Accepting challenges, sking personal bests, winning medals and having a fantastic experience sums up the performance of the cross – country ski team of Patricia Wiseman and Daniel Moores.Patricia and Daniel trained for 11 months to prepare for the Winter Games in Quebec. A program combining strength and cardiovascular training was developed to prepare the athletes. By February 2008 both athletes had made significant improvement in their personal fitness and were well into ski practices on snow. They were excited and ready.
The Quebec Games trails proved to be a real challenge for athletes. The courses were very technical and were comprised of hills and steep down hills with “s” turns. Because of tackling some difficult trails during their training Patricia and Daniel were bettered prepared than most athletes to take on this course. After two days of practice, our skiers were ready to compete and achieved amazing results of medals and personal bests!
Patricia won a gold medal in the 100m race and beat her qualifying time in Corner Brook (2007) by a full minute with a final time of 1:00 minute. Patricia accepted the challenge to ski the 500 m course. In the preliminary race she struggled to master the up hill portion of the course, but her determination and dedication preserved and she finished the course in 27 minutes. Not to be discouraged, Patricia was determined to do better and in the 500 m final skied the course in an amazing 11:59secs!!! Patricia achieved personal best in both her 100m and 500m races. She is a true Olympian!!
Daniel proved he can ski with the best Special Olympic Skiers in Canada. While he got off to a slow start in the preliminary races, he surprised us with his competitive spirit in the final day of races. He achieved a personal best in the 500m race with a time of 3:29 minutes resulting in a gold medal. Daniel skied the race of his life in the 2.5km race. Seeded 4th in his Division with the second placed athlete starting 2:30minutes before him and the 3rd seeded athlete 1:30minutes before him, Daniel found the competitive spirit of the Games. Once the skiers entered the stadium area for the final 100m’s Daniel had caught both the 2nd and 3rd seeded skiers. This outstanding performance earned Daniel the Silver medal. Daniel also skied a strong 1km race placing 5th.
Both skiers participated in the team relays with Patricia teaming up with skiers from New Brunswick and Alberta, a truly national relay team!!! Daniel teamed up with the two male skiers from New Brunswick which proved to be a dynamic team placing in the top division based on their finishing time!!
Patricia and Daniel held to their athletes oath “let me be brave in the attempt”. They represented their Province well demonstrating sportsmanship, dedication and commitment. Preparing Patricia and Daniel for these games was an honor as they had a great attitude and work ethic. Congratulations to Patricia and Daniel, a job well done!!
Len Moores
Head Coach
