Congratulations to those who went to and competed at the AB Cup 3 on the weekend. It was unfortunate that Sunday’s event was cancelled but I fully support the decision by the organizing committee based on very cold temperatures (-22C). But Saturday was a very good day. Not only did we have good, no great results, both based on finishing order, but also skiers meeting or exceeding goals. All of you have identified goals for this season and they are very individual and vastly different from one another. And all of you are at different “spots” in your skiing and racing development. As such it is really important to focus on what you, personally, have achieve based on your identified goals, and your training and preparation. And then celebrate each individual when they meet or exceed their goals. Here goes:

• Sarah Welsh skipped up the hill out of the stadium, and dove back down into the finish stretch and finally motored like nobody’s business through to the Finish and came in 5th. 
• Nathan finished third in a huge U12 boys field, skiing quickly up the hills, double polied like a boss, and passied people on the down hills! All while skiing technically very well!
• Ethan skied the best I have ever seen him classic. He stood tall and held a constant forward lean and was able to get up all the big hills out of the stadium in the track – no small feat – on a course that a former World Cup skier said was the toughest she had ever skied on!! Well done Ethan!! 
• Alison’s strength is her climbing and she danced up every climb and aggressively double poled the flats and finished a very solid second overall in the U14 girls. Your double poling is looking solid.
• Peter said he had great glide on the downhills (actually he said he had glide – unlike before – but seeing him come down the hills there was no doubt it was great glide). But he skis like “butter”; so smooth and seemingly effortlessly and finished a very strong 9th place in a large and strong field. Your diagonal stride and double poling is 2 thumbs up!!
• Sarah Hanstock didn’t have the best grip (blame this wax tech) but she is skiing technically so well, despite the less than adequate grip on the same challenging World Cup trail that Ethan had to navigate. We will dial in the amount of layers on your newly mapped wax pocket before the next race! Well done!
• Maybe Daniel should’t have raced as he was recovering from a bad cold earlier in the week. But he decided to do the warm up and then see…and he had a great race. He skied “snappy” and technically well. He also threw 🤢 up during lap 2 (of 4) but despite this finished and had a great come-back-from-sickness race. Great preparation, and it’s looking good for Westerns next week. Did i mention you looked snappy and aggressive out there?
• Finally, Lukas finished 5th (just like Sarah W) in a very tight U16 Boys field. He said this was his best classic race to date! He made going up the Canmore hills look easy, staying in the track all the way up those nasty inclines! And his double poling; you’ve come a long way!! 
• Both Alison and Lukas won their respective year of birth categories. Congratulations again to all!!!