On the Move

Out of all the years to go to U23’s, I certainly picked one of the best of them. Not only did Praz De Lys provide some of the best trails, scenery, and skiing we have ever seen, but the 2009 world also delivered the best results ever seen too. On the last day our entire U23 Men’s team posted top 10 results. Brent 10^th, Fred 8^th, Len 6^th and Alex 5^th. It was pretty exciting to see. Julienne Nury, a Junior, also came 7^th overall. The women faired well too. Allyson Marshall finished 13^th and I think we had 4 other athletes in the top 20. It was a good day!! These sprint races kicked off the World juniors and ended the U23 races.

It was nice to go out and cheer and soak up some sun for the first couple days before getting back into some long distance skiing. Phillipe, the wonderful chef from the restaurant, and his staff put on a luncheon outside for us. The loaf of bread they served must have weighed nearly 20 pounds!

We have now left Praz De Lys and are staying at a small hotel in the Mountains in Austria. It’s an awesome place with wonderful views, great food, and pretty good skiing. When we first arrived there was no snow to be seen anywhere. It felt like spring outside and we thought we’d have to move the following day. To our surprise, we awoke to a snow storm outside that delivered 30cm! Skiing in the ungroomed powder was, well, I don;;r know how to explain it… a fun pain in the ass??!! Yesterday’s afternoon workout consisted of a half hour ski and a half hour toboggan- pretty much the best workout all year. Eric and Sacha pestered the groomer to groom for us the next day. I wish I had brought my camera that day because the lookout from the top of the trail system was gorgeous!

Right now it’s raining/ snowing, so I hope all this fresh snow will just keep accumulating and not melt. The team stays here for another couple days and then we head off to Germany for our first set of OPA races.