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Pursuit: Logan Lariviere is bound for the Winter Games

Local para-nordic skier and Grade 11 student is taking his talents to the 2023 Canada Winter Games in PEI this week

Laydon Bursey had better be ready to bust it into high gear this week in Prince Edward Island. If not, he’s likely to hear an earful from Logan Lariviere.

The latter is a 16-year-old member of the Ontario team competing at the 2023 Canada Winter Games (CWG), his sport of choice being the para-nordic discipline, an area in which Lariviere was named to the U23 national prospects team last fall.

Bursey will serve as Lariviere’s guide for the event, working alongside the visually impaired Grade 11 student in search of skiing excellence.

“In my races, especially with classic (style), I am standing right on my guide’s skis, right behind them,” Lariviere said last week.

While headed to just his first CWG, the Lively District Secondary student is already a veteran of several Ontario Winter Games much closer to home.

“I started working with Laydon in November. He sets the pace, but I yell at him if I need to go faster. Or if he is going too fast (not nearly as likely), I will yell at him to slow down a bit.”

The youngest of two boys, Lariviere only just returned to Sudbury in recent years after having spent five years or so attending the W. Ross MacDonald School in Brantford. The skier lives with the effects of albinism

The move back to the north reunited the talented skier with Coach Patti Kitler, who first connected with Lariviere when he was four years old. Years later, the young man who recently finished third in the Open category at the SDSSAA (Sudbury District Secondary School Athletic Association) finals has developed a far greater appreciation for all of the intricacies of his sport.  

“I have been working lots on technique and building up different speeds,” said Lariviere. “I like classic (skiing) a lot, but skate-ski even more, for sure. It’s more fun because you can go faster – but classic is more natural for me, more like running.”

Given his limited visual perception, Lariviere flip-flops in training and some races between being accompanied by a guide or not, with pros and cons on each side of this equation. 

“I like to do 10 or 15 kilometres in training but Saturday, I did 25,” he said. “That one, I used a guide but the 20 km the week before, I did just by myself. Having the guide makes me faster, partially because I am drafting off the guide.”

Often at his side as the cheering section in the crowd, his mother, Melissa, noticed another key advantage. 

“We see a difference; he doesn’t have to be as cautious when he has a guide,” she said.

Skiing guide aside, Lariviere is no different than most members of the local nordic ski contingent – though perhaps his preference for training days that range around the -15 temperature range might be a tad chilly for most. 

“[My mother] doesn’t like it,” said Lariviere. “But the snow is as fast as it will be because it’s icing up a bit. In a classic race, your tracks are ice, your tracks are faster – same as skating. The colder the snow, the faster it is. The warmer the snow, the slower it is.”

In recent years, officials and coaches from Nordiq Canada took notice of Lariviere’s on-going progress. Earlier this winter, he attended his second training camp in Canmore, Alta., the absolute mecca for the sport in this country.

“It’s just the look of everything out there, all of the mountains surrounding it, and the trails are long distance (his preference) with lots of up-hills,” said Lariviere. “And there’s all of the national coaches.”

Also attending the Canada Winter Games this week is a local veteran of several para national events, Tanya Quesnel. Quesnel is a veteran competitor. You can read a feature story we did with her back in 2013 here.

Randy Pascal is a sportswriter in Greater Sudbury. Pursuit is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.



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