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| First-year student Mike Hardy has been skiing since the age of two. (Nick Pearce Photo) |
C A N A D A聽聽 G A M E S
When you鈥檙e bombing down a hillside at speeds to rival freeway traffic, what goes through your mind?
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e going so fast, you鈥檙e not thinking of what you鈥檙e doing鈥攍ike what a bad idea it actually might be,鈥� says Mike Hardy, a member of Nova Scotia鈥檚 alpine ski team competing at the 2011 Halifax Canada Games.
鈥淎s for me, I鈥檓 thinking two gates ahead,鈥� says Mr. Hardy, 19, a first-year Dalhousie student who lives in Ingramport, a village on St. Margaret鈥檚 Bay. 鈥淚 want to know exactly what I鈥檓 doing way before I get there.鈥�
On skis at the age of two, Mr. Hardy says he鈥檚 always been a crazy Canuck: 鈥淚鈥檇 just go straight down until I hit something,鈥� he says, laughing.
Even at a young age, he had speed, he just didn鈥檛 have finesse. That came home to him once he started to race on a national circuit as a pre-teen. Competing at K2 nationals at Mount Tremblant, Quebec, 鈥淚 got beat a lot worse than I did in Nova Scotia,鈥� he relates. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 when I knew I wanted to get better.鈥�
Having a cottage two minutes away from the slopes of Ski Wentworth helps, as well as the chance to train and ski in Switzerland through his high school years.
With the Canada Games taking place on his home hill, he returned to Nova Scotia a year ago and enrolled at Dalhousie. This term, he鈥檚 got a reduced course load to allow him to train for the slalom, giant slalom and super combined, which pairs one run of slalom and super G for a combined time. The alpine events all happen at Ski Wentworth during the second week of Canada Games competition.
鈥淚 definitely want to get a good academic base,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚f you hit a fence and get injured, you want to have a back-up plan.鈥�
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