Chandra Crawford

It's a Wrap

2010-03-08T14:59:00.000-08:00

Thank you for stopping by and thanks to Best Buy for their amazing support of my ski career and the empowerment through sport of so many young women across the country with Fast and Female.

I'll be posting at www.chandracrawford.ca and www.fastandfemale.com

Sinceely,

Chandra

Enjoying the last days of the Olympics.

2010-02-25T23:56:00.000-08:00

(enjoying an nice mellow sesh with my friend Sarah Daitch at the Lulu pad.)

Yoga is on the podium for best medicine. It was edged out by laughter and, well... medicine.

Juuuuuust kidding. Although I do really find the yoga makes me feel really good physically and mentally as it balances out all the striving with some chilling.

Chilling is not exactly what I'm up to... I rest a lot more when prepping for a race and today I did my last race of these games and now plan to get out and enjoy the scene a bit more. It was tough because even though I had great skis, a good start position and tremendous desire to push and fight, my race shape is several levels below what I need to perform my best. The kind and dedicated wax staff that I appreciate so much told me to consider today the first training day for Oslo World Champs skate sprint which will be this time next year. It was hard to get to these games, I did it, and now it's time to cheer on my teammates in their 30 and 50 kilometer races and enjoy Whistler and Vancouver.

Looking ahead I'll be at the Canadian Championships in Whitehorse March 14-20 and will then be working with Devon on getting our plan together to rock Russia 2014.

Thanks again to everyone for all the encouragement!

Chandra

Best EVER men's Olympic result today! Alex and Devon!

2010-02-22T15:24:00.000-08:00

In this photo Devon gives a shrug for the bitter-sweetness of 4th place at the Olympics but I am stoked! My boyfriend, Devon Kershaw, was spectacular today - playing it cool through the semifinal and final of the race and launching an attack at the perfect time on the last lap of the sprint relay today on another beautiful sunny Whistler Olympic Park Day.

Devon and his super-tight buddy Alex Harvey pulled off an incredible 4th place finish for Canada's Best Ever Men's Olympic Result. They skied super well. Gutsy but also calculated. It made me think that the hundreds of hours of blah blah blah about skiing and Oakley sunglasses that I have endured just being around these two peas in a pod has all been worth it and I know there's lots more where these performances came from.

They are incredible friends on and off the trails - with Devon even sharing his best race skis with Alex only to sometimes be beaten by his own boards on the feet of his younger teammate. They can easily talk 8-10 hours straight in a day about topics ranging from direct English-French translations of their favorite expressions to how long it might take one of them to shoot a million pennies at the others' face. The latter involved some questionable calculations but passed the time on another wait for a Euro-tunnel to open.

Devon and Alex are impressive athletes and crazy great guys and I'm extremely pumped for their race today and Wednesday's 4 x 10km relay in which they will be joined by George Grey and Ivan Babikov in Canada's first time as a serious medal threat in the relay. Bring it on, boys!

Family, Mountains, Yoga

2010-02-20T22:13:00.000-08:00

First of all... how about that Canadian Men's X-Country Team? Hot stuff with all 4 of them in the top 16 today in the 30km pursuit and the potential looking really good for my boyfriend Devon and his buds in the upcoming relay events. Be sure to watch them on Monday and Wednesday this week.

As for me, with no races on deck for me until Thursday February 25th's 4 x 5km relay I took the opportunity to re-charge my batteries with some of my most loved people and activities.

I'm so fortunate to have the world's best family on my side and many of my aunts, uncles, cousins and my mom's friends have been cheering loudly for Rosanna and I this past week. Thank you to everyone from the Crawford and Manning sides of the family who came out! The above photo is my cousin Tyler and my sister Rosanna.

My parents passed on to me a serious need to get high. In elevation that is. Way above treeline at 2300 meters I am truly at home. My friend and local mountain man Kevin Titus took biathlon Olympian Sandra Keith and I for a little tour off of Blackcomb mountain where we got a little closer to the spectacular sun the has been shining generously on Whistler as of late.

