Gee-Gees Awards

BUILDER AWARD

Nathan Forestell

We are recognizing Nathan Forestell with this Builder Award for his outstanding contribution and leadership to uOttawa Nordiq. Nathan has been with the team from his first year at uOttawa when we were not yet recognized as a Competitive Sports Club and has been instrumental to improving the team over the years.

He has led the team as President and Men’s Team Captain, and helped with all kinds of tasks including our annual fundraising stair challenge and getting those team bios together! Overall he has really helped shape the direction of our team, providing an environment where all students feel welcomed.

Nathan is graduating in International Development & Global Studies, and heading to UBC Okanagan to Teacher’s College (we envy the students who end up making it into Nathan’s class!).

A strong team mandate is to keep athletes involved in sport, and we know Nathan will be skiing in BC (and our alumni have a lifetime membership with the team so we hope we see Nathan back at some practices!).

TRUE SPORT - SPORT PUR

Benjamin Racine

Benjamin Racine

Benjamin’s positive attitude towards sport and commitment to help and inspire others to do the same is contagious. He is a key member of the uOttawa Nordiq executive and a true role model for all team members.

Even in this pandemic year Benjamin accomplished amazing athletic feats. Instead of letting the pandemic dampen his enthusiasm, these restrictions highlighted his resilience and helped him be creative and rise to many challenges. Just a few examples are completing events in small spaces (a 60 k ultramarathon in his backyard), in abundance (Benjamin did all 6 Gatineau Loppet events in 6 days and skied over 221 km in 3 days for the Nakkertok Enduro), and book-ending Winter with open water swimming in December and April.

His popular Strava account no doubt inspired many beyond uOttawa Nordiq Team members. Keeping it fun, Benjamin turned some of his training routes into art - using his GPS watch to create pictures from some of his run and swim activities. Though the amount and intensity is impressive, this True Sport Award is to recognize how Benjamin embodies the True Sport goals: go for it, play fair, respect others, keep it fun, stay healthy, include everyone->share sport with others, and give back.

TEAM LEADERSHIP AND INITIATIVE

Anna Pazdzior

Anna is a 3rd year Human Kinetics student. Anna is our student athlete representative on the Gee-Gees Student Athletic Council. In this role, she has been instrumental in helping sustain athlete motivation in this pandemic year, especially in keeping us all keen for the Gee-Gee performance challenges, which ranged from cooking to athletic feats (and we were the top Gee-Gees team so it worked!). Anna also helped our team coordinate a Canadian University contest that had Canadian University nordic ski teams and alumni compete in a fun pushup challenge. Thanks Anna!

PRIX DU MERITE

MALE - Benjamin Racine

Benjamin est un étudiant en deuxième année de génie chimique. Son engagement envers l'entraînement est incroyable et sa passion générale pour le sport est contagieuse. Il excelle à équilibrer une charge de cours élevée avec de nombreuses heures consacrées au ski de fond et à plusieurs autres sports, et a aidé et inspiré les autres membres de l'équipe à atteindre un bon équilibre entre l'école, le sport et la vie quotidienne.

Benjamin est également un membre clé de l'exécutif de notre équipe, il a apporté une excellente contribution aux décisions de l'équipe et a généralement des idées fantastiques pour motiver la participation. Même en cette année de pandémie, Benjamin a accompli des exploits sportifs étonnants - suivez-le sur Strava et il vous incitera à faire de l'exercice !

AWARD OF MERIT

FEMALE - Nathalie Rowlinson

Nathalie is a 3rd year EcoChemistry student, and a key member of the uOttawa Nordiq executive. She provides valuable input into all team decisions which has greatly helped shape the role and values of our team, and even more important in this season of constant adapting to the challenges presented by COVID-19. Her organizational skills have been critical and an asset to help her excel in her roles as Women’s Team Captain and Team Treasurer.

As a student athlete Nathalie has been an incredible role model for her teammates. Nathalie came to uOttawa as a high school skier and her dedication to training and ability to manage her skiing and studies has helped her improve as a skier dramatically and she’s an inspiration to all other team members.

JOUEUR LE PLUS UTILE

MALE - Edward Southward

Edward Southward is a 1st Year Civil Law student. Even without the carrot of OUA Championships or many formal racing opportunities, Ed’s enthusiasm and dedication to practices and training was phenomenal and resulted in big improvements in technique and fitness, which was evident in local time trials and club events. Ed is also a key member of our team executive, helping shape the direction of the team, with great ideas to motivate student-athletes in this challenging year.

TEAM MVP

FEMALE - Shilo Rousseau

Shilo Rousseau is a 2nd Year Biology Student. In December Shilo competed at selection events in Canmore, Alberta and based on her performances had the opportunity to represent Canada internationally at the IBU World Cup events in Europe (biathlon) with some impressive results. Her dedication and motivation to excel in sport and school in unwavering, even in the challenging COVID winter season with fewer formal competitive opportunities.