Stewart headed for nationals

Canmore Special Olympian Shane Stewart is once again bound for the Canadian national championships.

The speedy cross-country skier brought home three gold medals from the Alberta Special Olympics in Leduc and Edmonton, winning the one, two and five kilometre classic cross-country races.

“It feels good. I said I’d try my hardest to make it to nationals, and I did,” Stewart said.

The win means he’s now bound for the 2012 Canadian nationals in St. Albert, where he’ll try to qualify for the World Special Olympic games in South Korea. The Canadian team picks a certain number of athletes from each province, and the wins mean Stewart has a good chance of attending those games.

Stewart, who trains six days a week, can often be found running trails, burning around the Olympic route at the Canmore Nordic Centre or running uphill – while also working at Safeway.

He says he prefers the 5 km races, but has no qualms with the 1 km race.

“I can go all out for longer… but on the one-km, I can go all out, on fire, for a short distance,” Stewart said.

Despite his strong results, there’s no guarantee he’ll make the trip to South Korea, as the Special Olympics has a variety of selection criteria. He’s attended the world games once before, and the 27-year-old would love to compete again. Based on his results, Stewart is clearly the top seeded Special Olympic cross-country skier in the province.

The hard-working skier also competed in the Cookie Race in Kananaskis Country two weeks ago. He missed the start of the race and had to play catch up with the pack, but still managed to finish fifth in the 15 km tour.

“At the start, I took it pretty easy, but then I pushed it at the end,” Stewart said.

He attributes his faster times to training with coach John Reeves, and training with Neil Fox at Lifeworks gym.

“My double poling has improved, and my step turns,” Stewart said.

In order to prepare for the nationals, he’s going to slow down and focus on some cross-country running before ramping up his training again in spring.

He’s also planning to volunteer with the Rocky Mountain Adaptive Sports Centre, where he’ll help coach cross-country athletes. That means participating in the Para-adaptive Nordic event on March 12 as part of the ski nationals events.

While the selection process for the world team is still a year away, his mother Gail knows who should be there.

“He’s at the top. No one can touch him,” she said.