COMMENT: An ode to Rossland's under-sung sports heroes
By Adrian Barnes
Look out your window. It's not hard to imagine, this week, that it's still winter out there. In fact, I almost think I can see a skim of fresh snow on the top of Mt. Roberts on the cusp of the weekend when it's supposed to be safe to start planting our gardens. Sigh. Consequently, a little late-season ski news should suit all our moods as we sit by our firesides and sip our hot cocoa (slightly bitter).
This week, eight BC nordic skiers were named to the National Ski Team (NST) or National Development Centres (NDCs). It's worth stopping and taking some pride for a moment in the fact that three of these elite athletes are from Rossland.
George Grey was named to the Senior World Cup Team, Rebecca Reid was named to the Junior Team and the Alberta World Cup NDC, while Geoffrey Richards was named to the Callaghan Valley NDC.
Three out of eight...that's 38%. Not bad considering Rossland contains about .01% of BC's population! If my math is to be trusted, that means we're doing about 20 000 times better than the rest of the province in this area.
Of course Rossland is more well-known for its downhill skiing, and fair enough: in many ways it's Rossland's reason for existence. After all, without downhill skiing, this would likely be just another ghost town along the Dewdney Trail.
But success at nordic skiing is something pretty special. The athletes who compete in this sport are incredibly disciplined and devoted athletes. Not to demean our fine downhill community, but there are rumours that one can excel at that sport while under the influence of various arcane herbs. Shocking, I know. Not so in the nordic world. To reach the top in that incredibly taxing sport, you have to treat your body as a temple and have a mind tough as iron to boot. To even be in the room with a smoker for five minutes would probably ruin your season.
So let's all say congratulations to Geoffrey, Rebecca, and George (and to Black Jack's departing coach, Chris Manhard, who did so much to bring the younger athletes along and raise the profile of the club around the province). Toast them with your cocoa mug...then pray for sun.
NOTE: The complete list of successful BC athletes is below:
