Bunnies & Jackrabbits Registration

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Bunnies & Jackrabbits Registration

Registration is open for Bunnies and Jackrabbits!

Kids ages 3 to 10 learn skiing skills while having fun with friends! We are a welcoming community and want kids of all abilities to join us! Our program aims to develop a love of this sport for lifelong enjoyment.

Bunnies, for ages 3 to 5, runs Sunday morning from January to March.

Jackrabbits, for ages 6 to 10, runs Tuesdays evenings and Sundays mornings, from December to March. Check out our program information document for more details. 

Ready to register? Head over to Zone 4 to get signed up! 


Questions about our program, equipment, or how your kids would fit in? Contact our program coordinator, Karina, at blackjack.bunniesjackrabbits@gmail.com. 


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Join our Fall Trail Crew!

Black Jack Employment Opportunities

Thanks to the Columbia Basin Trust Job Experience Grant, Black Jack is again hiring a Trail Maintenance Crew for this fall. Biathlon Cabin is due for an update, we are replacing trail signage and, as always, there is lots of maintenance to existing trails and infrastructure. 

We are hiring one Team Lead and two Crew Members for 9 weeks from late August through the end of October. 

Applicants can send their resume and a short cover letter to russell.vinegar@gmail.com

Job descriptions:

Trail Crew Team Lead

Trail Crew Member

Brushing trails is just one part of the job!

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We are looking for a new Head Coach

Greg Kilroy is moving on to other endeavors at the end of this season. We wish him all the best and appreciate all his efforts and excellent coaching over the past two seasons!

We are searching for a new Head Coach. Follow this link to see the full job description. Application deadline is March 19, 2022.

The key responsibilities of the Head Coach are:

  • Plan and deliver athlete programing with individualized training plans, suited to the needs of each athlete.

  • Support Skier Development Director on technical issues. Ensure alignment of all levels of the program including Racers, Jackrabbits and Track Attack.

  • Provide mentorship to other Black Jack coaches and ensure communication is maintaine with other Coaches outside of the club for the benefit of the program (ie organizing camps).

  • Support the organization of camps, races and other events.

  • Attend races providing leadership, coaching support, wax determination, logistics, direction to parent / coach volunteers, and other tasks as needed.

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2022 Loppet is on! Join us February 19th!

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2022 Loppet is on! Join us February 19th!

We had a great race day! Race Results are posted at this link!

If you see any errors or changes needed to the race results, please email blackjack.socialmedia@gmail.com.

Saturday February 19th join us and challenge yourself on the 3 km, 10 km or 30 km course! 

9 am: Registration opens 

10 am: Mass start for those who wish, and courses opens to ski when you want to

3 pm: Registration closes

5 pm: Courses closes

In lieu of a registration fee, skiers are encouraged to buy $10 of 50/50 tickets from Cross Country BC, online in advance or at the loppet registration. 

Registration includes a chocolate medal from Mountain Nugget and door prizes. There will be a beverage table at the finish line for all skiers. 30 km skiers must be self-supported on course. 

Volunteers are needed for the registration and refreshment tables for 3-hour shifts between 9 am and 5 pm. Please contact Adele at adelepratt@hotmail.com if you can help out.

Course Maps

View or download the 1 km, 3 km, and 10 km maps here.

The 30 km (2 x 15 km) Course Map below can also be found on Trail Forks.

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Enter to win

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Enter to win

Black Jack Ski Club is participating in the Cross Country BC online 50/50 raffle. Purchase tickets between January 3 to Feb 28 by visiting the raffle website. One lucky winner will take home 50% of the total pot! The balance, net of fees, is distributed between Clubs proportionately based on ticket sales. Win Win!

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Lakehead University Sport Psychology Research Study-Volunteers needed

Hi there,

We are currently recruiting recreational trail runners and cross-country skiers to participate in a research project entitled, Enhancing Perceived Restorativeness and Nature Relatedness Among Green Exercisers: The Interactive Roles of Motivation and Mindfulness. The purpose of this letter is to describe this study and to ask if you would be willing to collaborate with us in the identification of potential participants.

