For Linnea Uunila, winter means cross-country skiing.
It’s a tough sport, requiring stamina and strength, the 14-year-old says, but most of all it’s fun.
“I love the atmosphere in cross-country skiing,” says Uunila, who currently trains with the Hollyburn Cross Country Ski Club.
Uunila is no stranger to the sport. Last winter she raked in multiple top 10 results by the end of the season. She also represented the Vancouver Coastal Zone in cross-country skiing at the Winter Games.
Summertime means trading in the skis for a road bike and wetsuit. Just as Uunila represented the Vancouver Coastal Zone in the Winter Games last year, she did the same in the Summer Games in the triathlon.
Over the past five years, the Don Ross Middle School Grade 9 student has grown a list of accomplishments that includes 50 division wins in everything from first place at the Trizona Sprint Triathlon in Tucson, Arizona, to a gold medal at the Alcatraz Sharkfest Swim across the San Francisco Bay. Closer to home, Uunila placed first in 2015 Squamish Triathlon’s women’s division relay.
Last year Uunila was also selected as a speaker for FEAT Kids – Fascinating Expedition & Adventure Talks. It’s akin to a TEDx for kids, with events held throughout Canada. In total, Uunila has competed in more than 150 races.
This summer, she’s shaking things up. Uunila plans to focus on open water swimming and road cycling.
“I have been swimming for a long time,” Uunila says. “When I was 11 years old I started getting into the open water races. It is a lot harder, but it is really fun to be outside.”
Her greatest inspiration and competitor is her grandpa, Sakari, who spurs on her love for road cycling and cross-country skiing.
“I enjoy cycling with my grandpa,” she says, noting her grandpa is a former cross-country ski racer.
The grandfather/granddaughter team has done the 122-kilometre Whistler GranFondo together three years in a row.
“He’s very good to train with. We do about the same speed in cycling.”
Last July, the two travelled to Sweden for the Vansbrosimningen three-kilometre open water race.
“[My grandpa] is from Finland and my grandma is from Sweden, so it was great because he could show me stuff there,” Uunila noted.
Her father, Lars, had a surprise when he saw Uunila being interviewed on Swedish television before and after the race.
“She was the only Canadian in Europe’s largest open water swim race,” he says. “I was watching it at two in the morning.”
The whole event was “really fun,” Uunila says. But travelling and training with her grandpa is what has holds dearest.
“We are really close.”
