WINTER IS UNDERWAY FOR YOUNG XC SKIERS!
Winter activities have started for young XC skiers in the local Jindabyne/Perisher area, both on-snow and dryland.
The June Long Weekend saw the Annual NSWACT XC Jindabyne LWE Camp take place over four days in fine weather. Coaches Alexei Sotkov, William Haig and Victoria Vinidiktova put the young athletes (ages 12-21) through their paces in pre-winter preparation for on-snow fun and training. Activities included Rollerskiing on the Sport and Rec running track, Adventure Running, Hill Bounding (running uphill with ski poles), Strength and Conditioning practice, Benchmarking and a Q&A session with young skiers quizzing National AUS XC Team members about their skiing career experiences.
A highlight of the weekend was the Snowy Mountains Nordic Rollerski Challenge. Local skiers Harriet Greville, Satara and A-J Moon, Jackson Landon-Smith, Madi Lloyd, Zara and Ivy Potocki and Henry McArthur all demonstrated their XC skills, the value of year-round practice and a healthy degree of silliness.
The activities may sound like hard work, but there was plenty of laughter and mayhem while they skied backwards, on one ski, in tandem, reverse relays and all of the other ways that experienced coaches use to teach technique and skills while their charges think they are just having fun!
With the LWE Camp as their warm-up, the kids are on-snow now, finding it where they can with their coaches and families and having a ball!
The first event of the season is the 62nd Paddy Pallin Juniors on Saturday 29th June 2024, one of Australias oldest ski events. As an early season event on the Australian XC Ski Calendar for NSW, the Paddy Pallin Juniors is a fun and free event, which encourages children from three to 16 years to dust off their ski equipment and get their ski legs warmed up for the upcoming season. The event is free to enter, includes a hot lunch, on ski jelly snake hunt and fantastic prizes from Paddy Pallin. Register at the Nordic Shelter from 8-9:30am for a 10am start.
Cross country skiing in NSW is based at the Perisher XC Centre. A full calendar of XC events and activities take place there throughout winter. You can find the calendar, daily trail condition reports, snow cams and more on the PXC website - https://www.perisherxcountry.org.
Of special note are two Come & Try Days, scheduled for July 6 and July 13. Contact peter.petercunningham@gmail.com for more information.
NSWACT XC is a subcommittee of Snow Australia that runs year-round training programs including a comprehensive coached Winter Program of School Holidays Training Camps, Term 3 Before-School training sessions and other XC development opportunities for young XC skiers who have at least a basic level of XC skiing competency. Contact nswxc1@gmail.com for more information.
