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Sea to Sky Nordic Festival to draw over 900 athletes for national championships in all nordic disciplines
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Fest is full Sigge's P'ayakentsut was the biggest one-day cross-country event hosted so far at Whistler Olympic Park with close to 700 racers taking part. The Sea to Sky Nordic Festival will bring in over 900 athletes over a 16-day period.

Quite simply, the Sea to Sky Nordic Festival is the biggest Nordic event ever held at Whistler Olympic Park, hosting the national championships for all of the Nordic disciplines.

The event kicks off with the North American and Canadian Biathlon Championships from Mar. 15 to 20, followed by the Haywood Ski Nations (cross-country) from Mar. 23 to 30. The Aviva Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Nationals are from Mar. 28 to Mar. 30.

With age categories and para-nordic competitions there are over 100 different races taking place during the festival with 900 athletes taking part. That's more athletes and events than the Olympics held at WOP, and roughly 500 volunteers are helping to stage the competitions.

Tom Barratt, president of the Whistler Nordics, said that cooperation between clubs is key to pulling off the event.

"The Whistler Nordics are part of another umbrella club, Callaghan Valley Cross Country Club, so we can work together and pull in volunteers from other clubs for events like the Payak and nationals," he said. "It's part of the Olympic legacy."

As well, the Whistler Nordics uses municipal Community Enrichment Program grants to host courses for coaches and officials. "What we can do is supply trained people that can help handle a race like the Payak or other races like that. That's our biggest challenge, how we're going to be able to help with all of these events in the future as they pile up," he said.

"And this is huge. There's no other venue in Canada where they can host all four Nordic sports together, back-to-back. There's nowhere that has a jump, biathlon course and cross-country all in one area, Whistler Olympic Park is quite remarkable that way, and this is the first time something like this has happened."

Barrett said the nationals will also be significant for local athletes with so many different age categories available. Some athletes will be racing above their age level for the experience, while others will get to watch some of the top skiers in the world right now race.

"The next nationals (for cross-country) is in Newfoundland, and I don't know how many we're going to be sending over there for those races. This is a fantastic opportunity for our young skiers."

Biathlon Nationals

The past season has been groundbreaking for Biathlon Canada with Jean-Philippe Le Guellec winning a World Cup gold medal in the men's 10km sprint at the start of the season. He was the first Canadian male to step onto a World Cup podium, and the first Canadian since Myriam Bedard to podium in almost 20 years.

While Le Guellec's medal stands out, it wasn't the only highlight for the team this past season with an eighth place result in the team sprint at the world championship and Mark Arenz earning medals in para-biathlon events, including a world championship title. Other athletes have also posted personal bests.

Friday, March 15 is the official training day for all categories of athletes, with the racing getting underway on Saturday with the sprint competition. The 10 a.m. start includes men, junior men, senior boys, masters men and masters women, while the 1 p.m. start is for youth men, women, junior women, youth women and senior girls.

The sprint distance is 10km for the men and 7.5km for the women over three laps, with athletes visiting the shooting range twice. The first time through they shoot prone (lying down) and on the second lap they shoot while standing. For every missed target the athletes have to make one lap of the 150-metre penalty loop next to the range.

Sunday is the pursuit race with the same groups racing at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. The pursuit format starts athletes according to their ranking and time in the sprint, with the men racing 12.5km and the women 10km over five laps. All of the athletes visit the range four times (twice prone, twice standing), and every miss means one lap of the penalty loop.

Monday is another training day as athletes prepare for the mass start and individual competitions on Tuesday. The 10 a.m. start is for men, junior men, women and junior women and the 1 p.m. start for senior boys, youth men, youth women, masters men, masters women and senior girls.

The mass start format has every athlete leaving the start line together, with the men racing 15km and the women 12.5 km over five laps, and four trips to the lane. Once again, the penalty loop is put to good use with skiers racing a lap for every missed shot.

The final event is Wednesday's Mixed Relay Competition with men/women, junior men/junior women, youth men/youth women and masters men/masters women racing at 10 a.m. and senior boys/senior girls racing at 1 p.m. The athletes race on co-ed teams with the women racing first (6km and three trips to the range) and the men (7.5km, three trips to the range) racing second.

To volunteer, email nationals@callaghanwintersportsclub.ca and let them know your availability.

