Soirée bénéfice le 16 octobre

Lancement de la saison olympique 2013-2014

Bonjour à tous,

Mardi 5 novembre 2013 : Lancement de la saison olympique 2013-2014 du Centre national d’entraînement Pierre-Harvey.

Une occasion unique de rencontrer les talentueux athlètes du Centre et leur excellente équipe d’entraîneurs.

Cliquez ici pour plus d'information.

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Hi to all,

Come and see us Tuesday November 5th for the launch of the 2013-14 Olympic season.

A great opportunity to meet the athletes and staff of the Pierre Harvey Training Centre.

Click here for more information.

Une nouvelle piste de ski à roulette pour le CNEPH

Nouvelles fraîches

Bonjour à tous,

Tant d'événements se sont passés depuis la dernière nouvelle qu'il serait difficile d'en tracer un portrait complet pour chacun.

• Départ de Godefroy pour des raisons familiales et Sacha (il demeure farteur avec l'équipe nationale mais quitte ses fonctions au centre) à la fin de la dernière saison.
• Embauche de 2 nouveaux entraîneurs; François Pepin et Charles Castonguay.
• Sélection des nouveaux athlètes pour la saison 2013-2014 (vous pouvez voir leur portait dans la section athlètes).
• Ouverture d'une nouvelle page Facebook pour le CNEPH. Endroit de prédilection pour les photos et vidéos, on y retrouve des nouvelles à pratiquement toutes les semaines (voir tous les jours) sur le quotidien des athlètes et l'avancement de la saison.
• Mise en place d'un nouveau programme développement. 9 athlètes sont invités à venir passer l'été avec le centre, de vivre comme un athlète sélectionné à temps plein et de profiter de la majorité des services offerts aux réguliers. 7 répondront à l'appel et passeront l'été avec nous! Soutenus par les entraîneurs du centre durant tout l'été, ils retournent dans leur club à l'automne.

• Camp d'entraînement en France en juin pour notre groupe masculin, en compagnie de Charles. Prémanon et Tignes sont les endroits privilégiées, l'altitude étant le but premier de ce camp. Au menu = ski à roulettes, musculation, course à pied, marche en montagne et... ski sur neige!

• Camp d'entraînement en Nouvelle-Zélande au mois d'août pour Dasha, Alex, Raphaël et Cendrine. Frédérique et Anne-Marie, en projet spécial, les y accompagneront sous la supervision de Louis. Une superbe expérience pour ce groupe, voyage durant 2 semaines et demi; avec près de 18 heures de décalage horaire. Au menu = ski, ski et ski! Un peu de visite touristique seront aussi au programme, mais le but premier est avant de passer 2 semaines sur ses planches, à basse altitude, pour pouvoir skier beaucoup. Allez voir les blogues de Fred et Cendrine, les images valent le détour!
• Pendant l'été, Alex, Dasha et Louis ont accompli trois camps de leur côté; et ils sont présentement en Californie pour la dernière portion d'altitude de la saison.
• Finalement = ouverture de la nouvelle piste de ski à roulettes le 27 septembre au Rang St-Julien, Mont Ste-Anne.

Quel est la suite?

• Camp à Canmore (sur le fameux concept Frozen Thunder) pour le groupe régulier à la fin octobre. Lee, Charles et François y accompagnant les 8 athlètes.
• Départ en coupe du monde pour Alex, Dasha et Louis début novembre. Début de la saison = 29 novembre à Kuusamo en Finlande.
• Début de la saison pour le circuit canadien = 7 décembre à Silver Star, départ pour l'ouest le 22 novembre pour le reste de l'équipe.

D'ici là on vous tient au courant!

N'hésitez pas à visiter notre page Facebook et les pages des athlètes; meilleur moyen de rester informer sur nos activités ;)

Chandra Crawford: Of Love and Guts

By Pierre Shanks,

Chandra Crawford had huge ski boots to fill when she somehow unexpectedly made it to the canadian olympic team barely three months prior to the 2006 Olympic Games.

