By Cheryl Jahn

Otway to pave trails for summer training

Jul 31, 2024 | 3:33 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – The Caledonia Nordic Ski Club is a non-profit society founded in 1957 to foster nordic skiing and events for the benefit of our community. The club strives to create accessible activities for everyone and a welcoming venue for local, regional, provincial, and national events. Over the years, it has become a world-class facility for events like the Canada Winter Games and the Para Biathlon World Championships and the Para Nordic World Cup Finals.

“So the vision has been to, to be on the world stage and kind of read around the 2015 Winter Games,” says Kevin Pettersen. “We also were looking at the ability to have summer training in summer competitions with para roller ski and all about fun trails.”

A dream that has been in place for some time.

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“There’s a few places where, where the athletes can train, but just as we can host competitions here, we can also host training camps here, rental training camps, national training camps and international training camps,” says Pettersen. “And so so that’s key. But also, you know, when we look at doing the development for the facilities, we always think about ‘How does this also benefit the members in the community?'”

The paved track will allow for training during the summer months. An advantage over other clubs for the athletes. “You ski places like Whistler that already have kind of the infrastructure put in place,” says Liam Sinclair, a biathlete. “And especially as a young athlete, it’s always so awesome to have this at home. And it really enables us to do our sport year-round.” He says, once the project is complete, he has not qualms about luring fellow trainees to the club. “It goes from getting to do the sport from November to March to a year-round thing. So, you know, there’s no awkward transition phase where you’re transitioning from your summer training, where you’re running and shooting versus now you’re on skis, now you’re shooting, you get that nice smooth year-round.

The work will get underway this month and will be wrapped up by September.