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Wow – what a remarkable winter! As we enter what is traditionally the final month of the ski season, it is always amazing to reflect on the previous few months. The trails and the grooming team have been impressively resilient, despite some unusual climate activity.

This winter, the Georgian Nordic Outdoor Activity Centre (GNOAC) has already had a near-record number of ski days, despite at least three major rainfalls in the middle of the season. While we normally scale back (or even close) the Burrow after March Break, the grooming team may still groom the trails periodically, as conditions (and budget) permit. With the depth of the snowpack on the trails, it wouldn’t surprise me to see some die-hard skiers still out in early April.

February has been an amazing month at the centre. We have had great trail conditions overall, much to the delight of members and first-time visitors alike. At times, the Burrow has been bursting at the seams – Jackrabbit has continued in full swing, and we have hosted buses of visiting skiers from the GTA, elementary-school class trips, customer-appreciation days and visitors of all sorts.

The ever-popular school skiing program culminated with a well-attended race on February 26, with students from all the local schools competing in classic and skate technique on the trail system. Family Day weekend saw an incredible turnout, with tonnes of members and hundreds of visitors all enjoying the trails together.

One of the great successes was the lantern ski co-ordinated by Graham Poole and Steve Krause, which saw over 100 people come out to enjoy a sublime evening of friendship – skiing, snowshoeing and fat biking together on a starry night, complete with flickering candles and crackling bonfires. If the weather holds, I expect that the lantern ski scheduled for March 1 will see another impressive crowd. If you can find time, I’d highly recommend the experience. Bring a friend (and a headlamp)!

Last weekend saw much of the younger racing team travel to the Ontario Youth Ski Championships, hosted by North Bay Nordic. In all, some 17 racers very ably represented Georgian Nordic at the event, assisted by a team of dedicated coaches, wax technicians and cowbell-toting spectators. The weeks of dry-land and on-snow training really paid off, with our athletes recording many personal bests, several top-20 finishes, podium spots in the relays and winning a total of three individual medals. It was heartwarming to experience the team spirit; it’s a pretty safe bet that Georgian Nordic wins the “most enthusiastic club” award hands-down.

Despite the epic weather conditions creating havoc for the wax teams, everyone enjoyed the event. It was inspiring to see how North Bay Nordic organized the weekend so efficiently – they did a fantastic job and have set an excellent example for other clubs to follow. As we continue to generate a growing level of energy and experience here at the GNOAC, it is becoming less a question of “if” we will host a Youth Championship and more a question of “when.”

March will be no less busy at the GNOAC. Following on the heels of the lantern ski (March 1), the final Jackrabbit session is slated for March 2. The very next day, we will host the inaugural Georgian Team Sprints event. This race, part of the Southern Ontario District Paraffin Series, is an exciting new format that sees teams of two skiers pair up to race multiple laps on a short sprint course. Whether you’re keen to try it out or would prefer to spectate (and perhaps volunteer), you're welcome to join us at the club on March 3!

Other events scheduled for March include Biosphere Moonlight Snowshoe Hikes (March 1 and 14), more buses of visiting skiers from Southern Ontario and a Racing Rabbits training camp. As well, a number of GNOAC skiers (and alumni) will be racing at ski nationals, held in Ottawa in mid-March.

In addition, March Break is typically a popular time to enjoy a last blast of fun on the trails – and if we are lucky, there might even be a thick enough crust to allow the more adventurous spirits to do some backcountry exploration.

Finally, I would like to put out a special word of thanks and appreciation. Inspired by the growing sense of openness and broadened horizons at the club, along with the inclusion of hiking, snowshoeing and cycling into the mix of year-round activities, one of our members has stepped forward with an extremely generous offer. This donor has very kindly pledged to support the club annually for the next five years! We are working together closely to help realize a shared dream of enhanced trail development and improved access for everyone. This club continues to thrive through the generosity and support of its members – please know that every contribution is very much appreciated.
Let’s all plan to enjoy the end of a fantastic season together.

