Special to NSXC by S. Rees: The beauty of Gatineau Loppet (previously the Keskinada or the Gatineau 55) is that it provides so many racing options from which to choose. Do you want to classic? Well, you can race 5km, 16km, 29km, or 53km. Would you rather skate? There’s the 2km, 10km, 29km, or 53km. With so many options, it can be fun to mix ‘n match each year. However, I have regularly tried to attempt skiing both 29km (for more thoughts on this appealing option, check out my report on www.XCOttawa.ca). This year was only the second time I successfully completed both 29km and not without some potentially epic moments. Other members of the Ottawa-based chapter of NSXC.ca (aka Alicia and Steve) conquered the ever-competitive 53km skate on Sunday. But I won’t give away the punch line yet… EDITORS NOTE: I can't believe she's contributing to websites other than NSXC.ca. I guess we can't be too choosy, at least we're getting some content!  Read more...

Saturday, February 16, 2008: The 29km Classic

It was a little chilly on Saturday morning, but nothing like previous years, making this version of the Gatineau Loppet/Keskinada seem almost tropical. Given that the first part of the course covers much of the Coupe Skinouk course (see previous posting), there was a lot of double-poling to be done. However, what was great was that once the first lap was finished, there was still all the climbing to do. For those of us who aren’t so keen on double-poling, this was actually a good thing. However, the climbing is considerable and I bogged down a bit in the middle. Coming into the stadium I was very surprised to hear that I was the second woman to arrive, albeit over five minutes behind the first woman. After a nice wreathing ceremony, I quickly changed and loaded most of my Gatineau Loppet lunch into my pockets to take up my coaching duties for the afternoon. The athletes I’ve been coaching from Chelsea Nordiq acquitted themselves well in the 5km using the silver medal waxing combo that I had used in the morning (Sorry… I can’t tell you what it was because it’s a team secret. Really I’m waiting for a sponsorship deal from Swix to give them some product placement).

Sunday, February, 17, 2008: The 29km Skate

The weather forecast for Sunday turned into a bit of farce: snow, rain, freezing rain, cold, warm… They were calling for it all and in the end, that’s pretty much what materialized. Luckily, the racing for NSXC.ca was completed before anything too crazy happened. Although still a bit sore from the previous day of racing, Sunday’s race went fairly well. I’ll skip all the boring stuff (ie. the first 28km of the race) and get to the exciting part. Throughout the race, I knew that I may have a bit of problem as the few fans scattered around the course kept saying: “Go girls!” as I was skiing by. This meant that my second place position (yes, again in second) was potentially in jeopardy. Turns out, I was right to worry because I got passed at the 2 km to go mark. However, I stuck close and we raced into the stadium sitting 2-3 (3 being me). Well, it all seems a bit of a blur now, but somehow I pulled out a big sprint in the last 50 metres and regained my second place position. Again, after a nice wreathing ceremony and scrumptious Gatineau Loppet lunch (free for racers and only $6 for others), I put on my coaching clothes and coached (ie. made sure they got to the start line on time) my athletes to some strong performances in the 10km skate.

Overall Synposis? Silver is a very nice colour and much better than I’ve received in past Gatineau Loppets, so overall I’m pretty pleased with being the first loser twice this past weekend.

But what about Steve and Alicia? Well, Steve also had a victorious sprint to the finish and Alicia looked very strong coming to the line. Alicia placed 9th overall in the women’s category while Steve placed 8th in the very competitive 30-34 men’s category. What does racing the 53km skate do to you? Well, apparently it makes you too tired to eat and too hungry to rest. Doesn’t sound all that pleasant to me. I was quite happy keeping to my 29 kms and Sunday evening good eats from the Golden Palace.

Stephen M. Bursey leading talented company in the 53 km Skate