By James Bowler

2 local athletes look forward to Canada Winter Games

Feb 11, 2015 | 10:57 AM

Prince Albert’s Brittany Hudak has been one busy athlete over the past few months.

From Finland to world championships in Cable, Wisconsin, Hudak, a Paralympic skier, has been competing heavily and trying out some new events as well.

“Wisconsin went really well, I just started biathlon races as well,” said Hudak. “I ended up coming in fifth in Cable, whereas in Finland I came in 10th.”

“In Cable, I hit all the targets, didn’t have to ski the penalty loops and skied really well.” 

Hudak also competed in the 15-kilometre and five-kilometre classic race, she came in just shy of third, placing fourth with one second difference.

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“It was kind of bittersweet, I was hoping to get third,” said Hudak. “But still, fourth is awesome for me.”

And Hudak doesn’t get much of a break, heading to Japan next week and just a few days later, she’ll be flying back to Prince George to compete on Team Saskatchewan for the Canada Winter Games.

“I leave right from Japan and go to the Canada Winter Games,” said Hudak. “It’s going to be busy, but I’m excited, it’s going to be a great experience.”

Hudak said that with all these back-to-back races, it’s important to make time in between for recovery, and a bit of training as well.

“You want to kind of balance a bit of recovery but also still maintaining the work that you’ve put in,” said Hudak. “My longer skis will be like three hours, then a couple days of weights and then a couple days of short intensity.”

With just three years of racing experience and facing her first year at the Canada Winter Games, Hudak admitted that she’s nervous, but looking forward to the experience.

“I’ve had such steep learning curves and great opportunities in order to improve in this sport, that I think I just picked it up quickly,” said Hudak. “It allowed me to get better faster because I’ve had so many opportunities.”

Also from Prince Albert and joining Hudak at the Canada Winter Games is athlete Anna Sigurdson, who has also been having a busy winter with various cross-country competitions.

She said that in between her skiing competitions she keeps her training going.

“We try to do what we call zone one skiing, where you just go and ski slowly for a long time and chat,” said Sigurdson. “What would make you sore and tired is if you went hard and raced and then you just did nothing all week.”

This will be Sigurdson’s first Canada Winter Games competition, and she said she’s looking forward to her first national-level event.

“I’ve competed at Westerns, but this will be my first national-level event,” said Sigurdson. “It will be really cool to see all the other awesome skiers, and compete against the best junior skiers in Canada.”

Speaking about Hudak, Sigurdson said that they two of them spend a lot of time training together when Hudak is not off competing.

“She’s on the road a lot so her life is really crazy,” said Sigurdson. “When she’s home, we do ski together and we train together; I’m looking forward to seeing her at the games.”

Hudak said that it’s nice to have a familiar face by her side.

“It makes it that much better because they’re going to be familiar faces, and pretty much that is from Saskatchewan going, we’re such a team environment,” said Hudak. “It’s going to be a lot of fun going with the Saskatchewan crew, and we know each other well and we all get along.”

Sigurdson said she rooms together with other skiers on the Saskatchewan team as well at various competitions, and is quite close with a few girls on the team.

The Canada Winter Games kicks off Feb. 13 and runs until March 1 in Prince George, B.C.

-With files from Sarah Wallace and Kayla Bruch

jbowler@panow.com

On Twitter: @journalistjim