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After a brief hiatus over Christmas, the Devon Nordic Ski Youth Program is back on the tracks.
Due to provincial COVID-19 restrictions in place, the Devon Nordic Ski Club had to cancel its weekly Youth Program meetings. However, kids, coaches and parents were back on the tracks on Sunday, Jan. 24, bundled up and ready to go after restrictions on outdoor gatherings were lifted to a 10-person max.
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This year, the long-time program has been as busy as ever, with cross-country skiing booming with popularity as a 2020-21 winter sport. With so much demand, the club has even had waiting lists this year to get into the youth program. The program’s head coach, Doug Macaulay, said despite restrictions and pauses in activities, the club has had another great year so far.
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George Bernier and Christine Parie both moved to Devon in the early 1970s, and each raised their own family of four children within a block of each other. The kids all went to school together but Christine and George didn’t meet each other until 1991 when a friend introduced them. George offered to teach Christine to cross-country ski and she accepted. That was the beginning! George and Christine have now been married for 25 years.
George worked as a machinist in Edmonton, then Nisku, and then back to Edmonton until he retired. He could then devote his time to setting tracks for the Devon Nordic Ski Club, learning from Bert Mockfort and Irvin Servold. He continued track-setting and maintained the grooming equipment for 17 years, until his health demanded his attention. George has had more than 20 blood transfusions during the last twelve months to satisfy his blood cancer but he is still able to ski most days!