The top guns, Beckie Scott and Sara Renner, were still there but the time had come to prepare the Next Generation and at 22 years old, that's exactly what Chandra was, a promising athlete for the future. Little did they know.

Chandra Crawford was young, full of passion, full of love and... full of guts. She was going to compete alongside her heroes and she was in awe. But that was not going to keep her from being who she was, passionate and gutsy.

Already, the year before, she had decided it was time for girls to stand up and gain more fitness and self confidence through sports.

«I felt there was a real need, she says. There was a declining health in the population. Teenage girls are six times more likely (than boys) to drop out of sports.»

Chandra needed to share the benefits of sports. Bucket loads of passion pouring out of her heart. Fast and Female was born. Gutsy move from a then little known athlete.

Chandra was determined and looked up to her role models Beckie and Sara.

«What a huge impact they've had on my life personally, and on the fact that Fast and Female exists today.

Sara Renner and Chandra Crawford

«There they were, they had Canada (printed) in the back of their jackets, cool jackets.

«And also their nude calendar was a huge factor. They needed funding. It was so tasteful, showing their healthy bodies. It was so brave of them. They were strong and beautiful.

«I was a teenager, looking at what I wanted to do with my life. I credit them with the tone that was set to our generation.»

Beckie did things her way. She did the canadian team training camps and all but otherwise she was living and training remotely at her home in Bend, Oregon. And her career was a success. On the race course, her starts were stunning. At the sound of the start-gun, she'd jump out like Secretariat at the Kentucky Derby. You need a huge amount of confidence (and fitness) to think you'll tire out the rest of the field and stay upfront to the finish.

I'm strong too, thought Chandra. I'll learn to do just like Beckie.

So came the 2006 olympic sprint final. They were four, two of them Canadians. All eyes were turned on the great Beckie Scott. And a couple of them on the so called future of the canadian team, young Chandrrra Crrrawforrrd, as presented by the italian announcer. Take position... set... There was the start-gun shot, and there was young Chandrrra Crrrawforrrd jumping out in front of the pack. Bold move... She caught her breath for a moment, let the other girls fill the gap and then brutally put the hammer down. It left them all breathless. She powered herself to the finish line like a rocket. She didn't turn her head when she raised her arms.

«Well, I didn't know if they were there! Chandra remembers. My eyes were locked on the finish line. All I could hear was the kettle boiling. That's what I remember, the kettle boiling!»

Beckie finished fourth.

The world was stunned and Chandra Crawford was on the map. The map of champions. The map of heroes.

(You can watch the race here. If your heart doesn't start pounding, you're not a human being.)

Young Cendrine Browne, 15, in the blue jacket at the right of her idol Chandra Crawford on September 5^th, 2010

Years went by with their collection of medals and podiums and here we are in 2013, just months away from the 2014 Olympic Games. Beckie and Sara are into happy retirement. Chandra is now the veteran of the women's national team and an inspiration to the young talent.

Some of the most promising juniors with the canadian national team train at the Centre national d'entraînement Pierre Harvey (CNEPH) at mont Ste-Anne close to Quebec City. Cendrine Browne, Frédérique Vézina and Anne-Marie Comeau are part of the Next Generation and they look up to Chandra in the same fashion.

«Chandra was my idol when I got into skiing, says Cendrine. I attended one of her Fast and Female events and that was so motivating! To see an Olympian come tell us about her life path was simply extraordinary for me.

«Plus she was smiling all the time! I was so impressed, she always had this great smile.»

That was on September 5^th, 2010 in Saint-Jean-Chrysostome, QC. Cendrine was 15 years old and only in her second year as a competitive skier. That very day, Chandra Crawford changed her life.

«Chandra was the first one to ever tell me to dream big, and since that day, that's exactly what I'm doing. And now I'm trying to pass that message along to the most people possible, because dreaming big, believing in yourself and setting high standards is the key to everything! She was right!»

So let's see. That year, 2010-11, Cendrine finished top Quebec skier in the overall standings.

The following season, she placed 6^th at nationals in both skate sprint and 10 km skate.

