How the Van Wijk`s Saw the Stadium Dream

How the Van Wijk’s Saw the Stadium Dream Became a Reality
Have you ever wondered how Nakkertok’s incredible stadium facilities came about? There is no
better winter sight than seeing the many skiers criss-cross through the Stadium during a race
like the Eastern Canadian Championships or a club event like Cookie Race. Credit goes to
Nakkertok landowners Claudia and Dirk Van Wijk, for their dedication to seeing the stadium
project into reality and to the sport of cross country skiing in general. Dirk grew up skiing at the
club, and with his wife Claudia made a personal and financial commitment to see the club
progress to another level. Read on to see how they did it.
Comment le vieux rêve des Van Wijk est devenu réalité.
Vous êtes-vous déjà demandé comment le stade Nakkertok et ses superbes ressources ont vu
le jour? En effet, n’y a-t-il pas de vision plus hivernale que les fondeurs qui s’y croisent lors des
championnats de l’est du Canada ou la course des Biscuits par exemple? Tout le mérite en
revient aux propriétaires Claudia et Dirk Van Wijk. Leur engagement à voir le projet se réaliser a
aussi permis au ski de fond de grandir en notoriété. Dirk a grandi avec Nakkertok. C’est son
engagement, ainsi que celui de son épouse Claudia, qui a fait progresser le club à un tout autre
niveau. Voyons comment ils y sont arrivés!
Here’s how Claudia describes the moment, ten years ago, when their commitment to and vision
for Nakkertok crystallized: I’ll never forget Dirk taking me into the “skinny forest” of new maples
and brambles that towered above my head off Charon Junction in 2003. He’d cleared a path
with the bush-hog that allowed us to reach 50 feet into what’s now known as the stadium. He
pointed south and said: “This is my vision . . . We’ll bring the road up along the right of way,
build the parking lot here, clear this flat clear-cut section to create a stadium, build a ski chalet
there, connect the stadium to the existing trails for entry-level skiing, with new challenging race
trails up and through this escarpment . . . Do you see it ???” I answered, “Nope, but if you do,
then I’m with you!”
So began a DREAM. The result is what we call the NEW Nakkertok.
Claudia and Dirk at the Stadium, 2014
A watercolour recently hung on the club wall shows the original visual of what they felt could
become of a very rough patch of land populated by small trees and some garbage. Before
presenting their vision to the Nakkertok Board, Dirk and Claudia asked an architect friend to
develop a schematic (see below), which Claudia then painted as a watercolour (see Dirk holding
the framed work). Along with written development plans, it was approved by the Board in
2004.
Dirk with watercolour
Read on to see how members described all the thinking and planning that went into creating
the world-class facilities you see every time you come to ski. This achievement came about
through concrete ideas, dedication, money, yes, and a phenomenal amount of volunteer time
and commitment. The result has been an increase in Nakkertok membership and use by
families across the Ottawa-Gatineau region.
Future Plans, or the “ Dream,” presented to the Board in 2004, with Sue Holloway and Geoff
Tomlinson as co-presidents.
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Expanded, improved trail network including:
o Bringing existing main trails to a standard where they can be used with minimal
snow and brushed with a machine
o Integrate additional trails to cater to new racing formats i.e.,
 Shorter nested loops
 Better spectating and easier coaching
 Increased excitement of racing and training
o Expand/improve the lighted trail
o Designate certain trails as single-track backcountry
o Possible integration of a snowshoe network
Work towards a lodge to accommodate:
o Washrooms, change rooms and sauna
o Eating, meeting area
o Waxing facility
o Retail and rental space to lease to local retailer
o Adjacent parking and skiing
Claudia Van Wijk’s Text and Photos for a Press Release (extract) on New Stadium
Development, Winter 2005
Gatineau Park is famous for its vast network of cross country ski trails. Thousands of winter
enthusiasts from the National Capital Region are drawn to its well maintained and groomed
tracks each winter. It is a great outdoor destination.
What is missing in the area is a place to learn how to ski, an ambiance of camaraderie amongst
like-minded skiers and a competitive development program to foster high level cross country
ski athletes.
