ITALY – Airlines and losing luggage go together like peanut butter and jam.
Just ask Canmore’s Jacqueline Hutchison, who had the misfortune of experiencing her bag being misplaced all too well on a recent trip to Italy.
But the thing about this airline blunder, though, is it could have caused penalties or even a disqualification in a competition Hutchison had been planning to race for the past four years.
Hutchison – a long-time cross-country skier, biathlete and local firefighter – was set to compete at the 2024 Winter World Masters Games, a multi-sport event every four years for athletes over 30 years old, in Lombardy, Italy from Jan. 12-21.
Arriving at The Boot, Hutchison’s rifle, boots and skis popped out on the conveyor belt, but she was separated by an ocean from her race gear and rifle harness.
“I was able to beg, borrow and steal for clothes, but my rifle harness is very specific to my rifle and I was trying to fashion something out of duct tape and rope to make a harness so I could still compete,” said Hutchison, who had to carry her rifle on course.
“(...) Then the Italian team very kindly lent me a harness from an athlete that wasn’t racing so that was pretty nice. I had this Italian flag on the harness on my back, so I was just stoked that I was able to race with that.”
Adding some green to the Canuck’s red and white turned out to be money, as Hutchison won bronze in the race, the 15 km individual while shooting 12-for-20, in the women’s 55-59 category before being reunited with her gear for the next race.
Despite a frustrating post-flight experience, Hutchison couldn’t help but think that she now had a quirky sports story of her own to tell.
“Getting over that mentally, I drew on the athletes that live in town … and all these stories I love to hear because you’re never going to have the perfect day with the perfect race,” said Hutchison. “It’s really up to us as the athletes to overcome the mental stuff and just do whatever you have trained to put into it and learn from your mistakes and learn from your results.”
She went on to take another bronze in the 10-kilometre biathlon sprint (7/10), and silver in the 15 km cross-country skiing mass start. However, Hutchison said the biathlon competition was a much deeper field.
Doing biathlon for 30 years, the Canmore sharpshooter was motivated to enter the Winter World Masters Games by older athletes still at it.
Getting much joy herself from picking off toonie-sized targets from 50 feet away and skiing frozen trails, Hutchison said being in sports of biathlon and cross-country aid her in her physical profession of firefighting.
A full-time firefighter in Canmore, Hutchison says it involves a lot of power and strength, but the major benefit of the winter sports is keeping her mind sharp.
“Being fit is certainly helpful in our line of work, but mentally, that’s where the crossover is,” said Hutchison.
“When we go to an acute call and you are on and you have to make split-second decisions, it’s helpful to be able to be in a calm space and sort of thin-slice your decisions and make it go with it and know you’re going to have a backup decision if particulars change.”
Back at the fire station, Hutchison said she’s uncomfortable talking about her medal hauls over the years. For her, it’s more about the process – putting in the hours at the Canmore Nordic Centre and spending time with friends – than it is about how she performed on a specific day.
“It’s a bit like golf on steroids – no matter how you perform you want to keep coming back to it,” said Hutchison.
