THUNDER BAY -- Dudley Coulter is ready for a breakthrough.
The Marathon, Ont., skier finished seventh at the 2012, 10-kilometre classic race at nationals last year, the top under-23 skier in the event.
This weekend he’s looking for a similar result in one of three qualifiers. A win and he’ll be headed in the footsteps of heroes Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey, who both claimed gold at the 2011 World Championships.
At stake at Lappe at this weekend’s Haywood Noram World U-23 trials is a spot on Canada’s national team and a trip to the world championships later this month in the Czech Republic.
Coulter, who battled illness in December, said it’s his last chance to qualify in this category, and like former National Development Centre-Thunder Bay teammate Michael Somppi before him, it’s what his whole season is focused toward.
Add in the ability to do it in front of the home crowd on familiar trails and it’s the perfect storm, Coulter said.
“I’m pretty confident. The skating is definitely feeling better for me this year, so the 15-kilometre on Sunday is my favourite event, but tomorrow could be a good day as well.”
The Ajax-born skier said the format of the trials, which sees the winner of each of three individual races earn automatic berths and the next two or three overall finishers also make the national team, means every single stride of every single race is important.
“I’m not too worried. It may not be a win for me, but if I can hang in there, first, second or third for a couple of races in a row then I’ll still be able to make it on the team.”
NDC-Thunder Bay rookie coach Mark Doble, says the 2013 team has a big act to follow, given the success of two years ago, the last time the event was held at Lappe.
Several NDC-Thunder Bay skiers, including Somppi, Erin Tribe and Andy Shields, earned national team spots and Doble thinks they can do it again.
“There’s always big pressure on this team to put people on the world juniors and the U-23 team. It’s at these races where these people get selected, so yeah, it’s a big goal of ours for sure.”
The confidence must stick around for the weekend, he added. The preparation has been second to one, Doble said.
“We had a hard set of races out west and now back in Thunder Bay people have been training for this race. This is the biggest race of the year and we’ve been thinking about it all summer and training specifically for some of the uniqueness of this course,” Doble said.
“And we’re ready to go and excited.”
A lack of snow in the Thunder Bay area shouldn’t affect the races, said NDC-Thunder Bay veteran Erin Tribe, who praised volunteers who sacrificed much of their Christmas vacation to shovel show from the surrounding forests onto the trails.
“The dedication of the volunteers has been amazing,” said Tribe, who is in her first season at the senior level and will take part in the world senior spring trials.
About 300 skiers from across Canada area expected to take part in the trials.
