Cross Country Alberta holds several camps throughout the year for young skiers to learn new skills and to interact with other athletes around the province.  The camps are run by experienced Alberta coaches, and are often assisted by high-profile members of the racing community, as well as members of the Alberta Ski Team and Alberta Development Team.

Cross Country Alberta had a successful Swift Camp this in partnership with the University of Alberta in Edmonton. After 10 years of Swift Camps at the University of Calgary and Canmore there was a change this year with the U of A location. Overall the camp was a success with 9 communities from around Alberta being represented by athletes. Some of the highlights included a training session and presentation with National Para Team Member Colette Bourgonje. She gave a great presentation to the athletes at the camp about her career in sport and specifically cross country skiing and was able to show the athletes her 2010 Olympic and 2011 World Championship medals. We were lucky enough as well to have Colette take part in a roller ski session with the athletes which everyone enjoyed.

Another highlight I felt was the mountain bike training session during a wet and muddy day, with everyone rather dirty from the large mud puddles. There was some excellent class room sessions, great training, technical work, coaching feedback as well as getting to know athletes from around the province. A thank you goes out to the Dr. Michael Kennedy and the staff of the University of Alberta for their presentations and expertise as well as support coaching from Mike Neary, Fraser Mills Connery and Terry Protz. Other thank yous go out to Ryan Berg and Lee Speed for helping with organization and logistics. 

For Camp Photos, click here to visit the Cross Country Photo Gallery

The Cross Country Alberta on snow summer camp at the Haig Glacier had a very successful week this past August 22-29, 2011. The camp was blessed with incredible weather and snow conditions which made for excellent ski training for all the athletes and coaches. I do not recall a week of such nice and consistent weather everyday in all the years I have gone to the Haig. From the first day right to the end of the week we had sunny and warm weather conditions plus excellent and firm snow conditions most of the morning of training.

A big thank you goes out to WinSport for supporting the Haig camp and program plus both Haakon and Joel for maintaining a great camp atmosphere and working hard everyday to provide us with great grooming and ski conditions.  Also I want to thank the coaches and athletes who took part this year as the camp enviroment was a pleasure to work with.

Here is hoping we have a good fall of training and preparation for the coming ski season.

Michael Neary

CCA Sport Manager  

For photos of the Haig camp, visit the CCA online Photo Gallery