See you on the trails!
Wil.

Join Our Ski Festival

It will be a ski festival weekend at the club, with a lantern ski on the night of Friday, March 1, the Jackrabbit finale on Saturday, March 2, and the Southern Ontario Division (S.O.D.) Team Sprints Race on Sunday, March 3!

Lantern Ski Social

The GNOAC has hosted two lantern ski socials this winter, with the one on March 1 being our third. A lantern ski is a family-friendly night ski on our candle-lit trails. The Burrow is also open as a place to warm up, have a chat, eat your snacks or just hang out.

Our lantern ski socials are free for members, and non-members can join with payment by donation. The only thing you need to have is a flashlight of some kind. Our first lantern ski was on a beautiful moonlit night, and moon shadows were cast everywhere. However, not all nights are that bright! We usually have a campfire going, as well, with lots of marshmallows for your roasting pleasure.

On our most recent lantern ski, over 100 people came out! We hope you can join us on March 1. Come any time between 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. and ski a little or a lot. More details are available by phoning the Burrow.

Graham

In front of the Weasel hill are, from left to right:

Nick Poole, Kate Redmond, Liam O'Brien, Michael Anderson, Austin Lane, Rachel Anderson, Taylor Marshall, Liam Marshall and Marsha Lane. (Absent are Ethan Graves, Eden Graves, Anna George and Erika Dabek.)

Juniors Excel in Ontario Cup Competition

By Coach Peter Wiltmann

Our junior team consists of a group of kids who have acquired a varied set of skills, many of which come from their other sports and activities. Eight of the 13 team members are moving on to bigger things next season: college, university or just taking a whole year of discovery. Our kids do a lot of events, school races and local meets, like the Sounder and the Muskoka Loppet, which are part of the S.O.D. series and just as important to participate in as anything else.

However, I will focus on the Ontario Cup series in this report.

OCup 1 was in Ottawa, and we had four skiers racing in mid-December.

Early racing helps the team reset and focus on their training goals. Ontario Cup 1 is usually in Lappe, near Thunder Bay, so this was a great opportunity to get a race in early, and closer to home. You can find the results here: https://zone4.ca/event/afdbc6ac-e2d4-11e8-b3c9-0a33106378ac/

The team skipped OCup 2 because of distance and the fact that it was right after Christmas, then headed to Sudbury, for OCup 3, at Walden, with a large group of all our skiers.

Unfortunately the temperature never got above -20 over the three days we were at OCup 3, so both races had to be cancelled. Athletes' health comes first. Team captains’ meetings were mostly about delays and FIS rules. Start lists were posted. We did our full pre-ski and testing and waxing routine, which was good practice for our techs and athletes.

OCup 4 was in Duntroon; Eastern Canadians at the beginning of February. For results, type in CEC on zone4.ca

Three races tested our skiers’ resolve, as the courses were extremely complex. The juvenile girls had an 80-metre maximum climb to contend with, and total climbing was over 300 metres for all juniors. Imagine climbing Mount St. Louis (157-metre vertical) on cross-country skis – twice, that is – in one race!

Skiers also had to know their courses well. Decision points made them go left or right, and they had to know which was which. This was awesome preparation for nationals, but please be aware this is not for everyone. And classic skiing is still a big challenge for our skiers. We need to be patient, and we need good skiers around them to help them learn.

It was great to watch our alumni skiers do extremely well at one of the biggest events of the season in the east this year. Shaylynn and Malcolm needed to get on the podium to qualify for the Canada Winter Games, and they did just that!

And Shaylynn 🥇 and Graham 🥇 had great success at the Red Deer Canada Games in Alberta, with both receiving gold medals.

Cheers to all our juniors who risked participating at this event and cheers to our alumni skiers.

