Para Nordics - News — Nordic Racers Ski Club

2023-24 Season Highlights

The Para Nordic program is always looking for people to help us help more people with a physical disability go skiing. If you might like to volunteer, complete your sign-up information here: https://nordicracersadaptive.wildapricot.org/

If you have questions, send an e-mail to adaptive@nordicracers.ca for more information on how you can get involved.

Nordic Racers Para Nordic Development Program consists of a group of club members who work together to encourage and facilitate participation in our sport by people with physical disabilities. We target individuals who meet disability qualifications as described for Canada’s paralympic team participants.

During the 2023-24 season we hosted three Skiing is Believing (SIB) days at Whistler Olympic Park (January, February and March). In organizing each SIB day, we work with many organizations to promote the event among local disability communities. We also work closely with Whistler Adaptive Sports (WAS) since most events are held at Whistler Olympic Park (WOP). While we would love to also host these events at Hollyburn, our local terrain is far too hilly to act as a ‘first exposure’ for someone who might use a sit-ski, is blind, or is an amputee.

Our January event coincided with an Athletes with a Disability (AWAD) National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) course, also held at WOP. There were several coaches who attended this course from Nordic Racers and Whistler Adaptive Sports Program. In addition to helping skiers, our club needs to support these courses, ensuring we will always have coaching staff capable of helping us achieve our Para-nordic objectives.

Over the course of this past year, our Para Nordic Development group has submitted several grant applications resulting in additional funds needed to support activities of the Para Nordic program. In addition to helping get Para Nordic participants out to attend our various events, these funds also helped purchase new poles and skis for our Para Nordic Development Program participants.

Para-Nordic High Performance Team Report

In addition to supporting the introduction of Nordic skiing to new participants with disabilities our group also supports the competitive Para Nordic team coached by Jessica Heyes.

We have had several club members excel on the national and international stage. Presently, Leo Sammarelli has been named to the Nordic Canada Next Gen Para Nordic Team. Ethan Hess has been named to the Nordic Canada National Development Para Nordic Team. Both Leo and Ethan will have National Team training camp opportunities in Canmore, Sweden to ski in the ski tunnel (and New Zealand for Ethan) as well as an opportunity to race in one or more World Cup events as well as the IPC World Cup finals in Prince George during the 2023-24 season

The Nordic Racers club supported our Nordic Racers High Performance team at BC Cup and Canadian Nationals competitions by arranging accommodation and providing team support including food for our 3 participating athletes and their coach.

During the Canadian National Cross Country Skiing event in mid March, several club Para Nordic volunteers assisted with the events at WOP, a most exciting week! This included volunteers who guided Maya Jonas, a visually impaired skier participating in the event as a competitor.

Finally, one member of our Nordic Racers Para Nordic team, Ethan Hess, went to Beijing as a member of the Canadian Paralympian team.

In recent years our club worked in concert with several partners in support of the Nordic Racers Para Nordic group.

Whistler Adaptive Sports (WAS) manages the equipment room for Para Nordic skiing located at WOP. They co-sponsor coach training events, supply coaches for our events and generally help us in every way they can to ensure our SIB days are a success.
We do our best to network with many community organizations who help us widely promote our Skiing is Believing program among potential participants living in the lower mainland of BC. For example:
- Spinal Cord Injury BC helps us promote our events among people with a spinal cord injury in BC.
- Recreational therapists at GF Strong and Sunnyhill Childrens’ Rehab program ensure their clients are aware of our program.
- Blind Beginnings helps us promote our events among people with visual impairment.
We are always looking for more community partners. If you would like to be kept informed, please send an email to adaptive@nordicracers.ca

Here are a few photos from previous seasons: