FALL RIVER: The 2019 Canada Winter Games are 14 months away, but already one Fall River athlete has her eyes squarely set on representing her province in Red Deer, Alta.
Grace McIntyre was recently named to the provincial cross country skiing development team for Team Nova Scotia, and now has the opportunity if she is among the top four Under-20 in cross country skiing at donning the Bluenose colours and representing the province in western Canada at the Canada Winter Games.
So if Mother Nature brought snow soon—and lots of it—it wouldn’t just be tow truck drivers and auto-body shops who would be happy.
“If it’s going to be cold, it might as well snow,” said McIntyre.
At the end of the month, McIntyre and Team N.S. cross country’s team were set to head to a ski exchange in Alberta.
“I’m hoping we can do well at the exchange,” she said.
The 13-year-old brought home gold at her first-ever roller ski race—another way for athletes to stay ready before the snow hits and they can strap into the cross country skis. That competition took place in N.B.
“It was really fun to do it, and to get gold it was the first medal I had ever won so it was really nice to get that,” said McIntyre, who is in Grade 8 at Georges P. Vanier Junior High.
McIntyre said it’s great to learn she has made the development team, but she knows she has a lot of work ahead. She is up against five or six others and only the top four make it.
She said the team was the furthest thing from her mind—until her coaches brought it up to her.
“I had never thought of the team when mom told me they had asked me to join the team,” she said. “I just enjoyed skiing so I just skied.”
phealey@enfieldweeklypress.com