That's when she got the call from the CNEPH. Last season, her first with the CNEPH, she placed an amazing 15^th in the 5 km skate at the World Junior Championships.

And last April, she was upgraded to the national senior development team. Now Cendrine will be training alongside her idol! Just like Chandra with Sara and Beckie back in 2005-06.

«At my first nationals in Yukon, I was heading for my cool down and I arrived at the course at the same time than her, Cendrine again recalls. She started talking to me like she'd known me forever! She was even presenting me to the other skiers as her friend. I was so impressed and flattered! That evening I told my mom on Skype: I did my cool down with CHANDRA CRAWFORD!!!!!»

And now they're teammates.

Cendrine and Chandra last December at mont Ste-Anne

Regular training with Chandra won't happen before November, though. As Skipresse reported back in April, Chandra decided to decline her nomination to the canadian team and organize her own training program towards Sochi. Another gutsy decision that she later explained to Alex Matthews of FasterSkier.

In the process, she loses her carding with Sport Canada, a much needed financial help from the federal government. «Financially it's disastrous!», says Chandra. But she insists she will be back with the World Cup team in the fall. «Cross Country Canada has invested millions of dollars in me. It's only five months on my own.

«My coach (Peter Larsson) says training for x-c skiing is not complicated, but it's very hard. I need to find the right amount of work and rest. How fit I can get between now and the Games.»

Work and rest. Give and take. Balance. That's what Chandra has been concentrating on in the last few months. She had worked but hadn't rested. She gave but took so little. Chandra gave everything into training, gave to her sport, gave to Fast and Female, gave to the media, gave to her fans, gave into a relationship, she gave and gave and gave until last February, her body and her mind called it quits. Au revoir.

If there is such a thing as a good time for a burnout, that would be it. She went back home to Canmore and took time to calm down. To stop and smell the roses. Be hugged. Be told how much she was loved by the people who count the most in her life.

Now she is bouncing back. She is recharging her batteries and the best way to get the whole package ready, to build a peak for Performance Day next February is to lay her own path. By November Chandra Crawford will be ready for the World. She'll be pumped up, strong, confident and dedicated to her sport and her national team like she's always been.

On February 11^th 2014, on the Sochi race course, the whole nation will be behind Chandra. Her family and friends and all of the young girls she has now been an inspiration to for years. Amongst all of those people, three young racers, the Next Generation of the women's national team, will have their hearts glued to her's, their legs pushing with her's. Cendrine, Frédérique and Anne-Marie will breathe with her on every stride.

Chandra will feel all of that somewhere inside. She will be empowered by it all. But her focus will keep her in her own zone. Her eyes will be locked on the finish line. She will be racing her own way, the Chandra way. With passion and love.

And a heart full of guts.

Assemblée générale annuelle reportée

Par François Berthiaume,

Report de l'assemblée générale annuelle du Centre national d'entraînement Pierre-Harvey au vendredi 14 juin 2013

Dû à l'absence imprévue de certains de nos athlètes le 30 mai prochain, dont Daria Gaiazova et Alex Harvey, les administrateurs du Centre national d'entraînement Pierre-Harvey se voient dans l'obligation de reporter la date de son assemblée générale annuelle au vendredi 14 juin 2013 prochain, moment où la grande majorité des athlètes seront présents.

L'assemblée générale annuelle débutera à 16h00 et sera suivi de notre Cocktail de début de saison à 17h30, à l'Auberge Saint-Antoine, 8, rue Saint-Antoine Québec (Québec) G1K 4C9

Nous nous excusons très sincèrement pour les inconvénients occasionnés par ce changement tardif.

Nous vous demandons, SVP, de confirmer votre présence à l'adresse suivante :
berthiaumefrancois@videotron.ca

Charles Castonguay se joint au CNEPH

Le Centre Pierre Harvey est heureux de vous annoncer que Charles Castonguay rejoint les rangs du Cneph à titre d'assistant-entraîneur.

Nous lui souhaitons bienvenue et bon succès dans ses nouvelles fonctions.

Voici en résumé les compétences et l'expérience de Charles.

