It has been an incredibly mild and virtually snow-free winter here in Edmonton this year. The annual winter festival, 20+ years running, has a Winter Triathlon event - skate 10k on the lake, ski 10k around the park, then run 5k around the park. The lack of snow caused the ski segment to be cancelled this year, only the fourth time the ski has been cancelled in the events history. The notification of the change via email from the event was enough prompting for a friend of mine to encourage me (from the other side of the world, while on sabbatical in Australia!) to enter. "...when else are you going to be so trained up in both disciplines, AND living so close to the location?". She's very wise, and I took her advice, shelled out the $75 late entry fee, and came second overall in the race this morning!

So... in order to defend my second place title, and gold in my age category, I will definitely need to take up cross-country skiing (ahem... skate skiing, if you want to be specific about my target) and become proficient before this time next year. Several friends have already tried to encourage me to take up skate skiing, so this might just be the final straw. Something new, to keep it fresh!

Any skate skiers out there? If so... any advice on getting started?