Going With The Flow – Gabriel's Blog
Gabe Gledhill is a former member of the BC Ski Team. He graduated from high school in June 2020, and then, as a dual citizen of Canada and the UK, he accepted an offer to train with the British cross country ski team and compete for Great Britain. The following is his second account of his Scandinavian adventures as a member of his new team.
Looking towards the Austrian Alps on a morning run in Schollang
Near the end of February our racing at Finnish Junior Nationals in Jyvaskyla went pretty well. Luckily, Swix Finland had agreed to wax our skis for the 20km classic interval on the Sunday, so we didn’t have to try and guess the wax of the day (it wouldn’t of gone so hot if we had tried ourselves, since it started snowing just before the start of the race). It was an old school course, which I quite enjoyed skiing on. Some of the Finnish coaches were quite happy to give time splits throughout the race, and they were very encouraging, always nice to hear that you’re standing in 3rd place after 10km, against some of the best U20 Finns. I didn’t finnish that high up on the results, but grabbed a solid 6th place overall. While heading for my cool down, the race organisers asked if I could give an interview on the loudspeaker. I was slightly shocked as my Finnish is non-existent and at such a high level race I didn’t think they would care about the Brits, but, luckily it was in English and the interviewer seemed quite interested in why we had come to this event.
Logging trains in Jyvaskyla
That week in Jyvaskyla continued to be exciting as we stayed a few extra days after the race and explored the downtown and university on the lake. One of the nights after, while I was making dinner, I got a call from my coach, Alex Standen. He told me that I had been selected as a reserve for the team sprint in the 2021 World Ski Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany. (the backstory on this was that Andrew Young, who’s on the senior Great Britain (GB) World Cup Team had broken his leg while racing at the end of January, and AT THE TIME of the call was not going to be able to race in Oberstdorf due to his injury, but we all know how top level athletes can recover from setbacks!). I was fairly speechless being told I was heading to Germany in a few days. After Alex called me the GBS head coach called me to confirm my selection and my flight tickets would be sent to me. This was a bit of a shocker for me, as I was not expecting it at all and I had been planning on staying in Finland for a bit longer. So, boarding the plane to Munich was a huge bonus.
loistava kilpailu!
I won’t go into too much detail about my time in Oberstdorf as it was a huge learning opportunity for me and very eye opening, so I could ramble on, but definitely a highlight of my career so far. After watching on TV for so long and hearing about so much, I would be spending a week with the GB World Cup squad. I roomed with James Clugnet for the duration of my stay. Big change to my usual race weekend, when there is a super nice team physiotherapist, happy to give you a massage, and a really good nutritionist, making exquisite food. Won’t forget the first morning, when I looked up from my bowl of porridge and I hear Andrew Musgrave asking me “how is your season going and how has training been going recently’’. Kind of had to pinch myself while conversing with him throughout the week. These moments continued throughout the championships, while skiing on the race courses and being at the race venue. Especially when you go to do an acceleration and you have to wait for Dario Cologna to move off the track or when you casually ski by Alexander Bolshunov. The whole vibe at the venue was something I’ve never experienced, with TV cameras everywhere and news rooms set-up right next to the finish area. Plus all the behind the scenes stuff you don’t see on TV such as the wax trucks, officials, security, wax techs etc… I was in Germany because Andrew Young wasn’t fully recovered at the time I arrived there, but within a few days, Young also arrived, as his leg was feeling a lot better… So good, that the evening before the team sprint, the coaches decided that he was in good enough form to compete in the team sprint the next day. It was of course disappointing for myself, but also a great triumph for him and the team of doctors and staff to get him ready in 4 weeks to race again. I was happy either way. Since I was a reserve, I still had to prepare like I was racing until the team sprint actually started (I didn’t get to race in the end). So, I was able to warm-up on the same warm up track as all the competing athletes that day and managed to keep up for about 2 seconds with Johannes Klaebo and Erik Valnes while they did some sprints in preparation. (Klaebo and Valnes ended up winning gold later that day).
All smiles in the sun.
Oberstdorf lacking some snow.
After an amazing week in the Alps, I started my chaotic trip back ‘’home’’ to Norway. Since originally leaving Norway, early Feb, and arriving back ‘’home’’ I counted around 14 coronavirus tests. It was easy to lose track of which paper to show to which official at what time. So, standing at the KLM check-in gate in Munich was hectic as I could not find my most recent PCR-test. It was 2 mins before check in closed and the flight attendant told me I could not board the flight without this document. Of course, I couldn’t find it in time and the check in desk closed, the flight attendant couldn’t wait another minute and walked off. I just about started crying as there were no more flights to Amsterdam that day and the flight had been arranged by GB Snowsport. The other big factor was that I HAD to leave that day, or else my antigen test that morning and my PCR test wouldn’t be valid anymore. After asking the info desk and making a lot of phone calls I talked to a Lufthansa employee and GB Snowpsort very kindly arranged for another flight that evening. (If it weren’t for them, I would probably still be there now!). The stress didn’t end there, as I wasn’t even sure if i’d be able to make it back into Norway due to the new restrictions at the border. As my line progressed towards the border guard at Oslo Gardermoen Airport, people were being turned away as they did not have the right documents to enter the country. I crossed my fingers as the man at the desk went through my information. Luckily, after a good 5 minutes of stern facial expressions, he waved me through and I hopped on the train.
Warm enough for outside drying.
Have been putting in a solid training block at ‘’home’’ after finishing quarantine with the warmer conditions March has to offer (glorious crust skiing in Sjusjoen) and doing some test races. Nice to be somewhere familiar to prepare for my final exams in April!
by Gabe Gledhill
Gabe is also a long time member of the Strathcona Nordic Ski Club, Courtenay, BC. To read his first account about his winter in Scandinavia, click on: http://www.crosscountrybc.ca/fun-times-scandinavia-%E2%80%93-gabriels-blog
March’s treadmill test.
Outdoor hot spring near the university.
Chasing Andrew Young.