From the FasterSkier archive — posts syndicated from athletes’ and coaches’ own blogs between 2004 and 2012, kept online as published. Current coverage is at fasterskier.com.
Come challenge Alberta World Cup Academy in a running race up the Spray Lakes road! All proceeds go to helping support the team for their upcoming season!
Race Information:
Date: October 12th, 2013
Distances: Men – 7.5km / Women – 5km
Entry Fee: $ 35.00 – registration on Zone4.ca, deadline is October 10th, 2013 at 11:59 PM PST
Bib pick up: Friday, October 11th between 2 – 6pm at Rebound Cycle downtown
Last minute pick up can be done at Bill Warren Training Centre between 7:45 – 8:15am on race morning
Logistics: A van will be at the Nordic Centre parking lot and at each starting point for shuttling clothing to the finish line. Shuttling from the finish line to the Nordic Centre will be available.
There will be 3 Vans to shuttle people down from race finish to Nordic center parking lot.
Awards/snacks/prizes at BWTC – TBD room 12-2pm
Start Times:
Women and Junior Boys/Girls 17 and Under: 9:40am – 5km. Rundle view Entrance. View Map
Open M 18+: 9:30am – 7.5km. Green gate about 400meters from power plant spill way. View Map
Finish at the top of Spray Road by the dam for both men and women
Lactate: During power exercises such as sprinting, when the rate of demand for energy is high, lactate is produced faster than the ability of the tissues to remove it, so lactate concentration begins to rise.
Think you have what it takes to have the highest lactate? $50 will enter you in the 50/50 draw which will measure your lactate at the finish line. The harder your push, the better your chances!
50% of entry goes to AWCA and 50% goes to the winner. Separate draws for men and women. Registration for Lactate Challenge on Zone4.
U.S. Ski Team member Liz Stephen extending her lead to win the second annual Spray Drag running race on Saturday in Canmore, Alberta. (USSA Nordic courtesy photo)
Thirty-six men in the Spray Drag running race didn’t end up chasing Devon Kershaw up Spray Lakes Road in Canmore, Alberta, on Saturday, but they had one heck of a battle from the start.
According to American Sylvan Ellefson (Ski & Snowboard Club Vail/Team HomeGrown), the pace was fast for a bunch of nordic skiers early on.
“Any road runner could have pulled away, but it was a quick pace,” he wrote in an email. “It continued on the road with a couple of us switching off in the lead.”
From the Canmore Nordic Centre, racers (including 26 women and seven junior boys) ascended a snow- and dirt-covered road to the Spray dam. In an email, race organizer and Alberta World Cup Academy coach Stefan Kuhn wrote that some fresh snow made for an interesting race, and it was “definitely colder at the top than last year.”
Start of the Spray Drag men’s race on Saturday in Canmore, Alberta. The second-annual road run up Spray Lakes Road was a fundraiser for the Alberta World Cup Academy. Graham Nishikawa (5835) won it, followed by Sylvan Ellefson (5805) in second and Michael Somppi (5818) in third. (AWCA courtesy photo)
The men raced 7.5 kilometers with nearly 400 meters (1,312 feet) of elevation gain, and the women and juniors did 5 k.
About six men took off at the beginning of the dirt road, including Ellefson and AWCA/Senior Development Team skiers Graham Nishikawa, Michael Somppi, Kevin Sandau, Graeme Killick, and Jesse Cockney. Nishikawa and Ellefson opened up a gap around the halfway point, and Nishikawa – who holds the course record in 29:23 – tested his competitor with about 1 k to go.
“Nish moved ahead of me put a little speed in to see how I’d react maybe (at least that’s what it felt like, not sure if he actually did … ha),” Ellefson wrote. “And then with about 200m to go he kicked and I couldn’t hold on.”
Nishikawa, who was third last year to Canadian World Cup Team members Kershaw and Ivan Babikov, won the second annual race – an AWCA fundraiser – in 30 minutes and 28.1 seconds. Kershaw won it last year in 29:44. According to Kuhn, the Canadian national team didn’t compete this year because the race didn’t fit in with their schedule in Canmore.
“It is a very tough course,” Nishikawa wrote in an email. “I am happy to see my shape is good after the Park City camp.”
Sylvan Ellefson (SSCV/Team HomeGrown) working to catch Graham Nishikawa (AWCA/CNST) in the final stretch of Saturday’s 7.5 k Spray Drag road race in Canmore, Alberta. (SMS courtesy photo)
The runner-up, Ellefson finished 14.1 seconds back. Somppi was third (+24.1) and Killick placed fourth (+27.3), respectively. After leading early with Nishikawa and Ellefson, Sandau was fifth (+1:05.5).
