Halifax Nordic Ski Club Newsletter
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In this week's newsletter:
- Halifax Nordic's 2018-19 Season
- HNSC AGM, May 8 @ Brunello
- Survey- Programs
- Club Rental Ski Returns
- Fundraiser- Summer Ski Prep @ Trail Shop
- Nationals
- Nordiq Canada
- Kouch Loppet
- HN Trails Closed
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Halifax Nordic's 2018-19 Season
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Looking back at this year's ski season, we are thrilled to have had 38 days of open trails in a season where most in HRM would say, there really wasn't much snow this season. The little snow we did get seemed to last as our groomers worked their magic to make the snow last as long as possible. On wet days, members stayed off the trails and this allowed the rain to pass through as the groomers waited for the snow to set before heading out to groom.
Our groomers spent over 300 hours grooming our five trails this winter, this also calls for a thank you to Wilson's Gas for donating gas this year for our equipment- thank you!
While the snow making was delayed at Brunello, we were still able to have 30 days of skiing at Brunello and over 240 hours of snow making. Our last day of grooming at the Brunello "Glacier" was Sunday March 24th
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Next year, with a little more hose, and some summer landscaping in the area, we will increase the size of the Brunello "Glacier", this will give us a larger area. We also plan to start snow making earlier once the ground freezes and temperatures drop. This will mean earlier skiing at Brunello for next winter.
Our club has struggled to provide Saturday lessons on snow since leaving Martock. The success of snow making this year means we are confident that going into next year we will be able to offer consistent lessons on snow. Thank you all for your patience and support as we worked to find new trails and snow making for our members. We hope to have more options for lessons,next season, so please make sure you give us your feedback on lessons to help us with planning the 2019/20 season. Please take 3-5 minutes to complete an on-line
Programs Survey
before Friday April 12.
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Halifax Nordic Ski Club AGM
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Halifax Nordic is growing and relies solely on volunteers to run the club. We need more members to come out and take on roles with Halifax Nordic so that we can continue to grow and offer more cross county skiing in and around HRM. We invite you to come to the club's AGM to see what goes on behind the scenes. If you would like to find out more about volunteering and joining the board, reach out to any of our current members, or contact us via email
info@halifaxnordic.ca
. We are looking for new board members to join our board for the 2019-20 season.
AGM will be 7pm Wednesday, May 8 at Brunello.
Club Mission: To build a Community of active Nordic Skiers in the HRM.
Board of Directors
HNSC is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors, elected at the Annual General Meeting held each spring.
Current Board members are:
Lorenzo Caterini– President
Brian Norman-Vice-President
Susan McClure –Secretary & Registration
David Keefe- Treasurer
Tom Beazley – Grooming Director
Deirdre Evans- Marketing & Communications
Dave Hubley- Programs
Mark Campbell- Grooming
Nick Cardone- Programs
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Survey about Halifax Nordic Ski Club Programs
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What began as a challenging winter with very little snow in January, ended with consistent skiing at the end of our season, up until March 24th. Once snow making was underway at Brunello, we were able to establish consistent snowmaking at the Brunello "glacier", for next season, this gives us a more reliable location to offer regular lessons. This is a good opportunity to reassess how we offer ski instruction and would like members' input.
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Club Rental Equipment Returns
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I hope you all enjoyed the skiing when we had the snow. Not as bad as last year, but mother nature could be better to us. The efforts of the groomers and the snow makers were incredible and greatly appreciated. Next year the snow making will happen earlier and be a little more extensive than this year. Every year from here onward will be better and better at Brunello!
Please make 100% effort to return your rental equipment on the following dates during the following times. If you have ski plans beyond these times then please email me individually to let me know when you will return them.
I do this on a volunteer basis so please make it more convenient for me than you. I hope you enjoyed the skiing when we had snow and maybe you ventured out of province for a ski. Here’s to next year.