Lululemon has taken amazingly good care of their elite athlete ambassadors for many years but especially heading into these games. With the mansion stocked with snacks, the hot tub bubblin', and yoga nymphette Laura Thompson on hand 24/7 for yoga it's great to be connected with these great people. A little yoga goes a long way to balance out all my striving and pushing with some acceptance and gratitude.

Namaste,

Chandra

2010-02-19T21:12:00.000-08:00

Following my event I was able to get out and see the world a bit in the last two days. I've enjoyed so much hanging with my sister, Rosanna. I watched her exciting race on Wednesday and hung with her in the village. Our team is staying a 30 minute drive South down the road from Whistler so to see the Olympic village was a real treat. Great work to the people who made that good-looking place and all the nice volunteers who make it so welcoming.

At the nordic venue I've been proud to see some of our best results coming from these two great friends of mine - Ivan Babikov and Sara Renner. Top tens from both of them already and more great races still to come. I love my team!

2010-02-17T17:34:00.000-08:00

Wow. A great day for racing. My best qualifier (usually in the first round against the clock I'm 16 seconds behind the best girls and today I was 9). Incredible great energy from the crowds. I gave it my all in the quarterfinal - wanted so badly to make it through... alas I missed a lot of training and classic is still not my forte. Feels great to be a part of it - to have made it and be out there fighting is a reward in itself for all the hard work.
Thank you to everyone!
Chandra

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

2010-02-11T22:56:00.001-08:00

Sara Renner and I share a belly bump after her incredible bronze medal in the Canmore World Cup February 6th.

And now it's time for the big show. I'm really stoked to be going to the opening ceremonies. I'm looking forward to my reunion with Callaghan Valley, the location of Whistler Olympic Park, where I've spent some great training hours the past 4 years. I can't wait to watch my sister race biathlon in the "stadium next door." I can't wait to hang and enjoy the good eats whipped up by our chefs in the ski team's hors-village accommodation.

But most of all...

... I'm going to have a great time racing with the rings on my chest and the home crowd cheers ringing in my ears.

A THOUSAND THANK YOUS TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED ME GET TO THIS POINT: READY FOR THE 2010 OLYMPICS!

I'm going to take a time out from blogging for some great focusing. Thank you for coming with me on the journey and I'll update when I'm done focusing on and enjoying the moments.

Wish me luck on Feb 17th in the classic sprint, Feb 25th in the 4x5km relay, and possibly (awaiting coaches/teammates decisions on Feb 22nd in the team sprint and Feb 27th in the 30km classic.

As for the last games I'm packing a big smile and my air guitar...

Fast and Female Urban Style Downtown Canmore Feb 6, 2010

2010-02-09T19:22:00.000-08:00

It's been an amazing and busy week in Canmore. With tons of press conferences, interviews and team meetings followed by tremendous racing action and Sara Renner's fabulous bronze medal in the classic sprint here at the best stop on the world cup circuit: Canmore. The town celebration included putting snow on two blocks of main street for the whole weekend and so so many good times were had on that snow by many people and it looked really magical.

Fast and Female jumped at the chance to ski in town and we had 100 girls out for a very unique and fun event. Our sponsor COLD-FX sponsored the live performance by international group "Drum Cafe" was really cool and we boogied hard with our local Zumba instructor, Maria, leading the way. A great warm up! Check out our zany instructors in the photos below.

Brooke Gosling, Sara Renner, Rhonda Jewett, Sarah Daitch, Madeleine Williams, Mallory Deyne, Sekwan Trottier, and Sarah Murphy were rock star BBFF's (Best Buy Fast Females) and our great friends Kikkan Randall and Liz Stephen, American Olympians who are spreading the F&F love across North America brought their amazing energy. The BBFF's are what make the events so memorable and the girls get to meet some incredible role models.

Special thanks to the BBFF's, volunteers, Best Buy, COLD-FX, The Lambert Bros, The Jocabecca Foundation, Lululemon, Buff, The Canmore Rotary Club and everyone who made this event possible. Dan Roycroft's time and images are much appreciated - check them out below.

I haven't had that much fun since... the last Fast and Female event!

Friday I'm off to the Opening Ceremonies and my first race will be Wednesday, February 17th in the classic sprint.

Spread the Love, Dominate the World!

