Otway Nordic Ski Centre hosted the Western Canadian Cross Country Ski Championships in February  file photo

Prince George, BC –  It has been a whirlwind of high calibre sporting events in our city over the winter months as the countdown clock to the 2015 Canada Winter Games ticked under the one year mark and now sits at 304 days out.

January began with 10 rinks competing at the Prince George Golf & Curling Club in the 2014 Scotties BC Women's Curling Championship, which saw the young Victoria rink skipped by Kesa Van Osch defeat six-time champ Kelly Scott for the title. (250News file below right)

Other events included the Western Canadian Championships in both biathlon and cross country skiing at Otway, the BC Provincials in snowboard cross & slopestyle and freestyle skiing at Tabor Mountain, the BC Provincial Under 16 Championships in alpine skiing at Purden and the Canadian National Championships in short track speed skating in the newly-renovated Kin One Arena.

In total, Prince George has hosted 14 test events in preparation for next February's Canada Winter Games – three in the winter months of 2013, and 11 this past season (September to April) .  Another five are confirmed in the run up to the Games, an additional three are tentative.

2015 Canada Winter Games Director, Sport & Venues, Phil Beaulieu, says the lessons learned have been numerous and the benefits to the community will be long-lasting.  "It's important to note that all these test events are run by the local sport groups," says Beaulieu.  "We help with a little bit of funding and we help with equipment if we can – and we're here to observe and help where we can – but the reality is that all these events were pulled off by huge commitments from the local sport volunteers."

He points to the short track speed skating Nationals as an amazing example of the team-building that's occuring in the community as a result of this 'prep work' for the Games – with the local curling community stepping in to bolster the event with its volunteers.

"Now, (the speed skating group is) talking about what kind of help does curling potentially need," says Beaulieu.  "There's an interconnection between two sport groups that have operated in their own 'tracks' for years in Prince George, that came together to help each other on a significant event. That just helps build capacity and relationships."

As far as practical lessons learned, each event has offered the sport groups and Games officials the chance to test the 'field of play' and operational side of the venues.  In general, Beaulieu says the reviews have been extremely positive.  "There's always a few little things that you can do to make the operations run a little smoother, but there were no significant issues pointed out."

That may be an understatement.  The new ice surface in Kin One proved to be in top-notch form for its inaugural event – the short track speed skating championships – with 60-percent of the national participants achieving new personal bests.

A newly built 'pipe' race run at Purden has been praised as 'arguably one of BC's finest race runs' by coaching staff at the Whistler Mountain Ski Club, following February's Teck U16 Provincials.  And a national director with Canada's sanctioning body for cross country skiing said the quality of facilities and trails at the Otway Nordic Ski Centre is second-to-none in the country. (click here, for previous story)

The challenges encountered have just left organizers feeling better prepared.  The Venues Director says a lot of work has has been done at Tabor Mountain to help minimize the risk should 2015 prove to be a low snow year and the measures had to be tested during the snowboard cross & slopestyle event.  "It's not something we were looking forward to testing," says the Venues Director.  "But we actually got to test that piece and it was a success."

In addition to testing the venues, these events have been used as training and development opportunities for local sporting officials. Beaulieu says that knowledge is a huge component of the Games' legacy.  "We're always looking to provide additional training to local sport organizations to either help their officials move up a level, so they can act as major officials at our Games, or we train them to be minor officials at the Games."

The 2015 CWG spokesperson says, "It just helps build the capacity, so they will have: a. the confidence, and b. the training that's required to hold high level events when we're gone."

With facility and equipment legacies that could potentially attract junior international competitions in some sports to Prince George post-2015, Beaulieu says having the knowledge base in place is as critical to capitalizing on all the long-term benefits the Games can bring.