Canada Extravaganza - Candy Cane Cup Round 3!

Hello Everyone!

Spinning while watching QUEEN ELSA!

I hope that you have all had a wonderful holiday season so far. I thought I would just give a quick recap of our first race weekend that happened right before finals (hence the late blog post). The week leading up to the races was unfortunate as we lost all our snow in Canton. We made it work, though, with some ski erging, running, and spinning (to Frozen I might add!). Seeing as it was the weekend before finals, not everyone made the trip to Nakkertok; however, we had a great group each day as some went home to study and some would drive up for a racing "break." Those of us that raced multiple days got to stay at Robyn's house which was amazing! Thank you so much to the McIntosh's for hosting us. They were so kind, and the food was truly special (long time fans of the blog will likely notice that this is usually my favorite part of any race weekend haha). Their "podium breakfast" definitely powered me to my best race in a LONG time. I think we were all also excited to have tacos that were not from Dana's Taco Tuesday. So, thank you so much from the whole team! It was wonderful to have a respite from finals' stress and also not have to drive four hours each day.

Lucy & Em staying warm (I can't even make a normal face when I'm NOT racing!)

The Candy Cane Cup is always one of my favorite races! It was our third time going. It was a bit different this year, because it was also a NorAm, meaning the level of competition was much higher. This was great, though, and the volunteers and everyone out there was awesome as always. 

There was not much snow, so our warm ups and cool downs were running; however, the race course was in fantastic condition. The first day was a classic sprint. On the whole, I would say most of us struggled, since it was the first real race of the year, we hadn't been on snow all week, and we don't sprint very often. Charlie had an awesome day – I don't think any of us have seen someone make up time on an uphill like he did! Beast mode for sure. Brian made it to semifinals, which was awesome. I was very proud of Kai and Emily for putting themselves out there when they weren't feeling well/recovering from injury. Ian, Steph, and I were really happy to get some practice in heats.

Qualifier Results
Heats

Brian sending it!

Mattahawko!

Saturday was a new day (5k/10k skate), and I think most felt it went better! Kate had her first race back from an injury and crushed. Steph was in the top 25 and Jackie was in the top 15. I was just glad to get some better race feelings in a short skate race than I've had in a while and ended up in the top 10. We all cheered for each other at the finish line, since we started next to each other in the unseeded group (gotta love racing outside the US!) So, that was really fun. The guys did really well too, with Brian just off the U20 podium, Ian and Kai in the top 15 for U20s, and Cam in the top 20 for U20s! Matt was our only senior guy, so his field was much bigger, but he did a great job.

Skate Results

Jackie getting after it

Cam carrying some speed into the hill!

Steffi rocking the glitter (now biodegradable - thank you Tim!) AND the race :)

Everyone had a 10k classic on Sunday (before heading back for finals!) I was super proud of Matt for racing again despite going back to study Saturday night. Graham and Charlie also came up. It was Graham's first classic race this year, so it was great just to see him get out there and have fun. Charlie crushed and was just outside the top 10 for U20s! I was also just outside the top 10, and I was so proud of Steph for cracking the top 20!! Killer. Jackie, Kate, and Emily were all right together, which was cool to see.

Classic Results

Kai looking speedy!

Thank you so much to the race photographers. You can find great photos here from Doug Ranahan and here from Jo-Ann Holden and here from Robert Smith. Thank you so much to the McIntosh's as well for being absolutely AMAZING hosts. The Richters made fantastic cookies for us post-race as well, so thank you to them. ETown and Dana (the photos in the blog are from her) were wonderful as always. Thank you so much to Nakkertok for such great racing. Happy New Year to all!