Members of the Carleton nordic skiing team made up part of the Canadian contingent at the 2013 Winter Universiade in Trentino, Italy.
The event ran from Dec. 11-21 and featured university athletes from around the world competing in Olympic-style winter sports.
Nicholas Clifford, the head coach of the Carleton nordic skiing team, said the athletes competed as individuals rather than as members of the university team and made a personal decision to compete.
Kendra Murray and Peter Beisel—members of the Carleton nordic skiing team—represented Canada in the cross-country skiing events. Beisel said two Carleton alumni, Lee Hawkings and Matthias Purdon, competed as well.
“Every athlete had at least two good races that they’re happy with. It’s the first real racing of the season for Canadians,” Clifford said.
Beisel, a fourth-year biomedical and mechanical engineering student at Carleton and four-year veteran of the team, said his entire off-season training schedule has been devoted to being in peak condition for this competition.
“There was a lot of hard interval training early in the fall. Normally that would be very early in the season,” he said. “I’ve had to organize my life around competing. It was a really big commitment.”
While Beisel has participated in international competitions before, he said this was the first time he had competed outside of North America. He said he was proud of his performance, especially finishing as the fastest Canadian in the 10-kilometre free race.
He said competing in Italy was not as daunting as it might seem because of the excellent quality of ski trails in the Ottawa area.
“Ottawa is gifted with Gatineau Park,” Beisel said. “The only difference was in altitude. You needed a higher level of fitness to compete.”
Clifford said these early international competitions are difficult for Canadians because of different racing schedules and different priorities between North American and European ski organizations.
“Carleton, for the most part did quite well,” Clifford said. “Amongst Canadians and North Americans, Carleton athletes were closer to the top than others.”
Murray competed in five women’s races at the Universiade. She finished second among Canadians in the skiathlon five-kilometre classic, and she also placed second among Canadians in the five-kilometre free race.
The Universiade was a chance for Carleton skiers to see where they match up internationally. Beisel said he was able to see the differences in the Canadian and European approaches to university athletics.
“You get a sense of how athletics and academics are combined in other countries. A lot of athletes were in school studying athletics,” he said.
For the Carleton team, the season is just beginning.
On Jan. 17-18, the team will be competing in Waterville, Maine at the Colby Carnival. Clifford said it will be the first team event of the year where the skiers will represent Carleton.
Beisel said the team has a lot of depth this year and some veterans will need to post successful times at these races to ensure that they will be selected to compete at the Ontario University Athletics Championships.
“We have a lot of up-and-coming talent at Carleton,” he said.
