Author Archives: robertjmcmahon

Tomorrow (Thursday, 11 December 2014) night’s scheduled session, known as “Fast Rabbits Thursday 2″, has now been cancelled due to a lack of snow.

Yep, the air temperature will be a delightful +1 degrees Celsius with a -5 windchill on Thursday night.  We sure like that.

Unfortunately, as of 20:00 tonight, Windsor Park Nordic Centre (WPNC) staff are reporting that “The Grid” is the only place that is suitable for skiing for people who have new skis and want to keep them from instantly becoming “rock skis”.  Furthermore, skiers would have to carry their skis from the clubhouse to The Grid to avoid the new gravel laid down on paths.

Even tonight’s race at WPNC had been cancelled due to lack of snow (http://windsorparknordic.ca/news/).

The Assiniboine Park Jackrabbits ski at WPNC on Fast Rabbit Thursdays so as to ski “far” and get more vertical relief (both relatively speaking).  Tomorrow’s session would not provide either.  The Grid will likely be congested with dozens of other skiers and there is little vertical on The Grid.

Hello Jackrabbit Managers,

Tomorrow’s session, “Sunday Session (5)”, for Sunday, 7 December 2014, is indeed running as scheduled.

What a difference a week makes!

Mother Nature will apparently be nice to us during our session.  Air temperature is expected to be -1 to 0 degrees Celsius (yes, that is warm), with winds south at 20 kmh, and 100 percent overcast, with a light snow fall near the end of the session (http://spotwx.com/products/grib_index.php?model=meteocode&zone=r1.15&tz=-6&title=FPWG11&lat=49.89975&lon=-97.13749).

Sunday’s session will be for sure a classic technique session for Coach Ihor’s and Coach Rob’s Track Attack groups (because of the existence of days-old skier-made classic tracks in the hilly area).

Plan for classic also for Coach Katherine’s and Coach Jeff’s Bunnyrabbits and Jackrabbits.

No mechanical grooming has been done as yet so free technique (skate skiing) will likely not be as fun as it normally would in these air temperatures, hence the classic skiing planned for tomorrow.

Coach Ihor will supply the classic grip wax-of-the-day-er-hour for those of us who may not know which wax may best work at this tough-to-wax temperature.  Find a coach at the start of the session and let us know that your skier will need grip wax of the day.

If you have them, bring waxless skis.  This is temperature range in which they work best.

Perhaps most importantly, bring a reusable mug for hot chocolate and an appetite for Wagon Wheels.   Coach Ihor promises that there will be plenty for everyone tomorrow!

Sorry for the short notice, but tonight’s scheduled session (https://assiniboineparkjackrabbits.wordpress.com/2014-2015-schedule/) for Track Attack skiers (Coach Ihor’s older kids group and Coach Rob’s not quite as old kids group), known as  “Fast Rabbits Thursday 1”, with a start time of 18:30 at Windsor Park Nordic Centre, has been cancelled due to lack of snow (see http://www.ccsam.ca/good-enough-now/).

Hello Jackrabbit Managers,

Yep.  I bet I know what you have been saying to yourselves for the last month.  Really.  I think it goes like this:

• Gee, I was really keen on becoming a Jackrabbit Coach, but gosh darn, I missed out even after Coach Rob exhorted me to go for it (https://assiniboineparkjackrabbits.wordpress.com/2014/11/02/wanted-more-jackrabbit-coaches/).
• But, shucks, more than anything; even more fun than being a Jackrabbit Coach, is that I have always wanted to become an Official, specifically a Cross Country Canada Level 1 Official.  Kind of like being a hockey referee (but with polite parents), a concert promoter (without bumping into celebrity), and an accountant (minutes and seconds way more often than dollars and cents), all rolled into one.  Oh yeah, and Michelin Man.  You get to dress like Michelin Man.  Often.

So, if you would like to make your dream come true to help run cross country skiing events then sign up for the free “Level 1 Officials Certification Course” being held this upcoming Saturday, 6 December 2014, from 09:00 to 17:00, at the Sport For Life Centre (across from the Manitoba Museum) at 145 Pacific Avenue.

To learn all about it, and even to sign up (its free this week only!) go to our provincial sporting organisation’s webpage of http://www.ccsam.ca/level-1-officials-certification-course-december-6th.

Hello Jackrabbit Managers,

For the 2014-2015 season the coaches hope to significantly reduce the number of cancellations due to weather.  While we can’t control Mother Nature, we can hide from her (sort of).  The coaches have been actively pursuing for the last few months these two potential just-say-no-to-cancellations improvements:

• Attempting to gain access to wind-sheltered ski areas.  Most of our prior cancellations (including today’s) have not been due too-cold air temperatures but rather due to too-high wind speeds which cause high windchills.  We have been seeking authorisation to ski in areas sheltered from the wind (complete with mechanical grooming).  If we are successful in securing that authorisation, we would likely run outdoor sessions on days like today (super windy but not crazy cold).
• Coach Jeff may be close to securing a fabulous indoor facility for those days when it really is too cold (wind or no wind) to be skiing outside.  We have been awaiting very-important-paperwork from our national ski association, Cross Country Canada (http://cccski.com), so as to make this a possibility.

We will let you know if and when anything improves.

Hello Jackrabbit Managers,

Today’s session, “Sunday Session (4)”, for Sunday, 30 November 2014, has now been cancelled.

Environment Canada’s latest forecast (http://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/mb-38_metric_e.html) indicates for today: “Blowing snow with visibilities frequently less than 1 kilometre this afternoon. Wind west 30 km/h gusting to 50. High minus 20. Wind chill minus 36.”

At skiing time, the hour-by-hour forecast (http://spotwx.com/products/grib_index.php?model=meteocode&zone=r1.15&tz=-6&title=FPWG11&lat=49.8963&lon=-97.297) is for -21 degree Celsius air temperature with a -33 degree windchill.

This is colder than our published -27 degree windchill outdoor activity cutoff (https://assiniboineparkjackrabbits.wordpress.com/about/is-it-too-cold).

For those of you frustrated with this “Following” thing:

So, you would really like to “Follow” our website.

But you are being stymied in doing so (probably your web browser on your Internet connected device of choice is not rendering the “Follow” widget properly or at all).  Or, you just plain don’t know what we are talking about (techno babble).

Then just send an e-mail message to me with all of the e-mail addresses you would like automatic notifications sent to. Why? Because I will register those e-mail accounts for you.

Until further notice, all scheduled Sunday sessions are hereby cancelled due to lack of snow.  Sunday sessions will resume once there is enough snow on the ground to (roughly) cover the top of the lawn in Assiniboine Park.  Yes, those sessions will be skis-on-snow skiing sessions, not running-shoes-on-grass dryland sessions.  When sessions resume with actual skiing, we will be sure to post on the Assiniboine Park Jackrabbits website to let you know.

Hello Jackrabbit Managers,

Today’s session (Sunday, 9 November 2014), known as “First Formal Session! (1)” on our schedule, has now been cancelled!

Sorry for the short notice.

It was the intent of the coaches to hold a session today if the weather conditions were similar to the previous three dryland conditions.

However, this will not be the  case today.  Air temperature is currently forecast to be -6 degrees Celsius with a -13 degree windchill with winds gusting up to 40 kmh from the northwest.  Plus snow.  See http://spotwx.com/products/grib_index.php?model=meteocode&zone=r1.15&tz=-6&title=FPWG11&lat=49.89975&lon=-97.13749 for details.

Oh, also frozen and wet goose poop.

We will try again next Sunday.