Eastern's 2010

This past weekend 6 members of my team traveled to Gatineau Quebec for the 2010 Eastern Canadian Championships. Having competed in these races for the past 5 years now and always having a great time, it was a highly anticipated trip on my part. And to make it even better, I got to see my family, Jacquelyn and my old friend Thomas again, as they all managed to make it out to watch me race. Being the only time any of them would see me race this year, I was very happy about it, and really wanted to make it an exciting weekend for them.

The races started out on Saturday with a 10km skate interval start race. With the exception of a little coldness, the conditions were pretty good, and very fast. With the combination of the icy trails and my love for the Nakkertok race courses, it was a very fast, and very fun race. I raced my way to a 4th place finish on Saturday, 49 seconds behind the winner. I was hoping for a top 5 result, so I was fairly happy with my result.

Sunday brought with it slightly warmer temperatures for my 15km classic mass start race. Classic mass start races have always been one of my favorite types of races. It's the excitement of a mass start without the high risk of broken equipment and crashing that comes with skate races. Seeded 4th starting the race, I had no problem staying at the front and avoiding any potential crashes that could have held me up, so I was pretty happy about that. The race was very fun, I ended up leading a bit more than I had hoped I would, but it worked out pretty well for me in the end. I managed to hang on for a 2nd place finish, 1.3 seconds behind the leader, so I was pretty happy with that. This race was also another good reminder of what I have to work on in the future, so it was a very good day for me.

After the race on Sunday, I said a sad farewell to Jacquelyn and my family, then set out to kill some time before our 7:30pm flight. We found ourselves in the Ottawa market where we had a late lunch, then headed to the airport to await our flight home. I ended up getting back to my home in Canmore around 12:30am (local time), in a very tired state.

So, that was the Eastern's 2010 adventure, another awesome weekend in the books. Big thanks to my parents for bringing more food than my Canmore kitchen has ever seen (and of course for coming to see me :) ), and to Jacquelyn for making the long trip to come see me race!

That's all for now, Happy February everyone!