The women’s race turned out to be a spectacle with U.S. Ski Team member Liz Stephen crushing the competition and course record. She won by more than three minutes in 23:01.2, besting the record (25:41 by Madeleine Williams) and last year’s winning time (25:53 by Brittany Webster) by nearly three minutes. Last year, Perianne Jones was second, and Rhonda Jewett finished third.
After Stephen, Canadian Zoe Roy, who skied for the University of Utah and now trains with Rocky Mountain Racers, placed second (+3:02.0). Heidi Widmer (AWCA) was third (+3:27.3).
“We where excited to see Heidi run a [personal best],” Kuhn wrote. “Race winner Liz definitely showed us a new level for this event for the ladies’ time.”
Liz Stephen (in yellow) tries to warm up after winning Saturday’s 5 k Spray Drag hill climb by more than three minutes in Canmore, Alberta. She’s greeted by Canadian World Cup skier Chandra Crawford (l) among others. (AWCA photo)
U.S. Ski Team member Liz Stephen extending her lead to win the second annual Spray Drag running race on Saturday in Canmore, Alberta. (USSA Nordic courtesy photo)
AWCA skier Graham Nishikawa (l) leads American Sylvan Ellefson near the top of the Spray Drag running race in Canmore, Alberta. (AWCA photo)
Sylvan Ellefson (SSCV/Team HomeGrown) working to catch Graham Nishikawa (AWCA/CNST) in the final stretch of Saturday’s 7.5 k Spray Drag road race in Canmore, Alberta. (SMS courtesy photo)
The start of the Spray Drag men’s race on Saturday in Canmore, Alberta. The second annual road run up Spray Lakes Road was a fundraiser for the Alberta World Cup Academy. Grahama Nishikawa (5835) won it, followed by Sylvan Ellefson (5805) in second and Michael Somppi (5818). (AWCA courtesy photo)
Alberta World Cup Academy coach and race director Stefan Kuhn at the top of the Spray Drag hill climb in Canmore, Alberta. (AWCA photo)
Come challenge World Champion Devon Kershaw along with the entire Alberta World Cup Academy in a running race up the Spray Lakes road! All proceeds go to helping support the team for their upcoming season…
According to AWCA coach and race organizer Stefan Kuhn, “It’s basically all up hill … Starts on the river and we run all the way up then past the nordic center and up to the Spray dam, which looks over Canmore.”
Race Information:
Entry Fee $35.00 – registration on Zone4.ca, deadline is October 18th, 2011
Bib pick up Friday October 19th between 2 – 6pm at Ultimate Fit Center on Main Street
Last minute pick up can be done at Bill Warren Training Centre between 7:45 – 8:15am on race morning
8:15am briefing at cross country ski stadium at the Canmore Nordic Centre
A van will be at the Nordic Centre parking lot and at each starting point for shuttling clothing to the finish line. Shuttling from the finish line to the Nordic Centre will be available.
There will be 3 Vans to shuttle people down from race finish to Nordic center parking lot.
Awards/snacks/prizes at BWTC – TBD room 12-2pm
Start Times:
Women and Junior Boys/Girls 17 and Under – 9:30am – 5km – Rundle view Entrance.
Open M 18+ – 9:40am – 7.5km – Green gate about 400meters from power plant spill way.
Finish at the top of Spray Road by the dam for both men and women
Lactate: During power exercises such as sprinting, when the rate of demand for energy is high, lactate is produced faster than the ability of the tissues to remove it, so lactate concentration begins to rise.
Think you have what it takes to have the highest lactate? $50 will enter you in the 50/50 draw which will measure your lactate at the finish line. The harder your push, the better your chances!
50% of entry goes to AWCA and 50% goes to the winner. Separate draws for men and women. Registration for Lactate Challenge on Zone4.
![Spray Drag running race](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/10/Spray-Drag-Race-Final.jpg")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/10/stephen.jpg" "Liz Stephen, Spray Drag")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/10/mens-start.jpg" "Spray Drag 7.5 k men's race, AWCA, Canmore")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/10/66218_10100180980805217_1765784812_n.jpg" "Sylvan Ellefson, Spray Drag")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/10/spray_drag-digital-2012.jpg" "Spray Drag AWCA race")