Cardrona Valley Blog Members

Congratulations to Culverden's Phil Garland

2008-06-10T10:19:00.001+12:00

Congratulations to Culverden's Phil Garland for winning The Tui Award for the Best Folk Album 2007 which he was presented with in January this year. Phil often plays each Oct. at the Cardrona Folk Festival ...more>>

(Via Tiinn)

Appointment of new head coach for 2008

2008-05-18T10:51:00.001+12:00

NZNSDA are excited to announce that we have secured the services of Alexei Sotskov as head coach for the 2008 season.

Alexei is one of the top junior coaches in the USA, and has held a number of senior coaching positions in Eastern USA since 1992 including his current position as head coach and snow sports director at Vermont Academy. He holds sports coaching qualifications from Russia and is a former member of the USSR Nordic team.

Alexei will add a new dimension to our programmes this year, and will be assisting NZNSDA in other administrative and management roles including coaching clinics and event management training. He will arrive in mid June and as well as running all of NZNSDA's programmes will be available for private and group instruction.

New web site facility

2008-02-10T23:25:00.001+13:00

iCommunicate and MacAssist Wanaka are absolutely rapt to announce that today test files for a shopping cart went live for awhile. After more testing we'll be in business - maybe later this week. Not just Mac goodies on offer too, but books, art...

Cheers

Donald

More Local Club races and a visit to a lovely club field

2008-02-07T10:17:00.001+13:00

More news from the NZ cross country ski team [based in Wanaka and at the Snow Farm Cardrona] currently in Canada...

As forecast, it has been a busy few days of skiing. Tips Up Cup saw a sunny sort of day at the near by Sovereign Lake trails, about minus 7 for skiing and good conditions for classic skiing again/ the race was free style so all the kids choose to go skate with Jenny Connolly and I sticking with the tried and true classic method. A lovely rolling and gentle course with a bit of a bite at the end with a short, sharp hill.. nothing to the junior members but a final work out for Jen and myself.

Tips Up Cup results are downloadable/viewable at this link

You will note Samantha Williamson didn't race that day and Sarah and Katie wanted to do a longer distance so joined Anna in the longer 5 km skate which was for the older age group, with Anna first and Sarah second; also taking home first place medals were Mark in his age group, and another senior member of our support team, plus Matt and Andy 2nd, 3rd for their age group. As it was a club race, their wasn't a huge field but a race non the less.. the medals were a real delight but sadly wont make it home 'thru Customs as they are made of shortbread with 1st lined in icing! [We have photos 'tho]

Sunday also anther clearer day with glimpses of sun and the hint of a wind.... the race on day before was really a bit of a warm up as this day, most of the team did a minimum of 15 kms, Sarah included. Katie was having her off day and rested at home but all the rest out there doing a great job. Note Well, the TOTAL distance skied by any team was 75 km, so if only 2 in the team, that was 32.5 km each. I will need to update you with who did what distances as I was away at the Biathlon and it is not clear from the results page at www.silverstar75.ca; needless to say, a lot of skiing was done and all finished by 12.30pm. The team and supporters were very lucky later that day at the prize giving as at least half took home great door prizes of Nordic ski-related gear from local sports shops in the area; with great cheers from the crowd, the highlight for the team was getting vouchers to Domino Pizza won by John and Antoine. [Give them food and they are so easy to please!!]

My visit with the Biathlon Bears group was very informative with a chance to chat with shooting coach, Mike Schmok and other parent supporters about equipment options and rifle choices they had made, see some new designs for stepped supports for younger athletes to rest their rifle on for prone shooting, and also see the wide range of biathlete from age 8 'thru to age 16. This club has been using the Biathlon Bears program now for three years and it has great benefits to move the young biathletes 'thru a graduated program over this time.

Monday was not a rest day as hoped by some team members as we headed one hour north east to the Larch Hills Nordic trails in the Salmon Arm area; a really lovely club filed with a rustic cosy log cabin to warm up in and eat lunch. Some adventurous members such as John, Antoine, Sam and Anna headed off for a big loop of about 15 or more kms while the lads thought they would 'go west a ways' to find some wildlife such as a moose.. .. thankfully, no joy for them. This ski area had predominantly groomed trails for classic stlye skiing as we are seeing this as the main recreational style used here due to the colder weather; we now appreciate how fast the kiwi snow is with our relatively warmer winters that favor the skate style.

Feb 5th and another light snow day with powder of at least 8-10 cm, -9 again with a slight wind chill. Team training involved a ski for some over to the Sovereign Lake system, using the connecting trails from Silver Star. Not too far as the crow flies and it gives any one staying in this area another set of trails to choose from not far from your door if staying here in the Silver Star resort. We have been so lucky to 'stay put' here for our last fortnight and share the homely accommodation in the Puzzle House, a great place to rent and really great location re access to lifts, trails and the village shops.

Part of the winter carnival had a great tour that Jenn and I took too, with a snow shoe trip through the Ghost Forest for a delicious lunch finish at the Wild Woodsmans Hut; it was Ladies Day out and a lot of fun and a chance to experience snow shoeing. the real fun part was learning to Glissade which was basically Bum Sliding down snow shoots.. heaps of laughs and something we both tried with success. The tour finished with an interesting sleigh ride, being pulled behind Fred and Barney, the large Belgian horses that seem related to Clydesdales but smaller; aromatherapy was provided free of charge, and great jokes told by the sleigh driver as we proceed along the Bridal Path to the village. The day ended with a surprise visit from kiwi Roger Deacon, who had flown the coop from his Invercargill GP practice to take in some BC winter air and skiing; great to see him and a chance for him to ask the team first hand about this great month we are having in BC.