OCup 5, on the Nipissing University campus in North Bay, was also the site of the Ontario University Championships, OUA for short. Five of our junior-team skiers raced a mass-start classic and skate interval start race. A fun course winding through university property challenged our skiers again at relatively cold temperatures and somewhat soft conditions. The first day, it never stopped snowing. Type in Ontario Cup #5 on zone4.ca to see results.

Alumni skiers Malcolm, Noah and Shaylynn were racing in Lakehead attire, while Lindsay Raymond was in her Nipissing outfit. All of these impressive young adults are dealing with full course loads, training, travelling and racing.

Our five juniors learned to deal with many things, as well, once more, mainly learning to work with different coaches, while our techs were working with Kawartha Nordic under the direction of the Canada Winter Games coach, Victor, for a trial run. We could not plan this any better – the complexity adds challenges, but it makes it way more real.

We are now looking forward to nationals for two skiers in mid-March, along with a few midgets, as well. More to come on that soon.

For all of our young skiers, OCup 6 is back on with 100-metre sprints, team sprints and distance relays on April 6 and 7.

It appears we may just be able to train on snow until then. Bring it on!

Want to know more about the junior team, history, photos or the program? Check us out at http://bit.ly/2Vcbe5k.

PSHS Nordic skiers at their OFSAA qualifier race.

PSHS Nordic Ski Team Off to OFSAA

After an eventful season of training and racing (and crazy winter weather), the Parry Sound High School Nordic Ski Team is on its way to the OFSAA Provincial Championships, held at Highlands Nordic in Duntroon on February 28 and March 1. Our season starts off in early November with dry-land training. With this year’s early snow, we were skiing sooner than in other years! We train weekly at the GNOAC. Many of our team skiers are also dedicated Jackrabbit coaches.

The team this season attended two invitational races and a recent OFSAA qualifier race. Although we love snow, our racing schedule has been complicated this year due to multiple bus cancellations, some of which occurred on race days. Despite that challenge, 20 PSHS skiers qualified for OFSAA. This is fantastic!

The OFSAA Nordic Championship is a two-day event with a longer-distance interval-start race on the first day. The second day of racing is in a team-sprint relay format, with the four fastest skiers from the individual race making up the relay team. The sprint race plays out on an 800-metre loop. We are looking forward to a great wind-up to our high-school racing season.

Graham Poole

Trail report

Action on Location

Wow, what a year to enjoy the trails at the GNOAC. We have had the most snow in years, and all the club trails are open and in excellent condition. We have had record numbers of skiers on our back trails, and the Beaver remains a club classic.

The trail team is planning on relaxing a little in March and streaming the new show Northern Rescue. Several episodes were shot at the club, and we hope the show is a hit and they return next year. The revenue the club earned from the site rental helped us make numerous improvements. Cast and crew were often seen enjoying our trails last summer.

It was a pleasure to work behind the scenes and meet so many interesting people. I gave the location scouts and directors several tours around the area and a complete tour of our property, as well as Nine Mile Lake Beach, which they also used.

I helped set up location sites, represented the club on use of property – things such as what trees could be cut, moving equipment in and out of sites without damaging trails and what trails could be used. I also directed mountain bikers and hikers to alternate trails and managed security issues, in addition to working as medical advisor on some shots.

Why not play along and try to spot the scenes filmed at our club? There were several. I can’t give too many clues, but lots of action was going on. On stunt-practice days, we had about 10 to 20 people on site, on film days around 80.

Northern Rescue streams on CBC Gem on March 1.

Don Brisbane

Cross-Country Skiing Events for Local Youth

Racing Rabbits in North Bay, at the Ontario Youth Championships

Younger skiers in Parry Sound have fun opportunities to get involved in the sport of cross-country skiing. There are events organized at the local and regional levels that give young skiers of all abilities a chance to experience cross-country skiing competition in a friendly environment.

On February 23 and 24, seventeen Georgian Nordic skiers participated in the Ontario Youth Championships in North Bay, where nearly 200 skiers from 19 different Ontario clubs experienced great skiing on the beautiful North Bay Nordic trail. Results are on www.zone4.ca.

