and go Night Tubing, just amazing!
Jeni and I took the Meadow trail and did a 4 km ski to catch glimpes of some local wildlife, so far just a little chip munk we think, altho word out in the local news is that just up the road a black bear came out for a visit about 3 days before our arrival! Apparently he woke up early in the season so we dont want to see him again thanks! Also forgot to mention in Whistler, at the Body Shop in town, a little Bob Cat strolled in for a visit there too... enough of animals, and back to the team.
Wed. night was also a chance for some of the team, including John Hogg, to join Nat Anglam and Ben Falconer for a quick fun race down the road a bit, at the Sovereign Lake trails, bringing home a bag of sweets and a bit of wax as their prize. Apparently their attendance doubled the numbers attending so it was a very low key thing altho the trail circuit was challenging enough. We have yet to visit there in daylight as it is about 3 km down the hill from this village and we didn't realise there were so many trails right here at the village. Thursday and Friday will be prep training days for races at the Telemark Field which is the trails closest to Kelowna, and more in the BC cup series so watch this space!
I leave you all with this quote on the wall above me here at the internet cafe and wish you all well and thanks, Liz Conroy
..."Live a Good Life, and in the end, it's not the years in the life, it's the life in the years" Abraham Lincoln.
posted by Nordic NZ # 8:34 AM
Monday, January 21, 2008
Monday 21st Travel to Silverstar via Lilloet and Cache Creek
Departed early from whistler for 9 am start to a crisp sunny day, travelling north on a smaller winding mountain pass road with the most amazing scenery.Thought road would be just a bit snowy with sand on top, which it was but was a bit surprised to see road signs for 2/3 of that bit of road saying 'Avalanche area - no stopping'. Not much traffic on that road and after Cache Creek we headed for Kamloops and the big highway 1 for a short while then turned off to Vernon and arrived at Silverstar Resort in early evening with big full moon and lots of fun to be had as all found the hot spa waiting for us - with temp of -12 to chill us as they all took turns soaking, a hot dinner was made.
Everyone very well and in good spirits .... this little village is just so enchanting with all the bright Victorian style and paint finishes. posted by Nordic NZ # 9:54 AM
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Sunday 20th Callaghan Valley Olympic Park
Team have just raced last 2 days and coach is very pleased with them. Light snow and calm on Saturday and beautiful sunny and -6 only on Sunday; Saturday was a Classic Sprint and Katie and Sam both made it into B final races, today, it was Sarah and Samantha, Mark and Matt's turn to shine with placing in top ten for their Skate races.
For results go to www.zone4.ca and look at any of the BC cup #2 results. Catergories are as follows:
Katie and Sarah = Midget Girls
Anna = Juvenille Girls
Sam = Junior girls
Boys = Junior boys posted by Nordic NZ # 9:41 AM
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Week at Whistler 13th to 19th Jan 08
We are skiing as much as we can at the Olympic Park site at Callaghan Valley .. comments so far include "just amazing course and snow conditions", "love the skiing here", beautiful scenery to ski to...You will all understand what we mean when you see the winter olympics here in 2 years time as now most of us have skied on parts of the olympic trails; I even headed off and did 1.5 of the Biathlon trial but there are many undulations and as you know hills are not my strong point [yet!]. I am to improve over the next few weeks though.
The team are all getting into a routine of skiing, playing and each pair of them, taking turns at cooking us a meal with delicous results. We are all well feed, and well shopped too!!
The team are good at hunting out bargins, here in Whistler and also in Vancouver [the girls favourite shop was called Skinny, where they all have anew wardrobe, Plus MEC for all our snow boots, and for the boys ...defintely 'Cows' in Whistler- a specialty icecream store where they have been known to have one treat and then go back to try another within half an hour!!]
posted by Nordic NZ # 9:38 AM
Friday, January 11, 2008
ARRIVAL 11th & 12th January, 2008
Hi All, We arrived safe to Vancouver after our cosy 13 hour flight on Air New Zealand direct flight; the food was great and actually quite filling with good choices too. The new seating is surprisingly generous and the individual TV's gave lots of choices for the team to entertain them selves on the flight.the team leaving Queenstown airport...
We had a nice stay at the tidy, altho cosily appointed rooms at the Ywca. The team just loved arriving in the airport, as did I with a tear in my eye too, to the beautiful airport building with lovely things to see along the way to the customs, we were going ok but had a delay with Matt and Andy in a que for a chinese flight so there was a hold up there and finally got out the other side to see smiling Antoine waiting for us all.
We loaded up the car and all the rest of us took of on the 40 min bus ride., thru lovely Vancouver. Folk are very nice and chatty here, Meet Yvonne who is kiwi that has house at Whislter to get the key, and she menetioned there is a land line at that house so will text it thru or email it tonight so you can ring us there all this week if you want.
