BC Ski Team in Sweden - 2023 B-Tour
Wednesday, March 22nd, Gällivare, Sweden
Our Swedish adventure started with a 22 hour travel day when we left the Canadian Ski Nationals in Thunder Bay, Ontario and travelled to Gällivare, Sweden, which at 67°N is all the way up in the Arctic Circle!
The team was exhausted after getting little sleep on the planes, but security went swimmingly. Thankfully, Air Canada clutched up and everyone’s skis and bags arrived with us. We were picked up at the Kiruna airport by our host team, the Gällivare Skidgymnasium, which is the most northern ski academy in Sweden.
The next day we woke to a brisk morning and headed up to the ski trails with our new Swedish friends for a ski in some deep pow. We got to experience the 5km World Cup course for ourselves at the Marcus Hellner Dundret Lappland Ski Centre. After our ski, we were pretty tired and we headed back to our apartments for a rest. The time change was really beginning to catch up with us!
Our first night in Sweden ended with a bang as we met decorated Swedish World Cup skier (and Gällivare Skidgymnasium alumni) Marcus Hellner, and he gave us a presentation about his World Cup career!
Day two began with another authentic North Sweden experience: Gällivare is the mining capital of Europe as it is the site of the LKAB iron mine. We took a tour of the mine that brought us over a kilometer beneath the town’s surface to explore the Forskning Center and the Verkstad (Research Center and Workshop in English). We learned lots about what LKAB is doing to make mining more sustainable!
After this morning of sight seeing we headed back to the Nordic Center to do race prep intensity in our flashy, speedy, ultra pro, matching race suits - to get dialed in for Swedish Junior National Championships next weekend in Boden.
Of course, our first few days were not complete without indulging in some Swedish candy as Sweden has the highest candy consumption rate of any country on Earth!
That’s all from the BC Ski Team B-Tour kiddos over here in Sweden! Looking forward to some fun racing.
By Breagh Bridge
Athletes
Adam Heale (Black Jack Cross Country Ski Club)
Aidan Hay (Hollyburn Cross Country Ski Club)
Breagh Bridge (Telemark Nordic Club
Dustin Hay (Hollyburn Cross Country Ski Club)
Eamon Wilson (Hollyburn Cross Country Ski Club)
Finn Redman (Telemark Nordic Club)
Maeve Macleod (Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club)
Raleigh Tarte (Kimberley Nordic Ski Club)
Sadie Demars (Kimberley Nordic Ski Club)
Coaches
Chris Manhard (Cross Country BC)
Maria Lundgren (Cross Country BC)