CHINA RIDGE HOSTs SLOVENIAN TEAM
Nat Brown is a three-time Olympic coach in cross-country skiing, and has coached at seven World Championships and seven Junior World Championships. He was the first American to take over ski service for a foreign country (Slovenia). He taught at the Overlake School in Redmond, Washington for 16 years, where he was also cross-country ski coach. He is the author of The Complete Guide to Cross-Country Ski Preparation (The Mountaineers Books – now in a Russian edition). He published Nordic Update for nine years, then edited “The Racer” – a magazine-within-the-magazine in Cross Country Skier. He has been a frequent contributor to The Master Skier. He was the owner/operator of Nordic Ultratune, a freelance ski prep and stone-grinding shop, for six years. He is currently working on a new book on x-c skiing, under the working title “A Performance Guide to x-c Skiing.” His loves are classical music (he tortures a viola), good books, and his ranch in British Columbia.
HOW AND WHAT
VITAL LINK TO SLOVEneS:
Nat Brown
SLOVENIAN TEAM LEADER:
Marco Gracer
SLOVENIAN TEAM:
PRESS RELEASES:
China Ridge Project 2010 (below)
THE TRAINING TRAILS
January 9th, 2009 Slovenians arrived.
See details.
NAT BROWN & CHINA RIDGE, PRINCETON, BC
CHINA RIDGE, PRINCETON BC PROJECT 2010 PRESS RELEASES
The next three years should be called The Years of the Anniversaries. This year, 2008, British Columbia turns 150 years old, in 2009 the China Ridge Cross-Country Ski Association turns 20 – and in 2010 – also the Olympic Year – Princeton turns 150!
A few months ago Ernie Lawrence started talking about a great idea. With all that is going on, and with the Olympics coming to Vancouver — why not find a way in which Princeton could celebrate the Olympics, and its anniversary?
Subsequently, a group was formed to investigate the possibility of Princeton hosting and supporting a foreign Olympic team. Most teams come over well in advance of the Olympics in order to train, acclimatize, and recover from jet lag – and Princeton has so much to offer in terms out outdoor sports, and cross-country skiing in particular.
China Ridge Cross-Country Ski Association has taken the lead, and is proud to announce “China Ridge Project 2010” and has invited the Slovene Olympic Cross-Country Ski Team to train with us this coming winter, and before the Olympic Games. The Slovenes have officially and enthusiastically taken up the invitation.
The steering group members are John Akerly, Nat Brown, Kelley Cook, Bob Coyne, John Hughes, Ernie and Marilyn Lawrence, and Lyle Thomas. Please speak with any of these if you have questions or offers of support!
Trail preparation is already under way with the construction of a warming hut at China Ridge, and improvements on Nat Brown’s course on the Princeton - Summerland Road. The athletes will be housed privately.
Princeton’s first chance to greet the Slovenes will be in late July-early August, when Marko Gracer (Team Leader) will visit the area with his family and have a look at accommodations and skiing possibilities on offer.
The first athletes will arrive in January 2009, preparatory to the Pre-Olympics (every Olympic venue is required to host a pre-Olympic event so teams may check out arrangements and pre-view venues; in the case of the cross-country skiers, this will be a full-on World Cup event at Whistler’s Nordic venue). They will be in the area for about a week, living in private homes and skiing at China Ridge and at Nat Brown’s ski course on the Princeton - Summerland Road.
The main event will be in January of 2010, when the Team will be with us for a week to ten days, just before moving into the Olympic Village.
Slovenia and Nordic Skiing
The Slovene Ski Team inherits one of the oldest competitive ski traditions in Central Europe. One of their main training areas is Planica/Ratece which sports the world’s largest ski flying hill, and hosts regular World Cup jumping.
Marko Gracer is the long-time Head Coach and Team Leader of the Slovene ski team, and will be leading the team in the 2009 pre-Olympics, as well as at the 2010 Olympics. Marko has visited Princeton before, and Nataša Laèen, Matej Sokliè and Peter Klofutar have all trained in the Princeton area in previous years, as have Aleš Dolhar and Marjan Zagoršek. Slovenia and Princeton have a long unofficial history of athletic association!
It is impossible to say at this stage just who will be on the 2010 Slovene Olympic Team – Trials will be in the early winter of 2009. But the athletes who will be coming to Princeton will be world-class skiers with a chance at top-ten finishes and a long history of solid success. The team will be on the China Ridge trails regularly, and plans are afoot for at least one afternoon to ski with Princeton-area skiers. Princeton will show the Slovenes what Canadian hospitality is all about, and send the team on to the Olympics well-rested, well-trained, and ready to do their best. We’ll be watching them!