We then sorted the cars and are getting a big twin cap ute with a big tray open boot to fit all the bas, on 4wd and also keeping the other 7 seater, so will look at getting chains.
Next was a trip to Sears Mall and the Food court where we ate a late lunch early dinner as it started going dark at 5 pm!! Fell happily into bed after 9pm and up with the birds today for our departure by land to Whislter via more shops at Squamish for supplies.
Smiles all round from the team, not too cold here yet at 9 degrees in Vancouver last evening, but heading for Whistler today with minus 4 on the board....
Bye for now, Liz and the Team posted by Nordic NZ # 5:54 PM
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Half marathon photos...
A few photos from our fund raiser half marathon at the Snow Farm on 3rd Jan. 2008... more>> posted by Nordic NZ # 4:13 PM
Count down to Canada ... 1 week to go!
Well, it is getting seriously close to departure now, bags aregetting packed and snow reports checked. Last minute travel plans are
being tidied up and all the team are humming!! Antoine and Shawnda
have already departed our shores and are catching up on a little
'Aloha' sunshine, surf, and mountain climbing!!... while we bask in
the beautiful summer of the central lakes region.
It was near 30 degrees yesterday so we will remember this fact in a
weeks time as we head north into the mountains of Whistler with 40 cm
of snow and -17 degrees!!
Thanks to all our supporters for continuing to buy raffle tickets ,
phone us with paying jobs and generally get excited along with us.
You're just Great and we appreciate it!
Keep and eye out on the pages as we hope to keep an update of the
tour every couple of days when we can get wireless reception so watch
this space for more news.
Thanks, Liz Conroy, Team Manager, Jnr Nordic Development Team.
posted by Nordic NZ # 10:16 AM
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Update on fundraising efforts for Junior Team to travel to Canada, 2008
Hi all Nordic readers and supporters!As you may know, the team and families are all going well with the big
push for fundraising to support the racing team to Canada
for January 2008.
Many events and activities have been on the go all year, with the biggest
push starting in October with Canadu4u ..... This is a kin to the old
Bob-a-job concept and to date we have participated I the following.....
-washed windows, dug potatoes, pulled weeds, moved furniture, cleaned a
house, pulled weeds, erected and dismantled display boards, pulled weeds,
shovelled dirt, gardened, .... And did I mention PULLED WEEDS!!
[Well, it is spring and that is a common job, now it is spring, that
everyone loves help with.]
All I can say is the team , coach Antoine, and many parents are working
very hard at all this with wonderful effect, and I am very proud of the
attitude of the racing team as I don¹t think I have heard a grumble yet
about weed pulling, so WELL DONE.!!
More news, and photos too, to follow about the Car wash, Sausage sizzle,
and of course, stars of TV2...Studio 2... The Perfect Man (of Wanaka)
competition held in town last Saturday.
I will also put up a synopsis of the winter events just past, as you can
guess, we get too busy on snow to update what we have done during
winter, but promise to fill you in on all the great thins happening
this past winter for NZNSDA.
Keep watching this space :-) Liz Conroy
Manager for NZ Nordic Sports Development team
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Merino Muster 2007
What a day it was last Saturday [18 Aug. 2007] where everything could be described as SUPERB! Many people will agree that it was the best Muster yet, and perhaps we've said that before, but with the snow, the weather, the contestants, the organization and the results, I think we're justified in saying IT DEFINITELY WAS the best Muster ever!! The NZNSD kids will certainly agree, as many skied as they had never skied before and produced some amazing results. They will be extremely proud of themselves to have come such a long way in a few short years. With dedication and youth on their side, it's amazing what can be achieved. Congratulations also to Sam Bondarenko, 2nd in the 42k and Andrea Fancy, 3rd in the 21k. Well raced girls!
There was some wonderful skiing to be witnessed on the day, with Team USA coming to the fore with wins in all categories and the Japanese and Canadian disabled skiers right up there with the best of them. And of course the day wouldn't be complete without a mention of the two groups from Finland who came across the world to add colour to our Muster day. Apparently neither group knew the other was coming until they met up at the Snow Farm Lodge! They certainly set the standard for stamina with some of their 70 year olds doing the 42km in classic style! Let's hope they enjoyed their experience so much that they will return again.
Thanks to Jan Wood of the Wanaka Nordic Ski Club for the above text, and Christina Fritz for the photograph
posted by Nordic NZ # 11:39 AM
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Big thanks to our supporters for funding grants
Community Trust of Otago... more >>
and to our sponsors:
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Peak Projects...more >>
Wanaka and Queenstown New World Supermarkets
Air New Zealand
Snow Park ... more>>
Wanaka River Journeys... more>>
MacAssist Wanaka - Apple Authorised Resellers... more>>
NZskydive at Glenorchy... more>>
Brandex Adventure Sports ... more>>
The New Zealand Sock Company ... more>>