Monthly Archives: March 2015

Sorry, kids.

“SnowKidz Cross-Country Cross 2015″, originally scheduled from 13:30 to 16:00 on Sunday, 22 March 2015, to be held in Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, has now been cancelled.

This free event has been cancelled due to a really, really, really bad case of “grass-itis”.  It may be months before Mother Nature recovers from this serious snow deficiency.

Here is what the SnowKidz Cross-Country Cross 2015 venue looked like at T-Minus- One-Week-To-SnowKidz-Cross-Country-Cross-2015:

[Confusion]
“Where Did All The Snow Go?”

Assiniboine Park Jackrabbit nordic ski club Track Attack member looks at where she normally skis in what is normally her snowy ski play area.

[Horror]
“If You Don’t Have Your Snow You Can’t Have Your SnowKidz!”
(with apologies to Pink Floyd)

It’s one week to the day before the SnowKidz Cross-Country Cross 2015 is to be held and almost all of the snow has melted (weeks before normal).

[Anger]
“Mother Nature: Ptooie!”

By 2015-03-15, nine of the last ten days has seen air temperatures well above 0 degrees Celsius. The last two days have been +13 and +14 degrees Celsius.
Exactly one week before the proposed event, solar irradiance makes it feel like +21 degrees Celsius in the sun (and +15 degrees Celsius in the shade).
Normal maximum temperature is -1 degree Celsius with a normal minimum temperature of -11 degrees Celsius on 15 March.

500 Metres of Heart-Pounding Snow Fun!

Click on the skis.  Scream downhill.  Get some air.  Slalom through gates.  Hang on through a banked turn.  Sounds fun?  How about easy?  Yeah?

Now ski back up the slope.  Do an uphill slalom.  Heart pounding?  Not yet?  Really?  Back down the slope.  More turns.  More kickers.  More air.  More banked turns.  Spin around.  Ski backwards.  Repeat.

Sounds fun?  Great!

What’s that?  You have never skied before?  Or like almost never before?  And you’re a boy or girl 4 to 14 years of age?  Yes?  No problem!  This event was made for you!  Really!

Come to SnowKidz Cross-Country Cross 2015.  It’s free!

Sunday, 22 March 2015, from 13:30 to 16:00.

Join the fun in the ski playground found northeast of Assiniboine Park Drive and Pavilion Crescent in Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg.

We supply the skis, the boots, the bindings, and the poles.

What’s that?  You already have your own ski equipment?  Bring it!

No way!  You already belong to a ski club?  Awesome!  Bring your stuff, bring your skiing friends, and meet you in the ski playground!

You supply the smiles (and while you’re at it bring your bicycle or multi-sport helmet).

Put on by the kids, parents, and certified coaches of the Assiniboine Park Jackrabbits (APJ) ski club.

Awesomely supported by Nordic X-Ventures, the Assiniboine Park Conservancy (APC), the Cross Country Ski Association of Manitoba (CCSAM), Cross Country Canada (CCC), the Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS), and Audi (yes, the car maker).

Hello Jackrabbit Managers,

Captain Obvious here again.

Besides tomorrow’s session being cancelled, the rest of the 2014-2015 ski season has now also been cancelled.

Yes, that means that the four Sunday sessions, five Fast Rabbits Thursday sessions, and the couple of races, all previously scheduled to run from now until 19 April 2015, will no longer be offered due to lack of snow.

Yes, that means that we won’t be able to run our first ever “SnowKidz Cross-Country Cross 2015” as part of FIS’s “Bring Children to the Snow” program.  Thank you to all of the people who volunteered to help run this event!

And yes, that means that the “Individual and Group Photos” scheduled for 2015-04-12 is also cancelled.  I’ll bet you are like me:  you want your skier pictures to contain some snow (not grass).

We will see if we can move the “Club Wind Up” from 2015-04-26 to some Sunday afternoon in the next few weeks.  Updates will be sent soon.

And, just as a teaser for the next few weeks:  Let’s assume that Mother Nature decides to turn the Cold-Making Machine on again.  And the Snow-Making Machine.  With no Heat-Making Machine in sight.  We may just put ski sessions back on the schedule.

Stay tuned.

Well Jackrabbit Managers,

I am feeling a wee bit… well actually… fully like “Captain Obvious” here, but tomorrow’s cross-country skiing session — perhaps in better times it may have been called “Sunday Session (17.5)” — for Sunday, 15 March 2015, has been hereby cancelled.