What is this Project?

The purpose of this project is to investigate how motivation and awareness during trail running and cross-country skiing interact to predict mental health-related benefits of these activities. Kennedy Hamilton is a student in the Honours Bachelor of Kinesiology program at Lakehead University. This project represents the thesis that is required by that program.

What Does Taking Part in this Project Involve?

Participation in this project involves the completion of an online survey comprised of five questionnaires. The questionnaires ask participants about their background in trail running or cross-country skiing, experiences during these activities, motivation to do these activities, and their connection with nature. It will take approximately 20 minutes to complete the survey. Here’s a link to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XYY9ZL7

Who Are We Looking For?

We are looking to recruit individuals who are over the age of 16 years and who currently participate in recreational trail running or cross-country skiing.

How can you help?

We would greatly appreciate it if you could help us recruit recreational trail runners and cross-country skiers to take part in our study. This would involve distributing a promotional poster and sharing the online survey link. Both could be done through various formats (e.g., email, videoconferencing, or in-person). To facilitate the process, we’ve developed a script for you to use when promoting the study. This text could be easily copied into an email or read out loud.

Take note, we will not be able to tell you if any specific individual decided to participate in the study or provide you with results based on data from any specific individual. However, we would gladly provide you with a summary of the general results of the study and discuss those results with you.

The study has been approved by the School of Kinesiology’s Research Ethics Committee. If you have any questions related to the ethics of this research and would like to speak to someone outside of the research team, please contact the Chair of that committee: Dr. Paolo Sanzo (807-343-8647; paolo.sanzo@lakeheadu.ca).

Thank you for your consideration and we look forward to hearing back from you.

The Research Team 

Kennedy Hamilton

Student Researcher

kahamilt@lakeheadu.ca

807 632-3626

 

Dr. John Gotwals

Faculty Supervisor

john.gotwals@lakeheadu.ca

807 346-7952 

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November 24, 2020 Early Season Newsletter from our Club President

Hello Black Jack members,

I would like to introduce myself; my name is Dave Gibson and this is my first year as club president. We have many new exciting things happening at the club this year! We have new board members, coaches, a masters program, social programs, grooming standards, and new grooming equipment. We also will be implementing a 5 year strategic plan to provide goals and direction for the club.

First off, I would like to thank the countless volunteers that work hard to bring you the best skiing experience that Black Jack can provide, without them, none of this would be possible. We have some members who have been volunteering for 30 plus years. Absolutely incredible dedication, my hat is off to you.

We are currently looking to add a person to the board as the coordinator of volunteers and communications. We are looking for an energetic person to fill this role and help our club provide the best communication that we can. When you are out and about skiing, or in town and see a volunteer, please thank them for the role that they play in creating and supporting Black Jack.

We are currently grooming at biathlon and we have seen outstanding early season conditions. We have started on our lower trails as well, but there isn't full coverage as of yet. The GPS tracking for the large groomers is currently non-operational and we are working hard to get the grooming information out to our members. If you don't follow us at Black Jack Cross Country Ski Club on Facebook, then please give us a follow as we will be using this platform to get daily grooming information out as part of our communication strategy this season. Look for our updated 2020-2021 grooming standard on the main page of our website that will be released soon. Please click the following link to find our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BlackJackCrossCountry and our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raceblackjack/?hl=en . You can also find the grooming report by clicking the button on the main page of our website: Grooming Report.

Our Kiosk and rentals will be opening on December 1, 2020 and we look forward to having an official opening to the season. To help our wonderful kiosk staff, please wear your trail pass in a visible location. We really encourage this as it will help us quickly recognize the people who need help with purchasing passes and reduce our contact as we can visibly recognize our members.

The COVID-19 protocols that have been outlined from CCBC will bring some changes to our ski season but I feel that with a little work and cooperation, we will have a successful winter of cross country skiing! Face coverings will be expected in both access points at Biathlon as well as the main trailhead. Please be patient in the parking lots when they are busy to give people the space they need to feel safe under the current guidelines. To ensure a safe and long ski season, we need every member to comply with the social distancing guidelines outlined by the Public Health Officer. Our parking lots are small and this area is of utmost importance to maintain our social distance guidelines. I urge you to do everything in your power to keep us up and running all winter. All cabins will be closed and will be emergency use only. Our December race has now been canceled due to the latest information released from the province. You can read Black Jack's comprehensive COVID-19 Safety plan HERE.