ÉTUDES

B.Sc. Kinésiologie, secteur performance sportive	Université Laval
Micro-B. Sc. Nutrition	Université Laval
Maîtrise en kinésiologie, secteur performance (en cours)	Université Laval

COMPÉTENCES SPÉCIFIQUES/FORMATIONS CONTINUES

• Accrédité CSHNQ et CNMM
• Certifié SFMA (Selective Functionnal Movement Assessments)
• Instructeur Pilates certifié Ann McMillan Pilates (en cours)
• Instructeur Yoga certifié Amazing Yoga / Yoga Alliance (international)

EXPÉRIENCES PERTINENTES EN ACTIVITÉ PHYSIQUE

• Préparateur physique pour le Centre National Pierre Harvey Mai 2009 à aujourd'hui
• Assistant en physiologie, collaborateur à la recherche, technicien GPS avec Ski de Fond Canada, Septembre 2011 à aujourd'hui
• Rédacteur participant à la section « Préparation Physique » du programme national des entraineurs de Ski de Fond Canada, version 2013

• Intervenant, chargé de cours pour le cours Performance/Préparation Physique II, Département de Kinésiologie, Université Laval, Automne 2012
• Préparateur physique pour Dominique Maltais (athlète en Snowboard cross) avec B210, Mai 2012 à aujourd'hui
• Préparateur physique, biomécanicien et analyste vidéo pour le Club de Taekwondo de Ste-Foy, Mai 2009 à aujourd'hui

PARTICIPATION À DES ÉVÈNEMENTS MARQUANTS

• Jeux Pan Américains 2011, Guadalajara Mexique
• Jeux Olympiques de Londres 2012, Angleterre
• Championnats du monde de Ski de Fond 2013, Val di Fiemme Italie

Nomination entraîneur CNEPH

Au nom des membres du conseil d'administration et des athlètes, le CNEPH souhaite la bienvenue à François Pépin qui devient entraîneur au sein du Centre Pierre Harvey. Voici en quelques lignes le cheminement professionnel de François:

• Entraîneur de ski de fond depuis 7 ans.
• Entraîneur chef de Skibec depuis 4 ans.
• Bachelier en Intervention Sportive de l'Université Laval et entraîneur niveau 3 du PNCE.
• Membre de la délégation canadienne lors des derniers championnats du monde junior et U/23, Liberec, République Tchèque.
• Membre de la délégation québécoise lors des derniers Jeux du Canada, Halifax, hiver 2011.

Bravo et bon succès dans tes nouvelles fonctions!

Doherty, Comeau Stand Out as Junior Skiers of the Year

Anne-Marie Comeau (Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre) and Sean Doherty (Vermont Collegiate Biathlon) are FasterSkier's Juniors of the Year.

By Alex Matthews, FasterSkier,

Moving right along with our Skier of the Year awards, we're delighted to introduce Junior of the Year for all the talented U19's out there. The big hypothetical prize goes two outstanding North Americans, U.S. biathlete Sean Doherty and Canadian Anne-Marie Comeau, who have already notched results most seniors would envy, and they haven't graduated high school yet.

Sean Doherty (Vermont Collegiate Biathlon/Ethan Allen)

It's a pretty big moment when you grab your nation's flag and ski across the finish uncontested, and Doherty, a high-school senior, did just that at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) Youth and Junior World Championships in January in Obertillach, Austria.

One day after notching silver in the 7.5-kilometer sprint, the 17-year-old from Center Conway, N.H., became the first American to win gold at the Youth and Junior World Championships since Jay Hakkinen in 1997. Despite some early penalties, Doherty collected himself and skied to a nearly 30-second victory in the 10 k pursuit race, soaking up every moment he could.

“It was incredible,” he told FasterSkier after the race. “It was just amazing to know that it was locked up, that I was going to be able to grab the flag at the end, all the stuff that I just see people do at big World Championship type races, and then all of a sudden, wow, I'm going to be able to do that.”

The next day on Jan. 27, Doherty racked up another silver, this time in the 12.5 k individual race, to become the winning-most U.S. biathlete at Youth and Junior World Championships.