A message for the Best Buy team

2010-02-02T11:57:00.000-08:00

This video was done for a quarterly Best Buy Head Office employees' meeting. It was a quick summary of everything I've been working on... Enjoy!

Cool articles!

2010-02-01T09:56:00.000-08:00

Check out some cool articles about Fast and Female in The Vancouver Sun and The National Post!

Also, there's a neat video on The Vancouver Sun's site as well!

We Must be the Only Athletes in the World...

2010-01-31T07:55:00.000-08:00

... preparing for the Olympics by ski touring in the mountains.

This was Sara Renner's comment to Devon and I as we reached our high point for the day at 2700 meters on a unique high altitude training session last week.

Devon and Sara had both just recently returned from the Tour de Ski race and we were all keen to do our long and high workout in the most energy-giving manner possible: backcountry ski touring.

My Dad, Glen and Sara's husband Thomas Grandi joined us for what was an incredible 5-hour tour from 1900 to 2700 meters. The great company sweetened the deal of getting all the physiological benefits of such a workout and on top of that we were rewarded with phenomenal views and a refreshed connection with the mountain environment that in so many ways defines us.

Photos by Devon "D-200" Kershaw.

Sara Renner doing some "Aria training"

2010-01-25T15:35:00.000-08:00

Sharing her grandmother Barb's birthday of February 1st, Aria Grandi is an incredible little girl who brings big smiles to the ski team whenever she hangs with us. Sara tones her buns of steel by towing Aria around on occasion while the half pint ski-star-in-training works Sara harder than any coach, yelling: "Faster!" Already fluent in Italian and refusing to snowplow while charging downhills, she is a hilarious and adorable addition to the Bow Valley's favorite family. Keep up with their news as Sara and Thomas crusade for climate change HERE.

My snazzy New Toshiba Satellite with crazy cool features!

2010-01-21T08:54:00.000-08:00

As my friends at Best Buy like to say about the new laptops they are rockin': "You spoke. We listened. Laptops with the features you asked for."

What a great idea!

Best Buy surveyed consumers to find out the features they most want in their computing experience. Then they partnered with top laptop manufacturers to create laptops with all these requested features and the result is a Best Buy exclusive program called Blue Label.

The features on this thing are bananas. Aside from the aesthetics of the backlit keyboard and sleek blue design and weighing under 5lbs it has everything you want in a laptop. I just enjoyed my unboxing and with my first training session already done for today it's time to wirelessly stream ski technique videos to my HDTV. Sweet!

Check it out for yourself.

Thanks for stopping by,

Chandra

Hangin' with Canmore Nordic

2010-01-18T17:59:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos from the training I did with some of the Canmore Nordic Ski Club Girls... helping them warm up for their stellar 3km race on Saturday. The podium shot shows them proudly sporting their Fast and Female gear. These kids inspire me so much and keep me in touch with la joie de ski.

Racing in Canmore

2010-01-16T13:21:00.000-08:00

Today I raced in a "Bow Corridor Regional Race" here in Canmore. It was an amazing perfect day for racing with beautiful blue skies, warm temps and great tracks. The local ski community was out and loving it. My Swedish friend, recently retired racer Peter Larsson, who is a 6 x World Cup winner has been here these week to help me with my classic technique. I've had an incredible week of super hard super focused work on my technique and am feeling really good about the progress.

Thanks to Peter for all the great skiing!

Cheers,

Chandra

Yea Rosanna!

2010-01-12T09:02:00.000-08:00

The countdown is on and I am gearing up for the much-anticipated opportunity of a lifetime: the home Olympics! As if that wasn't incredible enough, my sister will now be joining me at the Olympics.

Everywhere I go in town people congratulate me on my sister's recent qualification and the main they ask is "Are you so excited?" or "Are you ready?" Yes, I am very excited. I'm looking forward to racing in the Callaghan Valley with so many people I know out cheering. I'm looking forward to walking in the opening ceremonies. I'm looking forward to my sister and I racing in stadiums that are separated by a mere few hundreds meters of ski trail.

