January 2009
Charlo New Brunswick based Cross Country Ski Club uses NW poles to train in the off seasons.
By Chastity Degroot
I am a cross country skier (at one time top 10 in Canada racer) and a physiotherapist. I like nordic pole walking because I can either go slow and enjoy nature or do "ski striding or bounding" with them and get to my max heart rate.
As part of cross country ski racing training we use Nordic Walking poles during dry land training in off-season. I have been part of our ski club's executive as director for 4 seasons with the goal of recruiting members. I started a nordic pole walking program 4 years ago.
This program is intended for all community members of varying ages and physical abilities. We go every Sunday Sept until snow on our ski trails. We divide into 2 groups based on ability and goals. We teach 3 different types of nordic pole walking. We have gone into hospitals during wellness week and taught 12 physios to teach the sport and taught to approx 120 people in one day.
On Sundays during our first year we got anywhere from 4 on rainy days to 50 participants on sunny days. This past year our max group size was 25. I have noticed a trend...people seem to come to learn how and then some do it on their own time after that. We always have a core group that continues to come over the past 4 years. We do one mountain/trail hike that is new to the group each year. My goal is to increase the level of physical activity among our community members thereby increasing it's health.
I didn't realize we had NPW racing in Atlantic Canada.
If you go the our ski club website, you will see a lot of info on NPW www.charloaventuriers.ca
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