If you've yet to check out the action at the World Para Nordic Skiing Championships there are still two days of racing ahead with the team relays today and the long-distance cross-country races on Sunday.
Prince George has been treated the past week to five days of intense cross-country and biathlon racing at Otway Nordic Centre in the first world championships the city has ever hosted. Those who have seen it live have witnessed some amazing achievements from a group of highly-trained athletes who have dedicated their lives to achieving their own goals while being challenged with the highest possible level of competition.
Best of all, the world is watching.
The races are streamed live daily on the www.paralympic.org website. All the races are recorded and packaged for public consumption over the internet, to be played and replayed any time of the day, anywhere in the world.
For the entire week, the broadcast team of play-by-play commentator Alan March and interviewer Steven Jamieson has been on the scene at Otway supplying insights about the athletes and their race strategies. March and Jamieson have done their homework and their knowledge of the para nordic scene is providing viewers a better understanding of how the athletes have triumphed over adversity to become the best of the best.
The morning and early-afternoon race schedule at Otway is perfect for prime-time viewing in most European countries, where fan interest in nordic sports is highest. Webcasts of the 2017 World Para Nordic Championships in Finsterau, Germany, drew audiences in the millions.
"It purely depends on who wants to tune in, if you're a fan of nordic action, whether it be able-bodied or para athletes the standard here is exceptionally high," said March. "Hopefully the broadcast can push that message that whilst we have FIS events in alpine and snowboard, the para guys are doing some great things.
"Some of the impairments they have, to be able to ski completely blind or with one arm, and we've got (Canadian) Kyle Barber going out without any ski poles and the effort that requires is stunning. I think it's great we're able to share that."
The courses at Otway have 17 camera positions linked by more than three kilometres of cable and the professionalism of the production crew from Playo.tv gathering the video feeds makes March's job in the booth calling each race that much easier. Based out of the Czech Republic, Playo covers every major alpine event sanctioned by the International Paralympic Committee.
March and Jamieson travel the globe covering world championships and other high-profile sporting events for able-bodied and physically impaired athletes and cross paths with some amazing people who are willing to share their sometimes humbling stories of how they became para athletes.
"Never did I think I'd come across an alpine skier whose history was he lost a leg to shark attack - you don't think about that," said March. "There's an American swimmer who won the 200-metre freestyle in London who had lost his eyesight to an IED in Afghanistan and a year to the day after that happened, there he was at the Paralympics winning a 200-metre freestyle race. There are thousands of those stories across para sports and that's what hits me the hardest."
Jamieson says para athletes, as a whole, seem more appreciative of the coverage they receive and are more approachable than elite able-bodied athletes and that makes his job asking them questions more satisfying.
"The thing I love most about para sport is athletes are almost a lot more human. When you get to the elite level of mainstream sports like athletics and football, they're so media-trained and they constantly have their guard up," said Jamieson. "When you get to para sport they're grateful for the fact their sport's getting coverage and they're much more liable to open up. They're just a lot more real. That's my favourite thing."
Jamieson lives in Nottingham, England. March was born and raised in England but now lives in Bulgaria. They both admit they've never felt colder than when they stepped off the plane last week at the airport and it was -30 C. March admits guilty pleasure watching Matheson talk to the athletes after each race while he stays toasty in his heated room overlooking the stadium.
March says the local organizing committee, chaired by Kevin Pettersen, and the crew of volunteers rounded up by the host Caledonia Nordic Ski Club and the Otway venue have gone well beyond expectations and those sentiments are echoed by the athletes and coaches.
"It's been absolutely phenomenal - I've traveled the world for the last eight or nine years doing various events and the levels of organization here are off the scale," said March. "I've done two Olympics and Paralympics and other major world events and everything has been top-drawer.
"I'm not just looking out my windows at the athletes, I can see the volunteers in their coats and they are nonstop, every job gets done and they're smiling. To be fair, when it was minus-21 I didn't see as many smiling, but they didn't shirk their responsibilities."
From Prince George, they'll travel to Spain and France for the end of the alpine season before the summer sports season begins. Both would love to return to Prince George in the summer, when can leave their parkas, tuques and mitts at home.
"The people here have been so welcoming and friendly, it's been crazy. It's been so nice to be a part of," said Jamieson. "We've done so many events already this year and the level of accommodation and hospitality we've been given has been amazing."