Great results and medals are nothing new to Doherty; last year at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria, he anchored U.S. biathlon's mixed relay to its first medal: bronze. After his most recent performances in Obertillach, Doherty appeared in Sport Illustrated's “Faces in the Crowd.”

“It was an amazing week,” Doherty told TeamUSA.org. “The best way I could put it is that it was incredible to have all that good racing come together in a week when it really, really counted.”

Anne-Marie Comeau (Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre)

At just 16 years old, this Québec athlete, who shares the same training centre and town (St-Ferréol-les-Neiges) as Canada's celebrated World Cup skier Alex Harvey, is quickly rising to similar success.

In December, Comeau earned her first World Cup starts in Canmore, Alberta, and made the top 50 in both the 10 k classic mass start and 15 k skiathlon. In the classic race, she was the top junior and second Canadian out of 14 nation's group women. (Did we mention she's 16?)

In late January, she ventured to Liberec, Czech Republic, for her second Junior World Ski Championships. There, she was the second Canadian to teammate Frederique Vezina in the 10 k skiathlon, placing 34^th despite a crash while Vezina tallied 29^th.

Back in Canada, Comeau wowed at Canadian Ski Nationals in March, finishing 11^th in two races: the 5 k freestyle and 10 k classic. She wrapped up her season on yet another high note in California, placing 14^th – the best of any junior or Canadian – in the U.S. Distance Nationals 30 k classic mass start at Royal Gorge near Truckee.

Honorable Mentions

In recognizing top juniors, we couldn't go without giving some love to Ben Saxton (F.A.S.T. Performance Training) and Logan Hanneman (Alaska Pacific University).

Both born in June of 1993, these two were neck-and-neck rivals throughout the season, with Hanneman beating him in three races at Junior Nationals, including a photo-finish skate sprint, but Saxton finally edged him in the OJ 15 k classic mass start.

“It was a pretty great feeling to finally come out on top,” Saxton told JN2013Fairbanks.us.

At 19, Saxton achieved fifth at U.S. Nationals in the classic sprint and went on to place 14^th at Junior World Ski Championship in the same event. Hanneman, 19, was right behind in 16^th in the Junior Worlds classic sprint and nearly made the podium at senior nationals in Midway, Utah, where he was fourth in the freestyle sprint.

“I definitely wanted to make it out of the quarters but the qualifier was so hard... I was just like, ‘Oh, gosh, this is not going to happen,'” Hanneman said at the time. He went on to win the junior 10 k classic mass start in Midway.

Source: Doherty, Comeau Stand Out as Junior Skiers of the Year, by FasterSkier

Ski de Fond Canada décernent trois mentions d'entraîneur par excellence pour la saison 2012-2013

Pendant les réunions du Comité Haute Performance de SFC le 12 avril 2013, Justin Wadsworth, Entraîneur-chef Équipe nationale, Lisa Patterson, Coordonatrice Haute Performance SFC de l'est et Louis Bouchard, Entraîneur Équipe nationale, ont reçu les Prix d'Entraîneur par Excellence 2012-2013.

De gauche à droite:

• Innovation dans l'entraînement – Justin Wadsworth: Décerné pour son leadership dans l'intégration de la technologie GPS dans plusieurs aspects des programmes d'entraînement de l'Équipe de Coupe du Monde et la recherche de moyens innovateurs dans l'utilisation du nouveau tapis roulant pour ski au Centre d'entraînement Bill Warren afin d'améliorer l'entraînement, le suivi et l'efficacité biomécanique.
• Leadership féminin dans l'entraînement – Lisa Patterson: Décerné pour la qualité de son leadership dans son rôle de Chef d'équipe pour les Championnats mondiaux juniors/Moins de 23 ans 2013.
• Collaboration dans l'entraînement – Louis Bouchard: Décerné pour ses efforts dans l'intégration des équipes de soutien à la performance de l'est et l'ouest afin d'optimiser le support pour l'Équipe de Coupe du Monde.

Toutes nos félicitations Lisa, Justin et Louis!