Please be respectful of others on the trails and remember your trail etiquette. Please do not ski in a group full width of the tracks, as it puts the people passing you in an uncomfortable position of being too close to your family or "safe two" members. Please ski on the right side of the trails and allow people to pass on the left. We have had collisions in the past so let's all work together to stay safe and keep our trails open all winter long!

We are proud to announce the Headlamp Heroes series. It will be a fun social race series, totalling 6 nights. The format will be set up to allow for fun relays, team events and individual events. Our goal is to include as many of our club members in our series regardless of how fast or slow you ski. We want to have fun and be inclusive to all our members. Our first event in the Headlamp Heroes series will be on December 2nd and given our current restrictions, will be done on an individual basis with Strava. Details will come soon on this.

This year we have many new coaches; Greg Kilroy is our new head coach joined by Bella Howden who will be our rabbits coordinator/coach and Wes Savil who will run our masters program. Our new coaches will be a valued addition to our excellent coaches Dave Wood and Fred Bushell. We are very lucky to have this kind or expertise available in our club. We are striving for excellence from our littlest of rabbits, our national team members and this year, our masters. Look for details of the masters program to be sent out very soon!

The board has taken on a very large task of a five year strategic plan. I would like to thank Chris Legler for leading this task as well as all of the board members who have put a lot of time into this endeavour. With Chris's expertise, we will have a very clear picture where the club is heading and how to get there! We are excited to be sharing our plan with you very soon.

The club is also in the process of fundraising for a new snowmobile that will allow us to use the Ginzu for cost effective grooming and it will also reduce our environmental impact. If you are able, please consider donating to the cause. Please click the following link: https://app.etapestry.com/onlineforms/Cross-CountrySkidefondCanada/club-donation.html. Every donation helps in supporting our club.

I am very excited to be in the new position of president, I am looking forward to working with the board members, our new coaches and our wonderful Black Jack Ski Club members. I can be reached at dave.gibson@century21.ca and I look forward to your constructive feedback.

Happy skiing,
Dave

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Help the club acquire a new snowmobile with your Nordiq Canada donations!

We have started a fundraiser to purchase a (second) new snowmobile. For donors that require a tax receipt, here is the link to the Nordiq Canada website https://nordiqcanada.ca/donate/

The total cost for a new ski-doo is $18,400. A generous private donor has committed $10,000. We have applied for a grant from the Nelson Credit Union as well.

Why do we need a (second) new snowmobile at this time? Last year we logged a total of about 4,000 km on all snowmobiles combined. This is about twice the amount we logged a few years ago. Over the last three years we have added regular grooming on a number of single track trails: the Reservoir trail, Tall Timbers and the Adventure Trail. We also started grooming Aqueduct earlier (enabled by Howard’s improvement). In addition we did a lot of ginzu grooming on the main trails because of the warm early winter and the extended season in May (to provide xc skiing during the pandemic). The club is working on developing additional single track trails in the future so we anticipate that 4000 km will become more typical. The useful life of a ski doo (pulling a ginzu) is about 16,000 km so we need to buy a new machine every four year from now on. (In comparison: Castlegar Nordic purchases a new machine every two years).

As you know most ginzu grooming is done by volunteers. Grooming with a snowmobile is a serious commitment: it takes now about 4 hours to cover all single track after a significant snowfall. Since the acquisition of a new ski-doo last season, the volunteers have come to appreciate its advantages: reliability, comfort (better suspension), no odour, better traction (less chance to get stuck) etc … The old “Biathlon” ski-doo is at the end of its useful life and should be replaced soon.

So we make an appeal to members that can help out and donate money towards this project.

