Challenge a set-up for worlds

Two Canadian national ski team members used the Rocky Mountain Challenge at the Canmore Nordic Centre to jumpstart stalled seasons on Sunday, Jan 30.

Chandra Crawford and Brian McKeever both handily won their respective races against several of the Bow Valley’s top athletes (and a few national team cohorts), and hope the results translate to better results for the rest of the year.

“All I had to do today is keep pushing. When it got hard, I pushed harder. I really enjoyed being out there with the masters and juniors – it’s fun,” said Crawford.

She won the 10 kilometre classic race with a time of 29:27.1, three minutes ahead of second place biathlete Karen Messenger.

Crawford’s highlight of this season came in a sprint relay, where she partnered with Dasha Gaiazova to win a world cup bronze and a fifth-place finish two weeks ago in Europe. However, individually, she hasn’t made it out of a semi-final yet this season, and is tempering her expectations for the upcoming world championships in Oslo, Norway on Feb. 24.

“I feel excited to go to world championships, but nervous because I haven’t raced a lot in the last six weeks. I’ve been training a lot in Canmore and I kind of lost my race edge,” Crawford said.

She’s aiming to finish six races in the next three weeks, plus amp up her training routine. That includes three races in Kelowna.

“I need to focus on making it hurt in the races to get my top shape and having fun,” Crawford said. “I want to be there, shooting for the stars, but realistically I haven’t made it through a semi this year, so that should be a goal.”

Perianne Jones and Brooke Gossling will join Crawford and Gaiazova at the world championships, and the team has a chance at a strong relay performance. Crawford said she’ll have to sit down with coach Justin Wadsworth to discuss handing over the anchor position to Gaiazova.

“Maybe Dasha should be the anchor because she’s such an amazing double poler. We’ll play with it,” Crawford said.

The ebullient Crawford says she has to stay loose to be successful and, while she wants to get back on the world cup podium, she has to temper her expectations.

“I had some struggles in putting a lot of pressure on myself, but I have to be realistic. Sara Renner is the holder of Canada’s only world championship medal ever, so we’ll see.” Crawford said.

McKeever on the other hand, will have to finish the rest of the season without his guide and coach Robin McKeever. The elder brother underwent surgery recently and will miss the remainder of the season.

“Rob is out for the year. Hopefully he’ll be coaching by the end of the year. He’s focused on getting healthy,” McKeever said. “He was going fast this year and getting fast. Both of us are still getting faster. We’re optimistic for the next few years.”

The visually impaired skier is in discussions with a few other skiers to work with him at world championships. In the meantime, he’ll ski loppets in Europe, pursuing his interest in long distance ski races. He won the men’s 10 km race in a time of 25:24.0, edging out Gerard Garnier and Erik Carleton.

“I try to hit loppets when I can because there’s no stress and they’re fun. It’s a fun atmosphere,” McKeever said, who also praised the volunteers at the Rocky Mountain Challenge.

The local race allowed him to focus on speed.

“I’m getting better and getting some speed back. The next month will tell how the year will go,” he said. “I need some speed for sure. The distance is never a factor for me. I’m working on the acceleration. I’m trying to get that short distance speed. The thing that can hurt me is the acceleration.”

Both Crawford and McKeever will likely return to Canmore for Canadian nationals in March.

Other winners include: Pam Hauck, women’s 30 km relay; David Poffenroth, men’s 30 km classic, Sarah Daitch, mixed 30 km relay; Christy Kelley, women’s 45 plus 10 km classic; Steve Sellers, men’s 45 plus 10 km classic; Ulrike Martin, women’s 45 plus freestyle; Rhonda Jewett, women’s 19-45 freestyle; Kim Poole, men’s 45 plus freestyle; Gord Jewett, men’s 19-44 freestyle; Darya Sepandj, girls 16-18 freestyle, Liam McInerney, men’s 16-18 10 km freestyle.

National team members Devon Kershaw, Ivan Babikov and Brent McMurtry also competed in the Rocky Mountain Challenge, but all posted DNFs