As the entire Lower Mainland rumbles and hums with Olympic anticipation, my home town of Kimberley feels a long way off from all the hype and excitement of the world’s greatest winter sports extravaganza. Some 907 kilometres away, in fact.

courtesy Bruce Kirkby

This daunting distance from the Kimberley Nordic Trails to the Olympic Nordic Ski venue in the Callaghan Valley isn’t fazing a group of young Kimberley athletes, however. The cross-country skiers of the local Jackrabbits Track Attack Program are getting into the Olympic spirit by skiing 907 km on Kimberley’s world-class Nordic trail system. Aged nine to 12, the skiers have divided the daunting distance into 180-km sections and are charting their journey one kilometre at a time on the Kimberley Nordic Club’s warming-hut wall.

While they may not be front and centre as Olympic athletes from around the world cross the finish line at the Callaghan Valley Nordic events, these young athletes from the B.C. Interior embody the essence of the Olympic spirit, and are willing to ski nearly 1,000 km to celebrate it, one kick and glide at a time.

The lower mainland is caught up in medal fever. While the rest of us from “beyond Hope”, may not feel the impacts of the games directly, most of us feel strongly, one way or the other, about the Olympics. What are athletes/sports fans/artists in your community doing to celebrate the Olympics? Send me a tweet @KootenayDave to let me know.

Lead photo courtesy Bruce Kirkby.