NorWesters and West Van Track Clubs host Cross-Country Running Camp at Whistler.

2nd Annual Camp Sells Out!

Whether it was the announcement that Chris Winter was going to attend this year’s camp and share his experiences at the National and World level, or a change in the weather from hot and sunny to cool and rainy, the 2nd annual camp closed its registration period filled to capacity. Chris, who heads to the University of Oregon after the camp, confirmed he will make the 2nd annual Whistler Cross-Country Running Camp his springboard to cracking the strong Ducks strong Cross-country squad. The camp is aimed at high school runners who want to get a head start on the rest of the field in preparing for the BC High School Cross Country Championships at Jericho on November 6th. The camp was a huge success in it’s first year and promises to be even better this year as coaches Frank Reynolds, Ashley Weber and Cindy O’Krane took to heart some of the feedback that the athletes gave on last year’s camp. “Believe it or not, the common comment was that the workouts weren’t tough enough!” stated Reynolds. “Well that certainly won’t be the case this year hopefully. Workouts designed to build strength, endurance and flexibility will be challenging and hard enough that each athlete will leave with a guaranteed improvement in their ability to run competitively right off the bat.” Reynolds, who firmly believes that true success in running cross-country lies in being mentally tough and focused as well as being strong and fast, plans a few sessions on mental training. Individual success in anything we do comes from pushing ourselves to be the best we can be. This is not easy but can be done with practice and using the methods the athletes will learn at the camp.

Reynolds doesn’t want to give the impression that the camp will be a ‘Boot Camp’ experience however. “After all, we’ll be in Whistler, a first class destination resort. We’ve activities planned to take advantages of the facilities and services offered there. It’s going to be a lot of fun along with the effort and pain” states Reynolds. “The highlight last year was our run up in the Alpine. It is absolutely stunning up there at the end of August. Tourists pay big money to come up and see what we will see every day in our camp.”

With the exception of the local club athletes, Reynolds’ interest in getting other North Shore high school athletes who want to excel in Cross Country hasn’t met with much success in the first two years as the remaining registrants are coming from other areas. “I’ll keep hammering away at the North Shore schools to try and get more North Shore participation.” maintains Reynolds. His dream would be for a camp of totally North Shore based athletes. Maybe next year.

Complete details of the camp on the NorWester website: http://www.norwesterstandf.com/