Sunday, April 7th from 1200-1600
Saturday, April 13th from 0900-1300
Saturday, April 20th from 0900-1300
Monday, April 22nd from 1300-1600
You are required:
1.
to bring back the boots
dry
and
clean
with
all zippers
working properly (take a bar of soap a rub up and down each side of the zipper). REMOVE any dog hair. MAKE SURE the in-soles are in the boots.
2.
to bring back the poles with baskets, and name labels removed. REMOVE all name labels.
3.
to bring back skis without name labels. REMOVE all name labels. EVERY set of skis were rented with a sleeve to keep the skis together. It is to be returned as well. Lost it then replace it.
If you or your child have a skate ski or universal/combi ski then they require some prep work and storage wax for the off season.
I will have a couple of stations set up to do this work and expect to take 30 minutes to do this work. If you know how to do it or have a ski friend willing to help then great, otherwise you will be doing it with my help. You can also have these skis prepared for the summer by the Trailshop (Halifax) (SEE FUNDRAISER NOTE BELOW), MEC (Halifax), HUB cycle (Truro).
I’m asking all those who have skis requiring waxing to click on this doodle link and book your 30 minute session to minimize wait times,
Halifax Nordic Rental Returns
Those who have booked a time will have priority and those who have not will have to wait patiently.
If equipment is broken then you should have it fixed or replaced.
Your return deposits will be returned to you once you have returned your rental equipment.
Thank you,
Geoff Bennett
902-266-6191
HNSC Volunteer rental guy
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Fundraiser- Ski Prep @ The Trail Shop.
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Purchase a summer Ski Prep package, to have your cross country skis prepped for next season. Package cost is $20, with a portion of the proceeds going to Halifax Nordic's Ski Making Project. Promotion runs April 1st-19th, and customers will get a deal if they buy 3 summer ski prep packages, they'll get the 4th for FREE.
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Team Nova Scotia at Canadian Cross Country Championships at Nakkertok.
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Eight Nova Scotians were among the 900 skiers at the National races hosted by Nakkertok Ski Club in Gatineau, Quebec. Over the nine days of competition they had the incredible experience of racing with the top in the country plus some very fast Norwegians and Americans.
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The classic Team Sprints were exciting with interesting match-ups. Fiona McClure and Grace McIntyre in the transition zone for junior girls
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Coach Daniel Murray in the wax trailer.
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Colin Ward climbs the gruelling Jackrabbit hill.
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Jonah and Mariah Hudec were not the only sibling team-up.
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Maggie McClure near the top of Jackrabbit.
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Caden McLeod passes off to Ogen Newcomb in the junior mixed race.
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Following Nationals the team stopped in Quebec City to watch the FIS World Cup Final and grabbed a few pictures while there.
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NS skiers nabbed Norway's Klæbo for photos, autographs and high-5s after his World Cup wins.
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McIntyre family cheering on the skiers.
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NS coach Daniel Murray captured this photo of Alex Harvey (centre, red-sleeves) on his way to second-place in the 15km classic race on the scenic Plains of Abraham. Harvey retired the next day with another second on home snow in front of an adoring, honouring crowd.
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Cross Country Canada launches a New Brand and New Mission as Nordiq Canada
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“All Canadians on skis and more Canadian athletes on podiums.”
That’s the new mission for Cross Country Canada, which just changed its name to Nordiq Canada in March. Check out its new website and launch video here:
https://nordiqcanada.ca/
The new mission marks a big change for Nordiq Canada, the National Sports Organization that represents cross country skiing and Para Nordic skiing across the country. In the past, Cross Country Canada focused heavily on high performance, elite-level skiing, with the primary goal of putting Canadian skiers on World Cup and Olympic podiums. That’s still part of the focus, but Nordiq Canada will put a lot more energy into promoting recreational skiing as a lifelong sport, with more emphasis on participation in Nordic Ski Clubs.
