From Sept. 27 to Oct. 11, Canada’s Rocky Mountain Racers headed to Park City, Utah, for their annual fall training camp. The team, which is made up of twenty biathletes and cross-country skiers from across the country, took advantage of the region’s high altitude while putting in big volume hours and intensity.

Coaches John Jaques and Luke McGurk led RMR athletes during two grueling weeks of training with 3-5 hour volume days up Mirror Lake Pass, Wolf Pass, Emigration Pass, and Big Cottonwood Pass. For intensity sessions, the team went to Soldier Hollow, where the former Olympic venue’s paved rollerski track and biathlon range provided an opportunity for the biathletes and the cross-country skiers to train together.

For many RMR athletes, this was their first time coming to Park City.

“Skiing at Soldier Hollow was one of my favourite parts of the trip,” said Donny Boake, 15-year old RMR skier from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. “The rollerski track there has steep climbs and technical descents, so it was a great place to practice attacking the climbs and taking the descents aggressively.”
For returning athlete Ember Large, the camp provided a great opportunity to connect and work as a team.

“It was great to have the entire team together for two weeks, both for intensity and long easy days,” she explained. “Having everyone there made for a really fun atmosphere, and we were able to learn a lot from each other.”

This year, the team added something new to their training camp: agility practice. Armed with empty parking lots, sharp corners, and sidewalk curbs for the athletes to jump off of, RMR coaches prepared obstacle courses for the athletes to help improve their confidence on rollerskis. The sessions focused on honing the athletes’ ability to ski in a pack, corner, navigate obstacles, jump, and rollerski.

According to Coach McGurk, the agility sessions allowed athletes to “become more comfortable on their skis and give them the confidence to make decisions quickly when faced with a difficult situation.”
“The camp at Soldier Hollow is always an excellent starting point for the year as it offers a wide variety of terrain that we can use to test our athletes as well as most of our athletes will be in attendance,” he added.

The camp finished off with a sprint time trial at Soldier Hollow, where RMR athletes were joined by Wasatch Nordic Ski Academy for the day. Athletes completed a qualifier, three heats, and another qualifier to finish off the day. Heats were organized according to qualifying time, with similar speed athletes placed in the same heats to make for optimal competitiveness.

“It was a great experience to be able to race with some other girls that we don’t get to see in Canada,” she said. “It was a tough course with lots of hard uphills and downhills that really helped improve my skiing.”

Now done their last camp of the season, RMR athletes have headed back to Canada for some final training on Canmore’s Frozen Thunder before the season kicks off at the end of November.

Dave was the Head Coach for RMR from 2001 – 2004, and made a significant contribution to the club during his tenure. He was committed to the athletes and supported them in every way possible. The athletes had great respect for Dave and his coaching abilities. He had a wealth of experience with Cross Country skiing, and with RMR had the opportunity to also coach Biathlon. He was totally committed to the high performance philosophy, always demonstrated enthusiasm and innovation, and knew what it took to win. Dave will be sorely missed by everyone who knew him through RMR, and amongst the Nordic community in Canada.

Mike Carleton


I was Dave's athlete for most of my teenage life. He was fondly "Coach Dave" and I think he coached us all in sport and in life. He began coaching RMR at a difficult time in his life but brought an energy and enthusiasm that was infectious. He designed diabolical workouts, carefully laid out training programs, and took us all on some pretty wild adventures. He taught us how to work hard with a smile, to win and to lose. He took me on my first trip to Europe, was there through my graduation and lived in my basement the first time I moved away from home. He was there through my first breakup, my worst injuries and, whether I won the race or not, was always waiting at the finish line with a big hug. He would drive for hours to visit me in Rocky, play techno music and chase me up insanely steep hills while I did squat jumps. He was always supportive, always had an opinion and good humour and made every experience memorable. It's been a long time since I've been in the periwinkle van but every time I fail or succeed I have Dave with me. He made a profound impact on my life and I am forever grateful for his dedication, commitment and love.

Alison Madlung


Dave Battison was a coach, friend and true supporter of all his athletes'. He had an ability to connect critical technique elements, create challenging yet possible training plans meanwhile asking his athletes' to understand why and how they would achieve their goals. He was always welcoming, with a smile even at 6:30 am in the wax hut prior to a race. Dave had an ability to incite interest, create comedic relief and make skiing engaging. At RMR, Dave led a group of young athletes' to achieve significant improvements and results. On numerous occasions he helped athletes' who needed support and guidance with sport, but also personally. In addition, Dave participated himself in long-distance running and coached Ultra mountain bike races. Dave truly loved his vocation, his athletes and the sport. He will be sadly missed."

I remember training and spending time with Dave in many different locations; doing many different activities. A few stand out. We were doing plyometrics (a brutal workout devised by Dave) at the Canmore Nordic Center on a blustery autumn day. Always seeking improvement and increased performance, Dave created a bungee cord system in which he could harness the athlete and pull from behind to create resistance. I remember his encouragement each time I faced the hill, and while I inched my way up. After completing the workout, I felt an enormous sense of accomplishment and pride that we had done it together. For me, whether out skiing or in life, Dave will always be behind me, urging me forward."

Kit Richmond

Greetings RMR,

A quick hello from the mountain cluster at the Paralympics. We're just down from the Laura Nordic centre where Mark Arentz got a silver today in the Biathlon 7.5 km sprint. Congratulations to Mark, and there will be celebrations at Canada House which is located at our hotel.

Very warm here, it was +10 at the race site this afternoon, and the course softening up.

The Russians love our Canadian flag; we are in countless photographs.

Cheers,
Mike Carleton

At the NorAm/Calforex Cup races this last weekend, Rocky Mountain Racers earned their way to the podium 11 times in 13 races. All our biathletes put in great races at the Canmore Nordic Centre this last weekend and the full RMR results are listed below.