By Gerry Furseth
SOVEREIGN LAKE NORDIC CENTRE, outside Vernon, British Columbia — The season’s first Nordiq Cup, held at Sovereign Lake last weekend, was full of stories.
For about twenty skiers, the story was the pursuit of the Continental Cup leader’s spot for Period 1, which comes with start rights in Europe and vastly reduced trip fees for the World Cup and U23 Worlds.
For a similar number of younger skiers, this was a weekend to “race up.” These athletes chose to enter U20 instead of U18 or U16 in the hopes of getting schooled by older and more experienced athletes. Or to enter U16 as a 13-year-old.
Another, smaller, group were “minor nation” skiers working on earning FIS points to help them, or their teammates, toward the 2026 Olympics. If you were wondering why there were so many Aussies racing in Lillehammer and Sovereign Lake this past weekend, this is part of a plan to get a larger number of spots for their country.
Other athletes have smaller goals, earning a single Olympic start for themselves. Or even lowering their FIS points further to earn starts in all the individual races. Brazil and Malta definitely tick the box for exotic ski nations.
A few of the U.S. schools, including Dartmouth, Denver, and Green Valley Mountain School, were also present, tacking some race starts onto an elevation camp on snow.
Each day, about 100 volunteers gave an average of 370 racers an opportunity to have fun, learn, earn points, and meet other athletes who love the same obscure sport.
If this writer had to pick one highlight, it would be watching over 100 U18/U16 skiers leave the start line together on Sunday morning.
It was also a weekend of weather. Friday morning brought a wet snowstorm just before the individual start. Some teams struggled to change their ski structure in time. The winning times were minutes slower than coaches had predicted. Saturday delivered freezing rain at –4 C (it happened, so it is definitely possible). The rain ended hours before the qualifier, but the course was much faster (effectively shorter) and pre-planned tactics fell by the wayside along with a number of skiers who found that poor line choice and firm snow didn’t make for a good combination. Sunday was the return of “Sovereign typical”: light, fluffy snowflakes coming in thirty-minute flurries.
Alison Mackie (on the left/red jacket in the above video), of Edmonton Nordic and Alberta World Cup Academy, had a healthy four medals and four podium visits on Sunday alone: second in open, second Canadian in open, first CCUNC, first U20. And no, your coach won’t carry your medals and prize money envelopes for you.
In the above highlight video, Alison Mackie and Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt talk about the weekend that was. Here are some more athlete videos:
Tom Stephen talks tactics, the weekend, and gives us a quick primer on why the Continental Cup leader’s spot is so important:
Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt demonstrated the “safety first” tactical approach in quarterfinal one of her sprint race, getting into the lead and staying there:
Sometimes, just getting to British Columbia is the biggest challenge. Three coaches (from Yukon, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador) talk about bringing a team to Canada’s top development series. [For perspective, Newfoundland is closer to London, England, than to Sovereign Lake, British Columbia. – Ed.]
There is much more video (14 interviews and seven race clips!) in the Nordic Insights weekend playlist, all of which you can find here.
More media:
Check out Nordiq Canada’s instagram, as Nathaniel Mah continues to be brilliant.
Here is a selection of Peggy Hung’s fine work from the weekend:
You can also find photos here (Doug Stephen Photography) and here (One Skate Photos/Graeme Williams). Tip your photographers.
You’re reading this on Nordic Insights, one man’s labor of love dedicated to publicizing American nordic skiing. Last season’s GoFundMe is literally the only reason why I turned a profit in years one and two of Nordic Insights, and in turn the only reason why there is a year three of Nordic Insights for you to be reading now: I was okay with working for very little money to get this love letter to American cross-country skiing off the ground, but I didn’t want to lose money for the privilege of doing so. If you would like to support what remains a brutally shoestring operation, last season’s GoFundMe may be found here. Thank you for your consideration, and, especially, for reading.