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NCCP Community Coaching Workshop - Nov 28-29, 2020

Black Jack is hosting a NCCP COMMUNITY COACHING WORKSHOP on Nov 28-29, 2020. This course is free for those interested in coaching Jackrabbits/Bunnies this season!

The “CC” Workshop is the second step in the NCCP coach education program. It provides essential training for coaches delivering an effective skill development program to children six to nine years of age This program is designed to train coaches to teach children technical skills, select games that reinforce the technical skills being taught, design and lead on-snow sessions, select and prepare equipment for young children and make learning FUN. Successful completion of the online ICC Workshops, enthusiasm and a minimum age of 14 years are the only prerequisites. 16 hrs / workshop.

The 5 hour Intro to Community Coaching (ICC) online workshop is required prior to taking this course.

https://nordiqcanada.ca/coaches-and-wax-techs/coaches/coaching-development/

Thank you for volunteering your time to coach our youth! It is appreciated. Have fun!

For questions contact bellahowden@yahoo.ca

Register HERE.

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Bunnies/Jack Rabbits 2020/2021

Come and ski with us this winter! Learning the basics of cross country skiing will open the door to a lifetime of fun and fitness!

Sessions begin mid-December and will go until mid-March.

Bunnies (3 - 5) ski Sunday afternoons at 1pm, learning key skills in a fun group environment with our wonderful coaches!

Jack Rabbits (6 - 9) sessions run Tuesday evenings at 5:30pm and Sunday afternoons at 1pm

For those who have participated before there are, as expected, a few changes this year:

Firstly an adult must stay at Black Jack for the duration of the session in case of cold, fatigue, injury etc. as we cannot use the cabin as a warm place to wait this year.

Also the Bunnies program for ages 4&5 in addition to the 3 year olds, will be a joint adult-child session until bunnies are able to stand up consistently on their own to prevent instructor/participant contact. This adult does not need to be on skis if they are not comfortable.

Full details with the complete guidelines will be available on the registration page as well as there will be a CCBC COVID acknowledgement that must be signed to participate.

And most importantly… there will be hot chocolate again! However it will be served differently this year… Stay tuned!

For questions contact bellahowden@yahoo.ca

Registration will be available soon here.

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Trails Closed while Rain and + 0 Temps Persist

Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019

All trails have been closed because of rain and soft conditions. Trail use and grooming in these conditions causes damage that is difficult to repair when temperatures drop. Please respect the closure.

Closure will likely last over Sunday. Please consult grooming report for updates.

Kiosk will be closed on Saturday & Sunday as well.

Happy Winter Solstice. Think snow!

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Black Jack 2019 AGM

Details

  • April 25th 

  • 6 pm - potluck - bring your favourite dish to share

  • 7 pm - meeting

There will be election of board members at the meeting. Most are returning but anyone can run for any position despite that.

We do not have anyone for the following positions:

  • Director of the Skier Development program

  • Director of fundraising

  • Treasurer

Please consider coming forward.

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Black Jack Loppet 2019 Results

LOPPET RESULTS

Check out this video of some of the action: https://youtu.be/QXhsic962N0

Thank you to all the participants and all the volunteers who came out today to ski and be a part of the 2019 Black Jack Loppet. A note about the results, we have 2 different files for participants depending when you registered.  All those who pre-registered when you bought your BJ membership last fall will be in one file, and all those that signed up in the last month or so, will be in another.  If you can’t find your name, check the other file!

A few notes:

  • The distances may not be accurate as typed since some people chose to do a different distance than what they registered for.

  • For all those who did a 1km, 3km or 6km distance, remember that your start time was delayed by 2 minutes so subtract 2:00 from the posted time.

  • If your finish time was less than 23 minutes and 59 seconds, the computer treated this as an hour of the day so you see minutes and seconds for your finish time

  • If your finish time was between 23 minutes: 59 seconds and 59 minutes:59 seconds, the computer added a space for one hundredths of a second, we were not that accurate!! That is why your time will have a :00 at the end of it, ignore this part.

  • If your finish time was greater than 60 minutes, your time will be shown as hours: minutes: seconds

 

Again, thanks for coming out and we hope to see you again next year!

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