Wednesday is final day here and pack up day so I am guessing a few last bits of shopping, skating at the pond and maybe a game of Shinny or two; John Hogg is determined to head off on the last of his trails to take in the Round the Mountain route, with a couple of the older kids in tow; packing and sorting will be the order of the day for the remainder in readiness for our journey north to 100 mile House and a chance to billet with some local families who love Nordic skiing like us. We are keeping a watchful eye on the weather as the temperature warms up but more snow flurries forecast with big chance of rain on our return to Vancouver for Saturday night; its the last of our races that day as the team will enter another BC cup classic style race in the series. All are looking sharp and notably fitter, with big improvements in their classic style so we wait with baited breath for their results; what ever the outcome, it will be another great opportunity for them and another race to mark off in their training diaries for this truly exciting year.

My appropriate end for today, again from the walls of Bean to Cup cafe house...

"We do not remember days, we remember memories".

Ciao, Liz.

Another Week in Silverstar

2008-02-02T12:29:00.001+13:00

Our NZ x/c ski team trains in the Cardrona Valley in NZ winters, so here we have their latest news from Canada:

"Weather has been warming up towards minus 9 and with it we get a few light snow flurries, which makes sking really great. We are tending to stay mostly with the classic style of skiing as it is easier to move the skis at this cold temperature, however last night the team got to join the Silverstar team for skate drills down at the Sovereign Lake nordic area stadium. It was amazing to watch as it was about the size of our rugby field and the lanes are groomed and spread out across the arena area in rows of about 10; the kids would dash up and down doing 15 second sprints , 20 times over the hour; Katie and Sarah were witht he younger grouping going around part of the light trail, doing 6 uphill sprints of 30 secs. Yes, remember it is dark here at about 5.20pm so it was already night and temp was about minus 10; they had about 30 young athletes out for training aged from 10 through to 19, I think, and this is their elite traing squad who are noticably featuring in the top 5 of all BC cup results to date. One member is an up and coming star biathlete and skier, who is keen to visit New Zealand, according to her Mum, so keep watching out for this name in Canadian's youth results: Julia Ransom.

Coach Antoine had a great talk with the group back in Whistler about how important it was to work as a team, respect each other, and make sure they all have fun on this trip... this was very confirming for me to hear as Team Manager, and the kids are really taking this on board; hence we are having lots of fun in our kitchen as each night we get the team to pair up with another member to treat us to their culinary delights. So far we have had some interesting meals such as Prawn Stir Fry, Spinach and Blue Cheese Pie, Peanut Butter Curry, but last night topped it all as Mark and Matt decided we needed no vegetables and very little savory in our meals by dishing up Pancakes! Lots of Pancakes the size of your face,...such toppings as icecream, blueberries, sugar and lemon, and of course, plenty of Maple Syrup. [We did manage to sneak in a bit of bacon to keep the savory factor in, but they even experiemented with chocholate pancakes!! I passed on that one but it was a fine effort, if not quite meeting all the daily food groups required].

More snow training now as tomorrow Tips Up Cup @ Sovereign Lake, and Sunday is the 75km Teams race around Silver Star to raise funds for their local hospital. I also hope to join the local team to see some biathlon training on Sunday to add to my experience @Callaghan Valley with the Biathlon Bears program, so more news in a few days as it will get kind of busy here. Today is start fo Vernon Winter Carnival too so up here will be snow scultping to watch plus heaps of other things too.

Leaving you with another thought for the day fromthe walls of Bean to Cup :

Be glad of life because it gives you teh chance to love, to work, to play and to look up at the stars. Henry Van Dyke."

(Via NZ Nordic Sports Development Member Blog.)

Jan 3rd 2008 half marathon at the Snow Farm

2008-01-06T16:09:00.003+13:00

Jan 3rd 2008 half marathon at the Snow Farm: "A few images from the fund raiser. Conditions were fine and cool, but strong winds were evident on the exposed sections.

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(Via NZ Nordic Sports Development Member Blog.)

Jan 3rd 2008 half marathon at the Snow Farm - the runners

2008-01-06T16:09:00.001+13:00

Jan 3rd 2008 half marathon at the Snow Farm - the runners: "

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(Via NZ Nordic Sports Development Member Blog.)

Cardrona Vintage Fair 2007

2007-11-17T10:51:00.000+13:00

The Cardrona Vintage Fair is back and preparation for the 25th
November [2007] are in full swing.

The Cardrona Hotel garden with the old cottage type ambience is once
again the perfect background for the the vintage dress competition,
along with all the stalls.

Cardrona Hotel - The Great Speight's Beer Delivery Party

2007-05-25T19:59:00.000+12:00

The Cardrona Hotel will host "The Great Speight's Beer Delivery Party" on Thursday, 31 May 2007 from 5 pm till late.

Pints will be $3 all night and McGregor's will sponsor heaps of pies. There will be live music
with Jamie Roberston's band " Highway 69", a Southern Man dress competition with spot prizes to win and a Cardrona pie eating contest.

As a responsible host Peter will offer free drinks to sober drivers and a free shuttle back to Wanaka at 10.30 and 11.30 pm. Bookings can be made in advance at the Cardrona Hotel on 443 8153.