Home for the Holidays

It was great to be in Canmore this year for Christmas. Last year the team stayed in Europe and Brendan and I took mini 3 day vacay to Venice, Italy. This year I got to hang out with the family and enjoy some great skiing at the Canmore Nordic centre. But a quick recap of racing after Sweden;

We ended up spending two weeks in Hochfilzen, Austria because there was no snow in France where World Cup 3 was supposed to be. The first weekend was sprint, pursuit, relay. I missed 3 in the sprint and didn't make the pursuit. For Sunday's relay Megan Heinicke (Tandy) came from the IBU to round out our team, it was a exciting race and I manage to hit 10/10 without any spares and tagged off in 8th just behind 6th and 7th, in the end we were 9th tying the teams best ever result. On Monday because we didn't have to travel to France we took the day to explore Salzburg and go see the Christmas market. 

The next weekend was sprint, pursuit and mixed relay (2 women and 2 men) In the sprint things went bad again, I missed 3 prone and cleaned my standing but still didn't make the pursuit. This year so far has been disappointing, my skiing is faster and more consistent than last year but I've lost my shooting touch! I am sure it will be back for the rest of the year though! 

The mixed relay team was Megan Imrie, Zina, Brendan and JP, they had an amazing day placing 6th! Brendan had a great start of the year making all the pursuit and not missing a single target in any of the sprints or relays! 

On January 2nd I head back to Europe. Things are kinda up in the air for where I will be racing! 

Possibility 1: IBU race in Forni Avoltri, Italy, Individual Sprint, 2 women head to Nove Mesto, Czech for WC5 then Anholtz, Italy WC6 there is a relay there and then one women will head back to Canada and one will continue on to WC7 in Oslo. 

2: after Forni continue on to Haute Maurine, France for the next IBU races and head home on January 16th. 

Megan Imrie and Zina will be going to those 3 World Cups as will Brendan and JP. 

Brendan at the start of the Pursuit 

Megan, Zina, JP, Brendan getting ready for the flower ceremony.

scary statue in Salzburg 

Saw my first yarn bombing in Salzburg!

 

out enjoying the snow with Moki!

Happy Holidays!!

Rosanna

Sweden, Jah!

When we first arrived in Ostersund there was hardly any snow and the tracks were more like a skating rink than ski trails. Luckily it snowed and it was much nicer skiing and a lot less like a death trap! But the range had constant winds and made shooting extremely difficult. One minute it would be blowing one way and the next another. Wednesday was the first World Cup race of the season, with the men's 20km individual. JP had a great day hitting 18/20 and coming in 14th, the other guys had a bit more trouble on the range. 

Thursday was the women's 15km individual and the winds had not let up. Skiing felt pretty good and I skied much better than I did last year here, but I had 7 misses and ended up 70th. Friday was the men's sprint race where Brendan placed an amazing 14th with clean shooting, he was the only one to qualify for the pursuit. Our sprint race was Saturday, as I came into my prone shooting and right around my 2nd shot the announcer was telling the crowd how Chandra had come 4th in today's cross country sprint race in Dusseldorf, needless to say I focused a bit to much on him and missed my 2nd and 3rd shot but pulled my self together for the 4th and 5th. I hit 8/10 and came 56th, just making the pursuit. Zina had a good day placing 15th and Megan was 33rd. 

Sunday the men and women both raced. As soon as the men finished racing the clouds moved in and it started dumping snow! By the time start rolled around it had snowed probably 4 - 5 inches. This made for really slow skiing. I wasn't feeling as good as in the individual but hit 17/20 and moved up to 51st. 

It's great to finally be racing again and getting the first race nerves out of the way! I am happy that I qualified for the first pursuit of the season, but still have a ways to go to get to where I want to be this season. 

Yesterday was a long travel day to get from Sweden to Austria and we are now in Hochfilzen for World Cup #2. They have moved WC3 to Hochfilzen as well, due to lack of snow in Le Grande Bornand, France. The men and women race Friday - Sunday with sprint, pursuit and relay. It started snowing this afternoon and looks like conditions could be good for these races. 

cheers

Rosanna

out for a jog along the lake 

ski testing with Tom