80-year-old Winnipegger wins 3 medals at international cross-country ski competition

A Winnipeg senior is back from a world class cross-country ski championship with three medals.

Eighty-year-old Jim Ballendine won gold and two silver medals at the Masters World Cup international cross-country skiing championship in Minneapolis in January.

"People in their 40s and 50s tell me they're too old to ski and I kind of laugh to myself I end up telling them how old I am and they can't believe it," said Ballendine, who teaches cross-country skiing in Winnipeg and has been involved in the sport for over 30 years.

Ballendine won for his age group that includedabout a thousand other skiers from over 50 countries.

He says he decided to enter the Masters World Cup as a "last hurrah" and spent six months training for the competition.

"It was quite an experience," he said of getting to meet skiers from around the world. "They had flags from all the countries up at the start area and you heard numerous different languages as you walked around."

Although he's been cross-country skiing competitively for years, Ballendine says he didn't know how well he'd do on the international stage.

"I've raced locally but there really isn't that many people in my age group," he said. "The last few years it's been hard to tell how well I was skiing so I didn't know what to expect.

"Everybody told me the Europeans would clean up so I was quite pleased."

'I might as well try it'

Always active in sports, Ballendine says he first decided to give cross-country skiing a shot at the age of 47 after a back injury left him unable to play squash.

At the time both of his daughters skied and it was during a provincial team tryout race he took one of his daughters tothat he first tried the sport.

"I thought, well I'm going to the race I might as well try it," he said."Little did I know I went into a 30-kilometre race for my first race.

"I nearly died doing it, but I really enjoyed so I started training for skiing and started racing the following year."

The sport came naturally to him and he says he soonstarted winning races.

"I've always had good endurance so doing the long-distance races was right up my alley," he said. "I seem to be able to push through."

Ballendine says he has no plans to stop skiing and will continue to teach others how to cross-country ski here in Winnipeg.

"I don't think of myself as being 80 years old," he said with a laugh.

80-year-old Winnipegger wins 3 medals at international cross-country ski competition

7 years ago

Duration 1:55

A Winnipeg senior is back from a world class cross-country ski championship with three medals. Eighty-year-old Jim Ballendine won gold and two silver medals at the Masters World Cup international cross-country skiing championship in Minneapolis in January.