Gatineau

March 29, 2010Training and Preparation for the Canadian Ski Marathon

In my last article, I described the Coureurs des Bois gold experience at the Canadian Ski Marathon. If you’ve never participated in the marathon before and are interested in trying it out, here’s a bit of information on what’s involved and how to prepare.

TOURER

Firstly, you should know that the Canadian Ski Marathon is not a race, but a distance event, and that there is a category for everyone. Therefore, anyone can participate, and it is not required to ski the whole distance (160km). For someone who wants to try it out for the first time, and does not want to commit to skiing the entire distance, it is possible to sign up as a Tourer. In the Touring class, participants can chose to ski any number of sections (the marathon track is divided in 5 sections per day -10 in total). Between each section is a checkpoint where food and refreshments are served free of charge and a waxing station is provided. Most importantly, however, each checkpoint is serviced by a shuttle bus. This allows participants to start and finish skiing at any checkpoint of their choosing, and allows skiers to call it a day whenever they want.

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March 25, 2010The Canadian Ski Marathon Challenge

It’s 4am when my watch alarm wakes me up. I open my eyes and see stars. It’s been a clear night and my sleeping bag isn’t covered in snow. That’s good news. Reluctantly, I unzip my sleeping bag and let the cold air in. I quickly put on a puffy, some thick mittens and go get some water to boil on the fire while I wax my skis. It’s day 2 of the Canadian Ski Marathon, the 160Km two-day challenge that is held every year between Lachute and Gatineau.

Looking puffy

The adventure begins Saturday at 5:40 am. That’s the day 1 start time for the Coureur des Bois Gold event, the highest category of participation at the marathon. There, huddling at the starting line, over two hundred skiers sporting heavy packs anxiously await the start signal under the dim light of their LED headlamps. A thick fog from their collective breath hangs over the crowd and crystallizes into little sparkles. Eventually, the start is finally called and the men trickle across the starting line forming a serpentine line of little lights disappearing into the forest.