The Athlete Village for the Olympics is located 4 or 5 kilometres from the Town of Whistler and the ski resort. The number of athletes in the Paralympics is less than the Olympics, therefore the village now houses many of the workforce volunteers, including the forerunners, and the athletes. The athletes are in a centre compound surrounded by a steel mesh fence. The athlete workforce is in a series of townhomes and trailers, located inside an outer perimeter fence but outside the fence around the athlete village. Entry inside the workforce area requires a ride on a bus which must pass through a large tented temporary structure. Each bus stops and is searched and all the riders must present their accreditation. Once inside the compound the workforce can move around freely. Entry into the inner compound including the athlete village requires passing through the equivalent of airport security.
In order to get to the various venues including the Whistler Olympic Park, we catch yet another bus which takes us to WOP and the nordic events. We get off the bus, pass through security and climb onto another bus which shuttles us to the Day Lodge. At this point forerunner priveldeges kick-in as we now have full access to most of the athlete areas.
Most of our meals are served in the dining tent/hall. Interestingly enough this is located in the Athlete Village and we must again pass through the equivalent of airport security. Meals are cafeteria style, however the portions are generous, the taste is decent and the choices varied.
After several days of climbing on and off buses, and showing accreditation cards at each stop, this is now beginning to feel what I imagine a minimum security prison might feel like. You are free to come and go, but the restrictions are just enough to make it noticable in most day to day activities. Oh, and there is seemingly about a 5:1 ratio of volunteer workforce and security or police. No complaints though, it is all necessary to reduce risks.
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago. Add a comment
Until I applied for the position, I really had no idea what a forerunner (a.k.a. foreskier) was. After I applied, I had some more idea but only once we had our orientation at the Whistler Olympic Park (WOP) was there a good understanding.
In a typical loppet or local race the trails are groomed the night before, and the skiers ski on them the next day with no additional preparation unless the conditions change dramatically i.e. ice or significant snowfall. Particularly with an interval start this may give some skiers an advantage. If it is snowing the first skiers must effectively break trail. If it is not snowing the first skiers may have a nice firm ridged path in front of them, while the following skiers do not.
In order to level the playing field, so to speak, forerunners are sent out just before the race to ski the course and put the course in a condition that the first skiers do not have a significant advantage over the later skiers. This includes making sure all tracks are equally skied in, if for example during the warm up skis before the course is closed before the race start, the skiers use only one track. If it is snowing through the race, the forerunners may periodically ski sections of the trail between heats and/or skiers. This is particularly important if one path is used more often than another.
At the Paralympics, day one of competition includes multiple heats of the sit ski biathalon (2 x 800 metre loops) and the standing skier biathalon (3 x 1,000 metre loops). If there is no new snow falling the forerunners will ski the course approximately 10 minutes before race start. This also corresponds with the course being closed to skiers. For the sit skier course there may be 2 to 4 tracks that must be equally skied in. Subsequently the standing course is skied in. This is repeated for each heat. At the end of the event the forerunners may do a ceremonial ski to indicate that the course is once again open.
If it is snowing the forerunners must also periodically ski sections of the course that are not being used as much, for example, if there are 3 tracks and most skiers use the same one the other two tracks must be skied. Also while the 800 metre loop is being used the forerunners ski the 1000 metre loop to keep it ready.
Forerunning has it priveledges as we have full access to the course area and the athlete areas during practice sessions and competition. This includes a forerunner wax room, and hang out/storage area as well as full access to the athlete eating area.
We also have our own forerunner outfits which you may see on TV. The outfits are navy blue with light blue “Vancouver 2010″ written on them. The toque is light blue with a stylistic mountain line pattern near the bottom: watch for us!
During the Olympics forerunners were made up of U23 nordic skiers. For the Paralympics we have a collection of performance athletes (definitely not me) and coaches. The age range is from mid twenties to into the 50s. Of 19 forerunnners 80% are likely from Alberta and British Columbia and the rest are from Ontario and Newfoundland. Our numbers include a blind skier, and a paranordic one armed skier. As with most nordic skiers my fellow forerunners are wonderful people. It is a wonderful honour to be here, and it is even better that Kanata Nordic can claim to have two athletes competing.
Mike
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago. Add a comment
Alexei Novikov and Margarita Gorbournova are adult paranordic skiers who train with Kanata Nordic. Both secured a spot on the national Paralympic team and are competing in the games at Whistler. Listen to Alexei’s interview on CBC Radio: http://www.cbc.ca/ottawamorning/ (scroll down to “Para-nordic skier who lives in Kanata”). You can follow Margarita’s blog here: http://paranordicskier.blogspot.com/
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago. Add a comment
Despite many uncertainties and unknowns in the plans I am off for a 7:00 a.m. flight to Vancouver and then on to Whistler, and the Whistler Olympic Park to act as a forerunner for the cross country and biathalon events for the Paralympics. On a whim, and after the deadline, I had applied to be a forerunner back in July 2009 only after coming across an old announcement on the CCC website. Sometime in September I was advised unofficially that I was accepted. This was really cool, and definitely a once in a life time opportunity. A month or two went by before I decided maybe I should be hearing something more. CCC indicated that yes, someone at VANOC would be in touch. By mid-December, I still did not not have any news, and contacted them directly. Ooops, somehow, I was not on the e-mail list!!
Mid January brought something official and I booked my tickets. More silence ensued and finally a flurry of e-mails arrived up to and beyond the night I had to pack. Despite the e-mails, many of the details were unknown, such as what day my accommodation would be available, how I was to get there etc. Of course as most nordic skiers do, we forge on, despite not knowing exactly lies ahead. As a volunteer I also appreciated that much of the work and organization at the Olympics is done by volunteers.
Fortunately, I had volunteered to arrive early in order for the broadcast crews to do a dress rehearsal in advance of the competitions. Along with a couple other foreruners we discovered over the next two days that not all the instructions worked out exactly as expected, but this paved the way for everyone else.
In Vancouver I was greeted by lush green grass and cherry trees in blossom at every corner. This of course seemed rather foreign for a nordic skier from Ottawa headed to Whistler for nordic skiing. All the way up the Sea to Sky Higway and into Whistler the lack of snow did not look very promising, but there is a good reason that the Olympic Park was located in the Callaghan Valley, there apparently , almost always is snow.
As an indication of the week ahead my first day in Whistler involved a multitude of bus rides, a sea of blue jacketed volunteers (aka the smurfs). It was also apparent that each volunteer knew exactly what they have to do, however, very few of them know how things work beyond that. This of course, means that you may have to ask 4 or 5 people before you get the information you need.
Accommodation is at what was the athlete village for the Olympics. With less athletes at the Paralympics, the inner area of the “village” is separated by a fence and constitutes the Athlete’s Village. The workers live outside the fence in a series of town homes and construction type trailers. Fortunately the forerunners are in a town house. The houses are constructed as a dorm with bedrooms and washrooms and no cooking areas or living rooms. Once the games are over an area of the house will be renovated to include the normal amenities and the homes will be sold to individuals. As part of the Olympic Legacy the homes are to be sold at affordable prices to workers from Whistler and area. Individuals may apply to purchase a home but must demonstrate that they work in the area and are simply not speculating on real estate.
That’s all the news for now!
Mike Duivenvoorden
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago. Add a comment
