Skinouk Rollerski Race 2023

Skinouk has kindly been one of the only clubs in Canada to organize a rollerski race consistently every autumn for the last couple of years, but surprisingly, this is my first time participating. For my category of U20, we raced a 10k skate (2x5km) mass start (my fav!) along with the Open women and U18 girls.

I was coming off a tough training camp this week with a lot of intensity and volume so the race for me personally was harder than usual. I took it as a nice intense way to end a good training block, although to be perfectly honest the cash incentive for the winner did make me want to do my best.

After a bit of a rough start (we were not warned what the starting horn was going to sound like 😑) I came out of the starting stretch in 5th and slowly worked my way to the front within the first 500m. I took the lead up the first hill (not my brightest moment) and then safely tucked myself in for the downhill (tactics improving?!?). I soon realized I did not have enough energy to get away from the pack and make it on my own so I decided to be smarter about my race tactics. I stuck near the front and tried to control the race so that I would have good energy for the finish. In the second lap, I managed to break away with Helen (see below) and then after a good fight on the last hill before the down to the finish I managed to get away from her as well.

Honestly, even at this point, I wasn't very confident in my victory, but the thought of winning pushed me forward and I ended up reaching the finish line 1st, winning with a solid 10s lead ahead of Helen. All the girls racing put up an amazing fight and I was so happy to ski with them, it was very motivating and I definitely could not have pushed myself like that had I been racing alone.

I was proud of myself that even after such a challenging week I was capable of performing quite well, but I'm hoping that next time I'll be fresher and just as successful!

Stay tuned for Lake Placid next weekend!!!! (If I live through the climb to the castle experience - race edition)

(Featuring the girlies happy and successful!!)