This void was filled by a handful of enthusiastic ski families that joined together in the 70's to
create a cross country ski club. At the heart were the two founding families: the Webers and
Holloways. Together they purchased parcels of land in Cantley at the top end of Avenue
Gatineau, and with many active Ottawa area families founded the club: Nakkertok (“travelling
swiftly on snow” in Inuktituk).
Many top ski athletes have come from Nakkertok, Richard Weber being the most well known,
having skied for Canada for over a decade and being the first non-supported skier, with his
Russian counterpart Misha Malakov, to ski to the North Pole and back. Two Nakkertok skiers
are presently on the National Team: Chris Jeffries and Perianne Jones, with Chris representing
Canada at the Olympics in Turin [2006].
It's been 30 years since Nakkertok was started as a nordic club in the National Capital Region
and the lands around Nakkertok South have been slowly gobbled up by developers, and sold off
as taxes have climbed . . . and the founding members, Hans and Meg Weber, now in their 80's,
hoped their dream of continuing what they started would pass on.
Claudia and Dirk Van Wijk in 2003 got together with the Weber family to structure a transition
of ownership and thus purchased the existing 300 acres, plus an addition of 50 acres, to build
their vision: an updated modern nordic centre, complete with a race stadium, improved race
trail network that can be groomed with a minimal amount of 20 cm of snow for skate and
classic skiing, good signage and trail maps, a friendly ski-in cabin for day and overnight use, a 2
km night lighted trail for after work/school skiing and, this fall, the new Ski Centre — a ski barn
for indoor waxing, and a hub for gathering before and after members xc skiing.
Dirk Van Wijk, himself a Nakkertok racer in his youth, since competing on Canada's National
Junior Team at the 1979 World Championships, has had a vision for a world class cross country
ski centre in this area. He loves skiing in the Gatineau Park with his whole family, wife Claudia,
daughters Katrina (15) and Stefani (13), but realized that a cross country ski centre was never to
happen in the Gatineau Park and, with Camp Fortune getting busier with alpine, cross country
skiers were asked to revert to start from parking lots only . . . thus a SKI Centre just for cross
country skiing was in big demand.
Claudia and Dirk Van Wijk run OWL Rafting on the Ottawa River and Madawaska Kanu Centre, a
whitewater kayak and canoe school in the summer months, which gave them time and
resources to put into their new passion. Over three years, the developments have progressed,
and are one year from completion. But they are complete enough to be given the honour of
hosting Canada's largest competitive event of this winter, by Cross Country Canada (the ski
body in Canada): the Eastern Canadian Cross Country ski championships, Feb. 4 & 5, 2006. On
the first weekend of Winterlude, it is a recognized Winterlude event and will host over 500 ski
athletes competing each day.
- 30 -
Footings for chalet, with neighbouring outhouse (later moved to current position)
Closed-in chalet, porch and floors were installed the following fall
Craig Storey’s Article (extract) Announcing the New Stadium, November 28, 2004
Do you remember the movie "Field of Dreams" — the "If you build it, they will come" movie?
No, Dirk didn't build a baseball field where ghosts of legendary players come to play. No, Dirk is
not a movie star either, although he does drive a very recognizable SUV (with Owl Rafting on
the side). The Van Wijk family are all cross-country skiers and big supporters of the sport. As
such, Dirk has laid the foundation for a Nakkertok nordic centre near the existing Nakkertok
South trails. In time, this nordic centre will be a modern ski racing facility, complete with a
stadium for racing and teaching, lights for night skiing and a chalet. Just what Ottawa ski racers
have been missing!
Last winter Dirk got inspired to buy some land near the Nakkertok South trails in Cantley,
Quebec, and work on developing the existing race course. Some of his inspiration came from a
conversation with XCOttawa skier and long-time Nakkertok racer Tom McCarthy. On a long ski
together, Tom mentioned that what the Nakkertok trail system was missing was a long gradual
hill, a leg killer, just to really make the course hard. Dirk must have remembered this: the new
course has a killer hill called "McCarthy Hill" — partly at Tom's request but also in recognition of
Jim McCarthy's long-term service to the club.