That's right, my 21-year old little sister Rosanna qualified for the Olympics in biathlon in the recent final trials race. We once dreamed of being "2010 sisters." Through the past few years of setbacks and more downs than ups we've propped each other up and got through it all thanks to our amazing family who've been positive and optimistic enough to fill in our doubts whenever we suffered new injuries or medical problems.

Just as family is part of what I call "The Team Behind the Dream," the amazing people in our hometown of Canmore, Alberta and beyond have played a huge role in getting all us athletes to this point. The preparation and training has been possible thanks to the encouragement and support of so many Canadians... and we athletes don't tell you enough but we really, really appreciate all that you do for us!

As for Rosanna and I, we will both be doing training camps at Mt. Washington on Vancouver Island in preparation as both our respective teams have chosen that place for the final prep because of it's similar snow conditions to the Callaghan Valley.

In the meantime training in Canmore where it's at for me and Rosanna is doing World Cup races in Europe.

**Here are some photos of me cheering for my sister during her trials race. In the second one I actually had to take off my big jacket to be able to run fast enough to keep up with her while yelling "You can do it!! Focus! Ski hard!" In the end if she'd gone 15 seconds slower she wouldn't have made the Olympic team - every second counts and I was glad to be there to cheer her on.

Thank-you for reading,

Chandra

Video Blog - A Fast and Female song for you

2010-01-08T08:27:00.000-08:00

My Dad is a professional video producer and helped me make this. Thanks Glenner!

Ahhh the holidays... :)

2010-01-04T11:14:00.001-08:00

I came home from Rogla fully intending to return for the Tour de Ski. But I was so totally bagged from being away and on the go for over 2 months that my coaches and I decided the best thing would be to stay home in Canmore and do some excellent training. And that is what I'm doing. Luckily my teammates Sara, Devon, George, Alex and Ivan are all rocking out at the tour and doing Canada proud.

After a week of getting my energy back and enjoying the Christmas celebrations with my family and extended family I did a good week of volume training. It will be my last week of training big hours likely til the spring and I enjoyed doing tours on Cascade Fire Road in Banff, up at Mt. Shark in Kananaskis Country as well as a super fun ski tour on Christmas Eve at Black Prince.

Here are a few photos from what I consider the highlights of my last two weeks here in wonderful Canmore...

My dad Glen's nickname changed from Glenner to Glen-gnar because of the way he "shreds the gnar." Go Dad!

Playing guitars at the family sing-a-long with my uncles. My cousin Emily wowed us all when she busted out not only some great renditions of Taylor Swift songs but some she wrote herself. Impressive stuff for a 15 year old!

Ski touring in the mountains is one of my all-time favorite things to do. Great people, powder and good times. Me and my solid gold friend, Natalie.

Best of luck to everyone in the New Year...

-Chandra

Inside the beats

2009-12-21T09:17:00.000-08:00

Although 90% of the 6787 songs in my itunes are mellow singer/songwriter guitar songs, the upbeat gems have an important role to play. Battling the fatigue in my body from a 2+ month trip and pushing through it all to perform to my best is helped by a little dance party distraction in my ears.

My race in Slovenija again confirmed that following my big effort for Dusseldorf I'm in a bit of a trough in energy and seriously due for a re-charging trip to beautiful Canmore.

I am so happy to be here for a week before flying back to Europe to start the Tour de Ski (http://www.tour-de-ski.com/)
Although my boyfriend Devon is staying over in Davos, Switzerland with a few of my teammates home is where it's at for me and after skipping Christmas at home a few years ago I'm keeping my pact not to do that again.

"There's no place like home." - Dorothy

-Chandra

Pop stars and athletes alike...

2009-12-14T16:39:00.000-08:00

Hi Friends,

Let's start off with the profundities of pop stars:

"Cause you're hot then you're cold,
You're yes then you're no,
You're in then you're out,
You're up then your down."

Katy Perry could have written those words for athletes everywhere about the vicissitudes of performance. I was thrilled with a 12th place in Dusseldorf last weekend but here in Davos, Switzerland where the sprint course is 700 meters longer and the altitude over 1000 meters higher I had a disappointing weekend with my career-worst result in a skate sprint: 57th. OUCH!!