Yes, yes, yes… I know that you may think that the coaches of the Assiniboine Park Jackrabbits nordic ski club are a fairly resourceful lot, possessed of amazing physical powers:  faster than a novice snowshoer; more powerful than the front-half of a shih tzu skijoring team; and able to leap tall practice cones in a single bound.

But we do have our limits.  And Mother Nature is clearly the victor.

With eight of the last nine days having daily maximum temperatures well above 0 degrees Celsius (with a high that hit +13 degrees Celsius today) there is no longer enough snow in Assiniboine Park to ski more than a few metres without ending up on grass.  And with a forecast high of +15 degrees Celsius at what would be have been the start of skiing tomorrow, any remaining snow will likely all be gone.

Earlier this week I told you about “ Biathlon Manitoba’s “End of Year Event”” that was scheduled for this upcoming Saturday, 14 March 2015 and/or Sunday, 15 March 2015, at Falcon Ridge Ski & Recreation Area.

On Wednesday night, the organiser, Ron Pelletier told me that he intended to open up Zone4 registration late Wednesday night for this event.  Furthermore, he had indicated that the event would only take place on Saturday.  There would be no events on Sunday.  And there would be two races held on Saturday.

Unfortunately, less than twenty-four hours after being posted, the Zone4 registration for this event closed at 20:59 Thursday night.

So, it appears that we have all missed registering for our once-a-year biathlon experience.

Sorry.

Earlier this week I told you about the “Boundary Trails Distance Challenge” that was scheduled for this upcoming Saturday, 14 March 2015.  Remember ski, smile, eat?

Unfortunately, it has nowbeen cancelled due to the “rapid meltdown” of their ski trails.

Tonight’s session of Fast Rabbits Thursday is on!

See you at 19:00.  Finished by 20:15.

I just checked with the staff at Windsor Park Nordic Centre and there is indeed still lots of skiable snow for tonight’s Fast Rabbits Thursday!  Not much has disappeared since last night (except for bridges which we will walk).

Because the snow is currently on the slow side (hey, it is +9 degrees Celsius!) and will likely remain slow and soft-ish through our session tonight, I would like to invite all kids who would like a big ski to come on out tonight.

Really!  It’s on!  At least so far.  To be confirmed (or cancelled) around 16:30 on Thursday afternoon.

As of 20:30 on Wednesday night, there was still lots of snow at Windsor Park Nordic Centre on which to ski using either the classic or skate techniques.  The several kilometres of blue trail was rocket snow for skating.  Only about 50 to 100 metres of that trail had little or no snow.

Forecast is for a windchill free +6 degrees Celsius at our 19:00 start time.

However, because most of the day is predicted to be above 0 degrees we will post at about 16:30 to let you know if the snow is still skiable.

Hello Jackrabbit Managers,

Your kids like to dress up?  How about you?  Yes?  And everyone likes to ski?  Great!

Click here to start the process to register for the “Wednesday Night Participation Race #13:  Costume Relay”.

Need some background?  Here is the latest communique from the race organiser, Ron Pelletier, sent on 2015-03-09:

Yikes out of the frying pan into the fire.   It has gone from being too cold to almost too warm.   With this in mind, and in hopes to keep our snow a little longer, we have decided to have a Wed Nite Race in order to drop the temperature a bit.

So this Wednesday we will host our costume relay…as a twist we will also declare it Onesy Wednesday.  Yup you got it … you can also wear a one piece suit.  I hear Brent [Bottomley] has a neat one-piece race suit from the 70’s and that  Steve [Scoles] has a cute one-piece panda pyjama.  It’s all game as we wind up our most unique season ever.  

Officially our last race of the year…but who knows with our usual Wednesday cold weather we may save our Snow.  It sounds like each day should be  Wednesday for now.   

So please check the confirmation list.  If your name is on there, we will add you to a team.  

 If your name is not there but have fees owing from a previously cancelled race, send me an email by 8 on Tuesday night and I will add you to a team.

Not on confirmation the list?  Still time to sign up.   

It will be great to have all of you to come out one more time.  We will have cake, hot chocolate, music, and even an MC.  What can I say when Brent and Steve pull out their onesies, we pull out all the stops.

Technique will be skate.   Weather will be cold!!!!!!

Hope to see you out there!