Surprisingly good conditions for the Cookie Race
Cheryl wins a silver medal in the 24K Racer event at the Cookie Race. Presenting the medal is Sean Huggins-Chan from the Foothills Nordic Ski Club. Feb 27, 2010
It was a wonderful day of cross-country skiing fun in Kananaskis Country yesterday. This was the warmest day I can ever remember for the annual Kananaskis Ski Marathon, more affectionately referred to as the “Cookie Race.” Race-time air temperature was around zero, and it warmed up to +5 by mid-afternoon.
Considering how warm it’s been, the trails were in pretty nice shape, but with such warm conditions there was lots of consternation and pre-race guessing about wax. Many waxing recipes were being suggested for optimum performance. Some skiers had arrived at Pocaterra with Klister already on their skis and from what I heard, it worked reasonably well. The Lifesport waxers were suggesting “Start purple.” I was able to raid Cheryl’s well-stocked wax kit(only for this one occasion) and used Swix VR-55 which is a silver/purple wax rated for 0 to -3. It performed very well. I had good grip throughout the whole race without any icing.
After a day of heavy use, I imagine the trails will be somewhat glazed today(Sunday), and it will take something pretty sticky to get good grip. If you’re descending Packers, be prepared to encounter some areas of “sugar snow” on a few of the downhills.
I’m extremely proud of Cheryl for winning a silver medal in her 24K Racer category. My friend Peter, who is in the same category as me, beat me by four minutes and won a bronze.
Peter and Cheryl display their bronze and silver medals from the Kananaskis Ski Marathon(Cookie Race) in front of the Pocaterra Hut. Feb 27, 2010
If you are a regular reader of SkiHere.ca, you’ll know that one month ago Peter, Cheryl and I (known as team TNT) won our category at the Lake Louise to Banff loppet. Now you know who the weak link is on that team!
Congratulations to all who participated. You can see the full results here .
Next Sunday, March 7, is the Lake Louise Loppet
