Notes
After lobbying Cross Country Canada for more world cup opportunities, budding Canadian cross-country ski stars will have more chances to race internationally this year, but self-funded trips will see their yearly costs balloon to in excess of $30,000.
To help alleviate some of those costs, Cross Country Canada has created a new fundraising campaign in support of upcoming stars such as Jesse Cockney, Heidi Widmer, Graeme Killick, Alysson Marshall and Kevin Sandau. The Canadian Excellence Fund will collect donations to offset tour costs at the Tour De Ski, world championships, 2015 world cup races and European B-Tour trips for development team skiers.
According to Davin Mackintosh, CCC executive director, the new fund will help offset tour costs by covering coaching, wax techs and other support services on tour.
“This fund is helping us provide a more comprehensive package by covering more of the project costs. On these trips, the athletes will be self-funded, but we want to provide the basic parts of the program,” Mackintosh said.
While crowdfunding websites have become popular among many skiers and biathletes in sending money directly to the athletes, this model will fund support they need on tour. Through CCC, donations over $25 are eligible for a tax receipt, and are less taxing on the athlete’s time. Marshall said crowd funding websites have their place, but aren’t a good fit for everyone.
“I have seen the behind-the-scenes setup of crowd-sourcing campaigns and it is not an easy task. It takes courage and vulnerability to put your finances and struggles on display for the world to see. It can also be time-consuming and stressful to create and manage a campaign. I don’t want to see all our skiers resorting to crowd-funding websites to cover their costs,” Marshall said.
In the past, a month racing in Europe would cost a development skier $3,000 thanks to subsidies. Now, that number jumps up to $5,000 to $7,000. The new fund will try and reduce costs where possible, although since it’s a charity, money can’t go directly to an individual athlete.
“We attempt to select athletes to gain race experience in Europe. We’ve had to do that within our means. Effectively, we aren’t subsidizing the cost to the extent we had in the past. Athletes are interested to see those costs managed, so we created this program for that purpose,” Mackintosh said.
Marshall said she and others have pushed for years to have more opportunities to race in Europe. In the past, CCC hasn’t used all of its spots in every world cup race, or opportunities to race overseas have been too brief.
“It’s completely different (in Europe). There are so many more skiers. Here, there might be four or five skiers within a minute of each other. In Europe, there are many more. It forces you to fight for seconds. You’re trying to hang on to someone for a few laps, you’re learning new tactics,” Marshall said.
Athletes have also asked for more time overseas to adjust to different races.
“The lifestyle takes time to adjust. There are different hotels and food. You have to figure out what’s important to succeed,” Marshall said.
She’s hopeful the ski community will support the fundraiser, which could have a large effect on the future of a sport she doesn’t believe should be reserved for the wealthy.
“Skiers are such a great community. Everyone is so excited. They know where the donations go and that’s really powerful,” Marshall said.
Visit cccski.com to donate to the Canadian Excellence Fund.