I gave it my all and then some but the race was incredibly tough on a long and grueling course and in the end I was several seconds from reaching my goal of top 30. All in all I can only do my absolute best and I lay myself on the line every weekend in the hopes of fulfilling my potential. This is my life. Truly, the journey itself is incredibly satisfying and I appreciate the highs so much thanks to lows... onward!

I'm going to keep blowing on the flames of my burning desire for international success and hit up my last World Cup before Christmas in Rogla, Slovenija this weekend. After being away from home since October I'm feeling the strong pull of Canmore as I inch closer to a sweet reunion with my happy, healthy town.

Warm wishes from snowy Switzerland,

Chandra

Lucky Headphones and Olympic Qualification!

2009-12-10T14:18:00.000-08:00

Hi Friends,

Things are going great over on this side of the pond. In the past four days I have been in Germany, Italy and Switzerland. The great news is that I have secured my spot on the 2010 Olympic team by meeting the top-20 criteria set out for me by my national sport organization. Because I'm on the comeback train from injury it was deemed necessary for me to prove my fitness by getting a top 20 result in a World Cup. When there are hoops to be jumped through there's no time to waste so I set my sights on my best chance of all: a skate sprint in Dusseldorf, Germany Dec 5th and geared my training towards it.

This super unique World Cup runs a skate sprint on 828 meters of snow expertly placed along the Rhine in the snowless city of Dusseldorf. With the odors of cheese, beer and smoke wafting onto the course the atmosphere is nothing if not uniquely exciting with many spectators out to cheer. It's great.

I was psyched up and totally stoked that my new headphones: Beats by Dr. Dre (compliments of my good friends at Best Buy) arrived just in time by special delivery from one of our wax staff who came over from Canada just before the race. Wearing these cool Beats I was able to be totally in my own zone for warm up despite the chaos of racing in a city. When I wore them without tunes pumping I was more in touch with my breathing and focused head space. When I wanted to get really psyched I cranked the Lady Gaga, Kanye and Rihanna and felt my energy soar with the music.

I placed 12th in my race and am so proud to be able to send out some Olympic high fives out to my blog readers and turn my laser-beam of focus to the classic sprint at the Olympics Feb 17th.

This weekend I have a skate sprint on Sunday on a long course here in Davos, Switzerland where I'll be highly pumped just to get in the points (top 30). Should be fun.

Thanks for tuning in, and until next time...

Pump some tunes!!

Chandra

2009-12-03T15:55:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my Best Buy Blog!

Best Buy has been my top sponsor for 4 years now and I'm thrilled to be representing this awesome company as I travel the World ski racing and empowering young women through sport with my organization Fast and Female (www.fastandfemale.com). I've been grateful for their rock solid support through the highs and lows of injury, training and racing and I hope to entertain you sportsfans a slice of the drama here on this blog.

I'm 26 and was born and raised in Canmore, Alberta, where I still live as the Canadian National Ski Team is based there. I started skiing at the age of 1 at with my parents at the Canmore Nordic Center and have been racing since I was 12. I'm stoked to keep you updated on my Olympic journey as these next few months promise to be extremely exciting for Canadians everywhere as things continue to ramp up for the home Games.

I've been away from home for a month already with stops in Austria, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Finland. I've procured prototype new ski boots, raced some World Cups, fought piranhas and my coach severely broke his hip. Ok, everything except the piranhas... but the way some of these hard-core Euros race my odds might be better against the omnivorous freshwater fish. Just kidding!

This week I'll be training in Livigno, Italy and as I look out the window here at Helsinki airport I'm really looking forward to seeing the sun after 3 weeks in Northern Scandinavia. Italy is one of my favorite places to travel and over the past 10 years of ski racing internationally I've developed good friendships with the Italian racers and even picked up some of their beautiful language. It's going to be a great week of training in Italy and racing in Germany on the weekend in a World Cup sprint along the Rhine river in the city of Dusseldorf. Snow is trucked in from a nearby indoor ski hill and the cheers of fans who line the course 10 deep create quite the atmosphere.

Thanks for tuning in and if you want to catch up on my older news check out www.chandracrawford.ca.

Ciao,

Chandra