by Marilyn Suke

As always, Georgian Bay Nordic (GBN) has started training hard for the upcoming season, looking forward to the challenges ahead.

We are currently a team of about twenty keen athletes ages 10 to 18 years, but we have room for more! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would just like to try us out for a few weeks.

Currently we train Tuesday’s and will add Thursday’s after Thanksgiving. For our younger skiers, only one session per week is obligatory, and members who have school team obligations may also miss practices for a short period of time.

As many Bruce Ski Club members are now aware, we have a National Team Member who calls our club home! Julian Smith has been named to the National Team for the upcoming season. This is an amazing achievement as there currently are only seven men in all of Canada chosen for this team. Congratulations Julian.

We finished last season by hosting “Pure Grit” – our trail running race – now an annual event. It has seen a steady increase in numbers every year, gets rave reviews and there is even a 50 km option. It has been an excellent fundraiser for our team. Something to look forward to when you are mourning the loss of snow this spring!

Once again, we have a strong group of well qualified and enthusiastic coaches leading our team. Thanks to Matt Nelson (also our president), Ken Clarke, Tim Smith and Jack VanDorp. Brent Beck has agreed to return as a consultant on equipment selection and waxing magic.

Several of our senior athlete-coaches will be bring- ing their enthusiasm and love of skiing to the Jackrabbit program again this year.

We look forward to seeing you all on the trails (hopefully soon) this season.