Cross-country Nationals

The Haywood Ski Nationals are the biggest event of the Nordic festival, taking place over eight days.

The "Nordic Knights" — a collective of Canada's top male racers — is the main highlight of the competition, with four different athletes winning World Cup medals in the past few seasons. This season the top athlete has been Alex Harvey, 24, who has been on the podium twice this season. He was third in the classic mass start race at the Tour de Ski, and recently placed third in the spring at the World Championships. He was also part of the men's team sprint event along with teammate Devon Kershaw that placed fourth overall at the World Ski Championships. Other team members on the podium the past two seasons are Len Valjas and female racers Chandra Crawford, Perianne Jones and Daria Gaiazova. Ivan Babikov has come close in a few races, finishing fourth in one event this past season and in the top 10 in five other races.

While national team members are the favourites, there will be some tough competition from development team skiers as well as representatives from Canada's four national training centres — including the Callaghan Valley Training Centre based out of Whistler Olympic Park. As well, lots of local racers will be racing in the junior categories.

Jessica Aldighieri, the coach for the Whistler Nordics' competitive Devo team, said the athletes plan to take full advantage of home course advantage. "The kids really know the course and will be able to push themselves at the most appropriate times," she said.

"It's more for the experience. Both Jenya (Nordin) and Lauren (Doak) are racing a 10K, which will be Jenya's third 10K and Lauren's fourth, so they're definitely just going to ski their best and learn how to race at that level. They're skiing pretty well and they're just on the up and up."

Nicki Murdoch will be competing at the open women's level for the first time, and has committed to doing a 20km event. "She's doing a post (high school) grad year with us, and I think she'll probably do really well," said Aldighieri. "I'm really impressed with how well she's been skiing."

Other Devo team members racing include Austin Reith and Keeley Wentzel, while Michael Murdoch, Fraser Doak and Benita Peiffer will all do at least one event outside of their age category for the experience.

Friday, Mar. 22 is the official training day, followed by team sprint events on Saturday, the interval skate race on Sunday, the interval classic start on Tuesday, the individual sprints on Wednesday and Thursday, and the long distance mass start race on Saturday, Mar. 30. Exact times will be posted soon at www.skinationals.com, which is also where you need to go to sign up as a volunteer.

Ski Jumping/Nordic Combined

Last but not least, Whistler Olympic Park will be hosting men's and women's ski jumping and Nordic combined races from March 28 to 30 at the Aviva Canadian National Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Championships.

The event is an important for athletes looking to go to the 2014 Games, especially female ski jumpers that will be included in the Olympics for the first time in Sochi.

The ski jumps will be open for training from March 23 to 26 and on Mar. 28. The Normal Hill (HS 106 metre) and Nordic Combined competitions take place on March 29, followed by the Large Hill (HS 140 metre) competition on Saturday. Sunday is available as a contingency day.

Ski jumpers will be scored according to how far they fly with some additional points for style — a safety measure to ensure that skiers are using the proper form to takeoff and land.

The Normal Hill competition includes two rounds of jumping for men and women between 10:30 a.m. and noon, while the Nordic Combined athletes will make one jump during that time. The Nordic Combined ski races take place at 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. with athletes leaving the start gate in an individual pursuit format with a gap that's determined by their ski jumping score. It's possible for shorter jumpers to be faster skiers and vice versa, so the goal for athletes is to be consistent in both events.

The Long Hill competition on Saturday gets underway with a first round at 9:30 a.m., followed by two rounds for men and women from 10:30 a.m. to noon.

Canada is not a powerhouse in either sport, although that could change in the future. The addition of women's ski jumping opens a window for a Canadian to do well in that sport, increasing funding and support for the sport as a whole.

Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes, 21, is one of the up-and-coming ski jumpers to watch at the national championships. He's been jumping since he was seven and has cracked the top 30 on the World Cup level. Other members of the national team include Eric Mitchell, 20, and Yukon deLeeuw, 19. The women's team this year is anchored by Taylor Heinrich, who has a few top 15 results at the Continental Cup level and has four top 30 results on the World Cup this year. Most of the women's team is competing at the NorAm Cup and Continental Cup and two steps down from World Cup, but the nationals should include Charlotte Mitchell, Alexandra Pretorius, Jasmine Sepandj and Atsuko Tanaka.

Volunteers can register online at skijump.callaghanwintersportsclub.ca.