INUVIK
It's not often recreational skiers have a chance to ski with a legend.

Olympian Sharon Firth was in Inuvik over the Easter weekend to operate some cross-country ski clinics. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photos

For some lucky cross-country skiers with the Inuvik Ski Club, that chance came over the weekend in the form of clinics offered by Sharon Firth and ski coach Anders Lenes.

Seven members of the club and the public turned out to absorb some ski tips from the duo April 19.

Firth – originally from Aklavik – is one of the premier Northern skiers of the last half-century, along with her late sister, Shirley. Together, they appeared in four Olympic Games.

She and Lenes were touring the Beaufort Delta on a series of clinics, which marked a return home for her.

"It's really sentimental coming home," she said. "It's a good time of year.

"Anders and I have been touring the communities, and since both our backgrounds are in cross-country skiing, and this is a pretty active club, we thought we could help them with their technique, help them with waxing and just give them a better base."

Firth said that with so many techniques, such as poling and double-poling and body position, the technical part of skiing, practice is always a good thing.

"That's why we're here," she said. "People are obviously doing it (skiing) here, but it's always good to practice and get advice because it's easy to get into bad habits."

She started off working the skiers on those basics. The first exercise revolved around double-poling, which could feel like a simple skill until you've done it under the watchful gaze of Firth and Lenes. It didn't take long for the skiers to figure out there's muchmore to it than they thought.

Still, everyone seemed more than pleased to listen, even if some were almost in awe of Firth.

"I'm here to learn," said Jen Lam. "That's why I'm here and not out hunting instead."

Other club members included its president, Robin Baron, and Kendall McDonald, who, two weeks ago, tied for first at the club loppet's men's 10-kilometre race.

Many of the skiers were just as interested in Lenes's waxing clinic that started the session.

McDonald, who admits his technique could use some fine-tuning, said he wasn't sure if he could notice any difference in the waxing Lenes advised him on, but several other skiers noticed it immediately.

Baron eagerly acknowledged, "I'm learning a lot."

Firth said she still skis as regularly as she can, sandwiching it around her full-time work and public appearances.

"Regular exercise is still an important part of my life," she said.

Still, she said she wouldn't want to reprise the famous ski from Aklavik to Inuvik she, her sister and other members of the ski program once did – at least without some training time.

"That was a one-time thing, on the spur of the moment," she said of the marathon trek that was replicated last year by members of the ski club. "And if you want to be honest about it, it's all about just getting outdoors."

Firth and Lenes will be back again this weekend with clinics, including working with the youngsters in the jamboree program.