Join a cross country ski club

 

It's a good idea to join a Snowsport England affiliated ski club, not only do you meet other like minded people, but clubs often devise good value, informal ski trips and rollerski courses for members.  Bear in mind that they're run by volunteers so you'll have to do a little more work yourself to participate in trips. 

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LRNSC members in LivignoWe belong to London Region Nordic Ski Club which organises a great programme of events and rollerski training courses throughout the year in the London area.  The current Club chairman is Paddy Field who has an unrivalled reputation in the ski world and is the co-author of Stride and Glide, a manual of cross country ski-ing and nordic walking.

There others around the country listed in the Clubs section on the Snowsport England nordic website. 

This site http://escnordic.org.uk also contains a wealth of information about the sport.

 

Snowsport England 

Snowsport England is the governing body for all snowsports in England and it usually organises:

  • a race training week in November for intermediate and advanced skiers. In 2007 it will take place from 3-10 November in Vuokatti in Finland - click for details of this nordic on-snow race training week [opens a pdf in a new window]
  • a nordic skills developement course at Kvitavatn in Norway in April for those keen to improve their technique.  I've attended this twice and can thoroughly recommend it if you want to learn on a fun, active week.  In 2008 it will take place from 29 March - 5th April - see the Rjukan Norway page on the SSE website for more details.

Read my article about the 2007 event which appeared in Snowsport England's magazine, The Piste.

Snowsport England also offers proficiency awards and instructor qualifications for ski-ing on snow and roller ski-ing - I've qualified with them to teach both disciplines.

 

British Masters Cross Country Ski Association [BMCCSA]

BMCCSA is a national club for anyone interested in cross country and roller ski racing.  With membership you get an irreverent newsletter 3 times a year which also contains some useful, serious articles and you can enter the Masters World Cup [World Championships] races for Great Britain.