After a summer of silence Ive finally launched my own site at www.graemekillick.ca See ya there!

Nationals Duntroon Ontario

2 races down with 2 to go.  The conditions here in Duntroon have been anything but ideal with just enough dirty wet snow/ice to hold a race on everyones favorite facility. :-)

Day one was a 10 k skate with 2 laps of the lower 5 loop. I began the race conservatively and was caught on the first lap by Len Valjas who started 15 seconds behind me. After lapping through the stadium I was able to drop him on the first hill and began cruising along the top. Unfortunately I think the course wasn't designed with me in mind cause the after the top of the first hill the rest of the loop is just flat high speed two skate which I have trouble maintaining a cruising speed on. Near the end of the last lap Robin and Stefan caught me and I was able to stick with them finishing pretty strong just ahead of Robin who was the winner of the day. I ended up finishing 1st junior, just ahead of dave by 4 seconds and an acceptable 12th overall.

Yesterday was the 15 k classic. Overnight Ontario gave us a nice rain storm, which made the waxing a nightmare for most of the field. The race was pretty good for me and I was able to get grip for the first lap and a half. Coming through the stadium I was able to latch onto Stefan (who stomped the field by 50 seconds) and held onto him for almost a full lap till my grip began to fade really fast.  Soon after I lost stefan, Robin caught me and I fought to stick onto him, both of us double poling most of the lap with our now slick skis. I was able to finish just behind him, putting me in 1st jr. by 10 seconds on David and 8th overall!

Next we have the classic sprint tomorow, which hopefully I will be able to do half descent to do well in the aggregate at the end of the week. 

OPA pics

After france most of the u23s and a few of us juniors went through Austria, Italy and Germany to hit up some OPA continental cup races. 

First race was in Zwiesel, Germany aka the glass blowing capital of the world. The week in Austria had hit me hard with a cold/sore throat and I was still feeling sick the morning of the 15 k classic. After skiing a warmup with some faster zone 3, I decided the intensity wouldn't make anything worse. The first lap was pretty conservative for me but I still managed to have a good split going by our coaches. Each lap after I was able to improve on my time by 2 - 3 seconds with 14 seconds on the final lap. In the end I won jr. and was 5th senior to Len Valjas who dominated the mens field, giving us two runs through the Canadian anthem. FIS points were also amazing that day, earning a miniscule 34.39! (lower is better)

here are some pics. 

classic race (photo credit sandau.ca)

hat hair during the Canadian Anthem (photo credit sandau.ca)

2nd place didn't show

After Zwiesel we headed south to Schilpario, Italy for the next set of OPA races. Despite not getting snow since November, there was a good meter of dry fast snow. The races were put together as sort of a "mini tour" where your positioning in one race would handicap your start for the next one. It started with a classic sprint followed by a 10 k classic and finishing off with a 15 k skate. 

The classic sprint went pretty well for me and I was able to qualify in 8th and moving down one position to 9th through the heats. The course was ok for me with a massive climb the first half of the race followed by a speedy switch back downhill and a longer than I would have liked double pole finish into the stadium. I was always  in 1st or 2nd cresting the climb but would drift back slowly in the double pole finish. 

In the end I was more than happy with the result because if I were to lose a few more positions I would have been out of the series with too much time to make up. I ended up starting the next day 27 seconds behind the leader. After about 3 k I was able to close that gap and began to sit in behind the leaders. The pace began to really increase towards the end and many of our lead pack dropped off leaving 6 of us. I was able to hold on till then end, finishing 5th just 10 seconds of the leader and securing a spot beside the podium. 

Next day, the 10 k skate, I was able to make up the 10 seconds on the first hill and began to ride behind the leaders. The pace was quite slow and the lead group began to get bigger with people making up time on us. I moved to the front and began to push the pace along with Thomas Bing (5th at world jrs.). Between us we were able to lean out our group to 6 guys which made me much more comfortable for the sprint finish.  On the final climb before the stadium one of the italians went for it, breaking the group down to four, two italians, Bing and me. Going into the finish I stepped in behind the italian who had won the day before but I guess he didn't really have anything left so I broke away from him and sprinted to the line with Bing and Federico, finishing 3rd, but still within a second of 1st. The medal ceremony was legit with glass shooting star trophies, basket full of cheese etc. and 100 Euros!

(photo credit Eric Bailey)

Anyway thats it for OPA, next update Nationals!

World Juniors!

So this will be what should be a few posts compressed into 1. 

After a week of training in the beautiful mountain village of Praz de-lys we had our first race of the week, a 1.5 km classic sprint. Going into the day my goal was to place top 30 and get to know what its like to race against an international field. Turns out the course couldn't have been better for me and I was able to lay down a 13th place qualifier. In the quarter final I felt super strong but I think a few small mistakes may have cost me a position, putting me in 3rd for 14th overall. 

Next for the pursuit day I was feeling good and was able to turn out a good result despite having a really rough classic leg. The layout of the course made it really tough for nailing the wax everywhere. Unfortunately we along with a few other countries missed it for all the hills in the back of the course. The whole classic became damage control, herring-boning up the slightest incline and having everyone ripping past you with perfect striding.  Coming into the skate I had been redlining the whole way and managed to latch on to a group with Thomas Bing, Thomas Northug, Musgrave and a few others who dropped off. Musgrave broke from the front of our group on the first lap and we continued to lean out our group. After a lap I began to feel better and knowing I had lost any sprint in the classic, I moved to the front and led the last two laps trying to drop Bing and Northug. Unfortunately they stuck it out and dropped me going to the line landing me in 15th. 

I think the race could have gone considerably better but I am still extremely happy with a top 20.  Heres a video from the start of the pursuit with David Greer leading alongside the likes of Petr Sedov and Tim Tscharnke!

The 10 k skate wasn't my day. I didn't have any problems just couldn't keep a good pace going. I finished in 25th place which Im still somewhat happy with. 

Day after the skate was the 4*5 km relay. Our team in order of starting was me, Jess, Ghislain and David. Off the start everyone was jostling for positions and the tracks were over capacity with people breaking equipment all round. I tried to remain calm and hung around the back for the first lap. When things had spread out a little I moved to the front and just as I got there the Russian took off. I jumped in the track behind him and we were able to make a small gap on the field. Coming in I lost a few seconds on him but was still able to tag off in 2nd place. We drifted back slowly over the next few legs but managed to pull off 9th with some good skiing by dave. 

heres a video from the last lap just before the exchange.