Nationals 50k

full results
The start of the race was a total disaster. As the field left the starting grid, I was in the middle and didn't have much room to skate. All of a sudden, the red suit in front of me goes down and I crash into him. I realized my ski came off but it turned out the NIS binding had ripped off. Once the stampede ended I could undo the binding from my boot and slide it back on the ski in the most forward position.
After 2 laps I moved the binding back to the middle of the ski and they worked much better after that.
I ended up 27th overall, 22nd Canadian and 12:51 back of the winner, Gord Jewett. Noah Hoffman, the guy who caused my mishap ended up 3rd.

Nationals Classic Sprint Day

final results
We decided to use kickwax. My qualifier went ok, but was off balance on the herring bone pitch heading into the finish and I didn't feel totally gassed at the end.
I was 22nd in qualifying among seniors.
My quarterfinal had Crooks, Lenes, Stephen, Sandau, Pletcher and me. I was a bit behind after the start, but ahead of Sandau. I fought really hard in the downhill and flats to get back on. The far left on the last uphill turned out to be a good choice and I passed Stephen and held onto 4th in the heat. This was good enough for 19th overall and 14th Canadian. I wasn't far back at the end, but I can't say I was close to qualifying either. From my heat, Crooks and Lenes made the final, finishing 1st and 6th, and Pletcher was a lucky loser and grabbed 2nd in the B final.
Overall a decent sprinting result for me at Nationals.

Nationals 15km classic

results
My skis weren't fast enough. I just didn't get the right thickness and length of klister. It's tough to get it exactly right. You needed the grip to climb the hills but with too much drag you lost a ton of time on the gliding sections. I was well back but actually had less guys ahead of me than I thought I would.

Nationals 10km Skate race

results
I tried to start out at a good pace but not too fast. I caught my 15 sec. man Greer and he followed me until we were caught by Brian. We lapped through the stadium together but then Brian's pace was too tough to follow up the steep climb. Eventually Greer and I caught Gord, and I tried to keep the pace high heading to the finish. A fall on the last tough corner cost me a top 10. I ended up 14th.

Nationals Relay 2009

final results semi final results
I was once again paired with Luke and the technique was skate.
In the semi we battled with an all brother team from Nakkertok. I was able to go by Aidan Lennie going in to the finish, but it turned out we both had lucky loser times. The Lennies' time was fractions of a second faster than a Foothills team that didn't make it from the other semi.
In the final we ended up last. Good enough for 11th place overall and 10th Canadian team.

Nationals 15km Skate

It snowed hard from the time I arrived at the site. We were told to be aggressive and get slower skiers to move out of the way, because there was only one well skied in line. I started out and my skis felt rocket. The best line was hard packed from the skiers going over it, but in some places there was huge ruts and big holes on the downhills. I didn't know the first downhill, because I had not ahad a chance to ski it ahead of time. Luckily, I caught Chris Cook on the first uphill, who had already skied a lap and he helped to show me the lines on the downhills. He was also setting a good pace, but most importantly he showed me a rhythm that suited the conditions. Today was not the day to be a glider like I usually am. The first 5k lap seemed to go by quickly as Cooker cleared the slower traffic out of the way for both of us.

I was debating whether to go by Cook and see what would happen. At some point somebody yelled "Go by him", although I forget exactly when and I don't know who it was, but it did affect my thought process a bit, because that is what I was already thinking. My plan was to go harder up the hills each lap. So, on the second big climb of the lap 2, I went by Cook and got a gap. But, after that push, I seemed to tighten up, and by the stadium Cook had passed me back and was hammering for the finish. I still had one lap to go.

It was still slowing heavily and now there was no longer any traffic on the course. My skis were feeling slower and my legs were heavy, and I started getting negative thoughts. I hadn't got a split in a while and that is usually a sign that you are not challenging for a top 15. I lost my concentration and tripped on a flat section. As I got going again, I could tell I was no longer moving well, and that just made me more frustrated. Nish and Gaustad were going well and blew by me. On the last uphill Stefan caught me and then stepped on my ski as he passed. So I stalled and chased as hard as I could into the finish. I ended up 24th overall, 15th Canadian, so it was not the result I was looking for. My laps times were 12:29.2, 13:07.4 and 14:14.7, which is obviously not good pacing. The strange thing is, the first lap and a half felt easy. I was quite annoyed and it felt like I had thrown away a good result.


Results

Nationals Sprint Relay

Luke and I finished 3rd in our Semi and I felt like I didn't have to bury myself to do it. We also had the advantage of the longest break before the Final. My skis were good, but I noticed Stefan was gaining on the downhill by taking fast lines through the corners.


Final Results  Semi Final Results