The shift in focus is based on feedback from ski clubs across the country that culminated in a 2018
nationwide survey of cross country skiers in Canada. 870 club members, athletes, board, staff, parents, volunteers, coaches, and officials gave input on the survey. Among the highlights:
▪ 96% said that lifelong fitness was what they loved most about the sport.
▪ 97% told CCC that building awareness for the sport is its most important job.
▪ 94% believe that balancing the needs of recreational and high performance skiers is CCC’s biggest challenge.
Nordiq Canada’s new mission to get “all Canadians on skis” will be reflected in more emphasis on recreational skiing in its communications, such as a big shift in its photography budget from covering World Cup events to professional images of jackrabbit programs at clubs in Canada. There will also be a stronger focus on promoting Nordic skiing as a lifelong way to stay healthy as well as more resources to support clubs to grow our sport and to create opportunities for all Canadians to experience Nordic skiing.
The change in name is less important than the change in mission, but is also aimed at making Nordic skiing in Canada more inclusive. The old name ‘Cross Country Ski du Fond Canada’ was cumbersome and the acronym ‘CCC’ didn’t mean anything to most people. The new name is the same in English and French and the the new logo is intended to represent all Canadians moving forward together on skis, while feedback on the old logo indicated that many people saw it as representing a white, male, able-bodied, elite skier – not the right image for the goal of getting all Canadians on ‘skinny’ skis.
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Many Nordic skiers probably wonder what Cross Country Canada ever did in the first place and how Nordic Canada might impact on their skiing in the future. A lot of the work is behind the scenes but has a big impact on our opportunities to ski, including: design of the bunnyrabbit, jackrabbit and track attack programs; coach training and development; officials training; liability insurance for clubs to operate programs and host events; hosting national ski competitions; managing the national ski team and Para Nordic team – and especially, providing grants back to provincial cross country ski organizations and Nordic ski clubs to grow our sport. For example, Halifax Nordic and Cape Breton Nordic will soon have new Para Nordic sit-ski sleds thanks to a 2018 grant from CCC. Nordiq Canada also plays an important role in connecting Nordic ski clubs across the country – for example, lots of other clubs are keen to learn from Halifax Nordic’s experience with snowmaking. All members of Halifax Nordic are also members of Nordiq Canada (and pay a $10/year fee to Nordic Canada as part of club fees).
Cross Country Nova Scotia (CCNS) is also a member of Nordiq Canada and we’re excited that the new mission to put “all Canadians on skis” aligns so well with our own goals of growing the sport of cross country skiing in Nova Scotia. The next steps are to actually implement this new mission and here in NS to put “all Nova Scotians on skis.” To do that, Cross Country Nova Scotia will need your help – your ideas and time to other people enjoy this great sport. If you are interested in sharing your ideas or getting involved with CCNS, please contact
ccns@sportnovascotia.ca
or
ccnspresident@sportnovascotia.ca
John Cameron (President, CCNS Board of Directors)
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Click on the above image to view the video from Nordiq Canada.
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On March 24th, the 2019 Kouch Loppet greeted skiers with sunny skies and very firm and fast surface conditions. Some 30 participants showed up to challenge themselves and each other over their choice of a 10km, 20km, or 40km distance. For the racers, the hard crusty spring snow was going to be a deciding factor, putting technique and talent up against strength and stamina. As the race progressed, any sunny patches on the trail gradually turned from an icy crust into mashed potatoes, and became particularly taxing for the participants on the 40km distance. By the time most finished the loppet, temperatures had reached a comfortable +8°C. Post-race awards were held in the wax hut with some fast folks taking home well-earned prizes from Spindrift Brewing, Java Blend, and Helly Hansen. Results can be found on Zone4.ca
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Our trails are now closed until the 2019-20 season.
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Thank you to our club sponsors, we are grateful for your generous support of our club and growing the cross country ski community.
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Halifax Nordic Ski Club |Halifax | www.halifaxnordic.ca
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