Mother Nature is not planning on making it easy for the local nordic ski contingent to excel during the course of the 2024-2025 race season.
“Bring it On” is clearly the rally cry as defiant athletes stationed both in northern Ontario and elsewhere in the province / country continue to earn accolades, reaching heights that bode well for the future of the sport in this region.
Sophie Tremblay has split her time throughout much of her 22 years to date between Sudbury and Ottawa, born here but raised in the nation’s capital before selecting Laurentian University as her post-secondary institution of choice - right around the time the entire family made the move back to the nickel city.
So it is as a proud Voyageur that Tremblay will make her way to Pregelato (Italy), site of the 2025 FISU Winter Games nordic ski competition, the 2006 Winter Olympics site located some 60 kilometres from the city of Turin, host to the international festival of athletics that will run from January 13th to the 23rd.
This marks Tremblay’s second FISU appearance, the other coming in 2023 in Lake Placid, at a time when the soon-to-be Psychology graduate was striking a slightly different balance in her life.
“I think for me, my focus has shifted; I’m more focused on school,” suggested the daughter of a former varsity skier.
Thankfully, for as much as Tremblay still has dreams and goals to pursue on the snowy trails, the core motivation that drives her passion remains pretty much the same as it was with the precocious young girl from the family that were indoctrinated to cross-country skiing from a very early age.
“Skiing is something that I enjoy so much,” said Tremblay, who is set to take part in her third set of OUA Championships in late February in Sault Ste Marie (she lost one to Covid and one to injuries). “I enjoy racing and I have so many friends who are on the race circuit. I love to race and I love to compete and push myself - and that’s why I do it.”
For as much as Tremblay will soon count herself among the very small minority of FISU athletes who will have competed in multiple sets of Games, her entry was hardly a guarantee. The eldest of four children in a very sports-minded household needed to post top-end results at qualifying races in Gatineau earlier this month in order to be selected to the squad that is 16 students strong, split equally between men and women.
That said, there is value to her experience two years ago in upstate New York.
“I think this time, I know what to expect,” said Tremblay. “I am going in a lot more confident. I also feel better about my fitness this time than the previous time.”
Her Lake Placid journey tempered by the fact that she took ill in the week prior to the 2023 Games, still racing though not at her best, Tremblay is understandably anxious to make the most of all aspects of her return to FISU.
“At our race site, it’s just skiing and biathlon, but we are staying in accommodations with a lot of other downhill skiers and snowboarders. It will be a great opportunity to talk to them about their sport and their country when we’re not on the trails.”
Tremblay will not be the only local product doing some high level racing on nordic ski trails next month - not by a longshot.
Veterans of the National Team Development Centre in Thunder Bay, Lo-Ellen Park graduates Kendyn Mashinter and Max Mahaffy are eagerly gearing up for the Nordiq Canada Selection Trials in Thunder Bay (January 2nd to 6th), the qualifying event for both the World Junior Championships and World Under-23 Championships in early February in Schilpario (Italy).
Coming off very solid performances at the opening races of 2024-2025 in Sovereign Lakes (B.C.) - Mahaffy would finish fifth (skate sprint qualifier) with Mashinter not much further back in the 7.5km skate, placing ninth - the local tandem are hoping to capitalize on their final year of eligibility in the U23 division, fighting for a coveted spot with a crew that will take to the international stage in the coming weeks.
Thunder Bay is also the site of the second set of Ontario Cup races this year, with a healthy group of Sudburians expected to be in the field. Included among the group that participated at O-Cup #1 / 2024 Candy Cane Cup in Gatineau in mid-December were Walden XC racers Callum Wiss, Russell Joiner, Finlay Cuza and Maija Nener, Kivi-Para representative Konan Blaise Koko as well as LEP product and Carleton Ravens varsity team member Kaeden Ward.
A huge shoutout to para nordic (visually impaired) Sudbury skier Logan Lariviere and coach Patti Kitler as the 18 year old athlete made his international debut in Vuokatti (Finland), part of the Para Nordic World Cup field on hand.
For the first time since 2014, Team Canada was able to field an athlete in every classification at a Cup race as Madison Mullin (Fergus, ON) and Charles Lecours (Trois-Rivieres, PQ) joined Lariviere as newcomers to the squad in Scandanavia.
Lastly, the tradition that is the Woolly Hippo is set to take place at the Walden Trails in Naughton on Sunday, January 12th, with full event information available by visiting waldenxc.ca.
