I.Love.Canmore

I LOVE CANMORE. Period.

This weekend the final Cross Country world cup before the Olympics came to town and the town came to it! The turnout was  really impressive from such a small community. It was definitely a weekend to remember with blue skies and good snow. 

But the greatest part of the weekend was hands down when Sara Renner took home the bronze in the classic sprint with her husband Thomas Grandi commentating and entire town cheering her home on the final stretch. It was so moving, motivational, inspirational and emotional to see her face as she crossed the finish line, it was pure happiness. I cannot think of anyone who deserves such an accomplishment more. GO SARA

Below is a little looksies of Canmore. Beautiful? Yup!

Sara and her teammates (Perry, Dasha and Chandra) congratulate her on a job well done!

The men in their final

Not a bad turnout! Look at the people!

No World Cup or event in town would be complete without Crazy Lary handing out balloon animals and gloves to everyone

A look at the men 

Myself and the great fellow Canmoron Thomas Grandi

Victory lap

Kikkan Randall of the US. I felt like such a creeper... 

Sara Renner at the awards ceremony in her hometown with a huge crowd to celebrate with her

Above: giving mayor Ron Casey a hug 

The men got "white hatted" on the podium and another shot of downtown

I went up and watched with my mom and Sandra

The entire town was on FIRE! There was World Cup and Olympic fever. They even trucked in snow and shut main street down, groomed and track set it for people to ski on. They held Chandra Crawfords Fast and Female event and corporate ski challenges to hype the town even more. Amazing? I think so!

My only question is that now the weekend is over, where is all of the snow going? Cyprus? 

After enjoying all of the festivities, what day wouldn't be complete without some indoor spin bike races at the Drake for  the aptly named "Tour Duh Canmore"? Followed by some adventuring downtown and fun with the "Big Head" statue of Canmore?

A little background: Canmore in gaelic really means big head. Hence the statue

Joel and I then went "skiing downtown"

Look at our technique. Flawless! 

Then today I went out and enjoyed the blue skies and went for a hammer on the trails. Sans brace! A-thank you. My hot pink knee brace didn't make the cut, making this my second ski brace-less and free since my injury. Big step for me both mentally and physically.  A bunch of baby steps will eventually turn into one big giant leap!

Skiing downtown on main street. No big deal.

Just some more reasons why Canmore is the best place to live in the world!

I know this event would not have been possible without the support of first of all the town of Canmore, all of the volunteers, athletes, coaches, supporters and fans. Even though I wasn't directly involved, I can imagine how much work it took to pull off such an event and my hat goes off to everyone who made it happen. We, the local athletes are so fortunate to be supported by such an amazing community. It is through weekends such as these where we truly gain a scope of how much support we really have, and for that I am truly thankful.