On January 24 I took to the ski on route to Peyong Chang South Korea for the 2016 Asia Cup with the national ParaNordic and biathlon team!
The flight was long however we got there in the evening so it was right to be to sleep on the jet lag! We arrived 2 full days before the before the racing would begin so we got our fair share of time to feel the course out!
The first race on the schedule was the 1.4km Classic sprint race. This was a very exciting race as the course was fairly flat but had a killer hill only at beginning.
The qualifying rounds were interval starts and as I haven’t raced enough to get any significant seeding I was in the top few to go. I really enjoyed the qualifying and canada landed in the top 3. I was 3rd. to my team mate Brittany Hudak and a Russian 5/7 ( no poles skier). Semi finals came and the line up was CAN ,CAN, JPN, RUS. The strategy was to get ahead and hold the pace . In this heat top 3 went to the final. It was an Ramey lead for both Canadians and Russian and we got to enjoy the course a bit more then usual as we got to the line.
The finals came and unfortunately for canada the Russian 5/7 girl had a 43 second advantage over the field making it almost impossible to chase down. Brittany gave it her all but fell short and took the silver, I managed to grab myself 4th place behind the Japanese competitor! It was overall a super positive day!
The second day of racing was the middle distance skate race (7.5km). This race for me personally was my “A” race because I have been finding my skating to be coming together faster then classic. I have raced more middle distance skate races this year and was ready and confident to give it a shot for the podium!! Right of the start of the first loop I was able to grab 3rd place and hold on for dear life!! My coach Robing Mckeever was yelling splits to me at the top of a hill and at one point I had 4 people within 5 seconds of me. Let’s just say.. I was slightly scared haha I gutted it out to finish a solid 3rd only 10 seconds behind second place . this was a real confidence booster for me as I felt like I had finally found a new ” racking gear”.
After this race I had two days off before the middle distance biathlon race! This was my first biathlon race since cable Wisconsin January 2015 so I didn’t have much expectation other then it had to be better then last year. It was thank goodness!!! The shooting was consistent except for an unfortunate extended trip to the penalty lap on the second bout of shooting but I skied hard and handed myself in 5th.
Overall Korea was a great experience to see where all my hard work in the off season is gunna take me. It opened my eyes to new culture and lessons to take on to my next race adventure!
Speaking of that! I get to be reunited with my Wingers and Wheelers in Finsterau, Germany next week for 10 days of racing in a World Cup! I’m so excited to see how my fellow team mates do again the rest of the world! We have all come so far in the last year and have just about 2 years to get ourselves on the 2018 start line!
Below are some pictures from Korea! Of the course and of the scenery!
2017 world championships are being held there so we get one last kick at the can on the course befor the Paralympics!
Thank you to all my friends and Family who were cheering for me when I was away! I heard everyone of you and appreciated everyword!
I cannot thank you enough! Without your support I wouldn’t be were I am right now! I’m so blessed!
Until next time!
Happy training!! 😄
THE WINGERS AND WHEELERS 