Paradise Lost? Found it in Silver Star!

If you were to play "Where in the World is Andy Shields" last week, you would have found me in Silver Star BC. having a grand old time! The team and I were in the ski resort town of Silver Star, near Vernon, spending a week preparing for the first weekend of competetion and getting to the big stuff - da racing. Silver Star is a cross country skier's version of paradise. At 1700m above sea level, there is always reliable snow in December, usually in the form of fluffy white powder rather than rock hard man-made snow or slush-covered dirt that is typical of this time of year anywhere else. The extensive trail system is always a pleasure and the trails start right from the front and back doors. Because we where tapering a bit for the races, we never got to ski as much as we wanted. But we weren’t there for a skiing vacation! Oh no! We were there to race! The races were held at Sovereign Lakes which is a 5min drive or a 30min ski from Silver Star. Sovereign Lakes hosted a World Cup back in the day so it’s a pretty legit race site. The race formats were a 15km Individual Start on Saturday (Dec. 7th) and a classic sprint on Sunday. It was a NorAm race so all of the best non-World Cup team athletes in Canada were there and some quick Americans. My races went moderately well, not super great, but definitely far from terrible. I was 10th in the 15km and 11th in the sprint. Results: 15km Skate Individual Start: http://zone4.ca/results.asp?ID=6132&cat=1226 Classic Sprint Results: http://zone4.ca/results.asp?ID=6148&cat=444 We are now in Rossland BC preparing for the second weekend of racing of the year and final one before the Christmas break. On the schedule we have a skate sprint on Saturday (Dec. 14) and a classic 15km ind. start on Sunday. Results will be posted on zone4.ca. Stay tuned….