Sport is like life, you make your own limits.

During tough training days I often think of my childhood dream of standing on top of the podium, hearing Canada's national anthem being played, seeing our flag raised. Now, that picture in my mind is in Vancouver. It continues to bring passionate tears to my eyes.

My goal is to live everyday with passion. This often means life will have extreme highs and extreme lows, but if I am an engaged person, then I feel I have succeeded. I am living my life, not simply reacting to it.

As with everything in life – nothing is ever done alone. I had a lot of support from my family, my club coaches and my community. As a kid my parents signed me up for everything from dance, soccer, waterskiing, diving, to alpine ski racing. Now, my parents often look back with a laugh because they never could have imagined where ski racing would take me. Starting at a small club located down the street from where I grew up was a dream come true. All winter long, I would throw my skis over my shoulder and walk to the hill for practice. I loved it! Most of my time was simply spent trying to keep up with my older sister Laura. Lucky for me, I kept up! Racing with kids much older than I, I simply took in everything I could. The Bassin family, with Swiss origins, were heading up the racing program at Chicopee. They infused passion into the mundane. They nicknamed me smiley, since I didn’t say much. I would just smile in response to their request then go and do it.
 
At the age of 12 Peter Bassin, the head coach at Chicopee, took me under his wing. Working together one on one, driving around the country, in my family minivan, Peter took me from a little naive racer to Canada’s National Development team at the young age of 17.
 
There was no magic, no special recipe that has gotten me to the World Cup circuit. It was simply passion and hard work, with a lot of help from those around me.

Chicopee had a lot of flats. If you weren’t good on the flats you weren’t going to be fast. I think that is where I learned my feel for the snow and how to glide so well. It’s that connection between you and the track that I love! …the speed is just a bonus!

I often find it easier to calculate how often I’m at home as opposed to time away, since there are less days to count! My time at home totals less than three months a year. This puts a definite strain on anything ‘normal’. Relationships with my family, boyfriend, and friends have all grown and developed around my bizarre lifestyle. In many ways, I am lucky to have such strong people surrounding me who support me and allow me to flourish in this bizarre line of work.

Favourite race tracks: Lake Louise, Canada; St. Moritz, Switzerland; Whistler, Canada; Cortina, Italy
 
Favourite ski resorts: Whistler, Canada: Chicopee Ski Club, Canada (can’t beat Home!)
 
Favourite Country: Obvious answer! CANADA!!!!!!!!!!