On February 26, nearly 200 elementary-school skiers from our local Parry Sound schools spent the day skiing, long-distance racing, participating in relays and playing games on skis at Georgian Nordic.

On March 3, many of the youth skiers from the Southern Ontario Division (SOD) clubs will gather at Georgian Nordic for the new Georgian Classic Team Sprints event. These will be relay races on our new sprint trails, which were developed last summer with a generous grant from Mountain Equipment Co-op.

“Everything in moderation, except cross-country skiing”
HERMAN “JACKRABBIT” SMITH-JOHANNSEN (1875-1987)

Have you registered for your team sprints race on Sunday, March 3, at Georgian Nordic Outdoor Activity Centre? REGISTER: https://bit.ly/2BSMbgt

Welcome SnowDog

The GNOAC is excited to announce that we have acquired a new piece of equipment. Through a very generous donation from an anonymous donor and additional support from Get Outdoors Parry Sound, a SnowDog has entered the grooming family. This unique piece of equipment is a track-driven machine that can be used to groom both snowshoe and winter cycling trails.

The goal with the SnowDog will be to maintain the existing trails and open new trails to encourage visits from outdoor enthusiasts of all ages and abilities. With a keen group of volunteers willing to help with the grooming, the new SnowDog will allow for even more expansion into an already rich and varied outdoor activity centre.

This season we will be experimenting on how to best use this amazing machine to grow our diverse trail system. Stay tuned as we learn all about what the SnowDog can do.

Hopping Good Times!

Saturday, March 2, will see the end of another great Jackrabbit season. We had 120 Jackrabbit registrants, from Bunnies to Racing Rabbits and Track Attack – a whole crew of happy kids who really improved their skills. And of course, there will be plenty of snow through March to keep skiing!

We are grateful for so many things, including having a solid crew of coaches. Some of these coaches have been doing this for more than 10 years and some are just starting out; all of them come with enthusiasm and an honest interest in making sure your kids are having a good time and learning to ski. Thanks!

Kathleen McGill has been our volunteer coordinator for the Jackrabbit Program, making sure we have hot-chocolate makers and Burrow attendants, and making sure the theme days run well. While Kathleen probably won’t be fully retiring, Robin MacDonald is stepping up to begin filling that role – a huge thanks to Kathleen for many years of enthusiastic Jackrabbiting.

I would put a word out to kids in Grades 4 through 8 that the Racing Rabbits team is a solid amount of fun and will be starting its dry-land training sessions in September. Chat with Ghislain Henry or Katarina Smith if you think this would be of interest. The training sessions and extra skiing they do are a lot of fun!

We’ll see you Saturday for our final BBQ Jackrabbit party, and we’ll see you on the trails through March. I hope you enjoyed a great season of learning to ski.

Greg Mason

GNOAC's Outstanding Outdoor Adventure Facilities Recognized

The Georgian Nordic Outdoor Activity Centre is among the best fat-biking hotspots, according an article in the travel magazine Northern Ontario Canada.

The GNOAC is also featured in the same issue under Top Cross-Country Ski Spots.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
The Canoe Club Pancake Breakfast was a huge success!

Let's start thinking about getting into a boat!

Canoe Club registration opens May 1st online. Cost is only $75 for the entire summer of paddling a few times a week!

Marathon and recreational canoes, SUPs, sprint and recreational kayaks – we paddle them all! Practices are held at the Seguin River, Nine Mile Lake and on Georgian Bay. Experience paddling in all types of water.

Join as a family and paddle together. This fun club is run entirely by donations by a dedicated group of volunteers who work tirelessly to provide the programs that keep the club at the forefront of community activities.

Register your family and let’s all play on the water this year.

Guides Wanted

We're seeking a few friendly and easy-going skiers to guide and ski for fun with some visually impaired children. You do not need experience. For more information about how this works and remuneration, please e-mail Emily Fells at emily_ghislain@yahoo.ca.