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Schools cross-country ski programs are worthwhile

Cross-country skiing is a lifetime sport. You can do it when you are 90 years old

We don't want to give the people on Raft River Elementary School's parents advisory committee swollen heads but we have to praise them again.

About a month ago we praised the PAC for its success in winning $120,000 from the Aviva community fund for an intermediate-age playground at the school.

This time the praise is for providing cross-country skis and other equipment so every child in the school can learn to ski.

Wells Gray Outdoor Club has been track-setting routes on a field provided by a neighbour.

As a result, the students include cross-country skiing as part of their regular physical education curriculum.

And it's paying off. During the annual cross-country ski races held last Thursday in Blue River, many of the students displayed good technique as they went around the course.

They had a good idea about what they were supposed to be doing and they were having fun doing it.

Cross-country skiing is a lifetime sport. You can do it when you are 90 years old ... and if you keep doing it, there is a good chance you will make it to 90, and be fit enough to enjoy doing it at that age.

It is a sport for everyone. It doesn't take a lot of money to participate (as the PAC has demonstrated) and you can work at it as hard or as gently as you like.

Cross-country skiing gets a person out in the fresh air and sunshine during winter – a time when, otherwise, one tends to spend too much time indoors.

It relieves stress, strengthens the heart, reduces blood pressure, and gives a person a more cheery disposition.

If it were a pill, cross-country skiing would probably require a prescription – or be illegal.

 

Congratulations once again to the Raft River PAC (and the other PACs in the Valley) for bringing the sport to our young people.