Candian National Championships in Duntroon, Ontario

According to the flight attendant it was 19 degrees when I arrived in Toronto on Friday...and that was in Celsius! Translation: 67 degrees F, t-shirts, and green grass. But by the time Don Ellis drove Laura and I through the rolling hills toward his childhood turf in Collingwood, ON, we began to see some snow. The heat blast has made it challenging for the volunteers and race organizers, but so far they have been able to put on successful Canadian National Championship races. I'm told that the race organizers have stock piled snow, are treating it with Nitrogen, and they have done a lot of shoveling. It's also nice to have assistance from mother nature, since there's a noticable lake-effect from Lake Huron.

The volunteers set up 10 pumps to pump out the water from the stadium after the rain came pouring down.
Ronsse racing in the slush. Luckily, I've had some practice racing in the slush-- its not much different from conditions we typically see on Eagle Glacier.
Valaas, hammering on the final leg of the first inaugural Ronsse-Valaas team sprint. It was a total success and we came in with the win!
Laura Valaas and Katie Ronsse post race. Thank you to Utah's Devon Spika for taking photos during and after our race!

Its going to be a big week of racing. This morning was a 5/10k skate race on a firm track after a evening/night of pouring rain that turned into snow by morning! Next is a 10/15k classic, classic sprint, and a 30k/50k skate. Its going to be tough...

but we are ready!