The work Dirk did on the trails last winter improved on the existing race course nicely. After all
that work, Dirk must have been disappointed when cold weather cancelled the annual
Nakkertok invitational race. He dealt with his disappointment well; he bought most of the land
on which the Nakkertok South trail system is located. Then he set to work laying out a new
stadium and creating a new racing trail system. By mid-September Dirk had hired a few big
machines and a bulldozer to do some yard work. In less than two months (of long hard days of
solid work), the trail and stadium, complete with lights for night skiing, are ready to go. Another
nice feature: all the trails are built on sand and gravel, so that very little snow cover is needed
before you can start skiing.
Now Dirk didn't tell many people what he was doing but we did run into Dirk one day and were
invited to tour his "improvements." Karl, Ed and I thought we were headed out to get a tour of
a few new trail improvements: wider trails, maybe even a few banked corners . . . even that
would have been great. We weren't prepared for the completeness of Dirk's "improvements."
We drove up a new access road, parked in the new parking lot and what lay before us was a
stadium that is 125 m long and 60 m wide — complete with lights for night skiing! The night
skiing loop now extends over 2 km and when the snow flies I'll bet a lot of the light from the
stadium extends even beyond that.
Speaking of the stadium, it's a great example of modern, spectator-friendly race course design.
On any lap of the course you enter the stadium three times, not including the start and finish
shoots. Thus all the parents and spectators are given a minimum of five chances to catch all the
racing action. The stadium does double duty as an area for teaching and coaching. The trail
loops off the stadium nicely so that it can be used to create a variety of challenging courses and
is not limited to a single 5 km loop.
While we walked the trails, Dirk pointed out all of the changes and explained his vision for the
trails and how all forms of racing: sprints, mass starts, maybe even duathlon could be hosted
there in the future. Along the way all of the expected trail improvements were there: wider,
flatter, steeper, longer. While the course builds on a lot of the existing trails, the addition of
"McCarthy Hill" and "Dirk's Dive" will make it more challenging and fun.
Dirk's built it, and when snow comes so will the skiers!
- 30 Dirk Van Wijk’s Nakkertalk, 2004
Thank you all for all the positive feedback on the fall trailwork and OWL cabin. I have seen lots
of ski tracks going around the bump loop in Charon’s Junction. Claudia and I feel very privileged
that were given the opportunity to purchase the majority of the land at Nakkertok South from
the Webers and the adjoining powerline property from the Ethiers. Your comments reinforce
our decision to continue this venture.
In the early seventies the Webers, the Holloways and a dedicated group of skiing families,
including my parents, invested financially and lots of effort into starting a dedicated nordic club
called Nakkertok. I see our role as to continue and help facilitate this effort.
Together with the Nakkertok Board we have planned several phases of improvements in the
upcoming years. Nakkertok’s Blue Sky sessions have clearly defined the members’ wishes and
goals for the club. These phases will take the facilities a long way towards attaining those goals.
The first improvement phase was trail improvement, enabling us to ski with less snow on
smoother trails. This effort will be ongoing throughout the next several years. OWL cabin was
seen as a day ski destination for the enthusiastic Jack Rabbits and for quiet evening dinners.
The next major phase, already underway, is the establishment of a true nordic centre. This will
be unique in the Ottawa/Gatineau area, complete with a lit stadium area for instruction and
training, disabled programs, ski events and competitions. An expanded lighted trail will connect
the stadium area with the existing lighted trail, providing the club with an endless possibility of
evening ski programs. It will have adjacent parking for easy access for all levels of skiing ability.
The selected site is just east of Charon’s Junction at the base of the escarpment. This area is
ideally suited for this venture as it is protected from the wind, has been totally clear-cut of all
valuable timber and is almost flat but immediately adjacent to ample hill possibilities. Take a
peek on your next ski by.
The third phase will be to build a ski lodge, at the parking area, for eating, meeting, waxing,
changing and going to the bathroom.
The region of Ottawa/Gatineau needs a facility such as this to maintain and promote the
momentum of cross country skiing in this region. I would really like to see Nakkertok become
that facility and am very committed to make it happen.
- 30 That was then: this is now! A huge THANK YOU to you, Claudia and Dirk, and to the countless
unnamed volunteers who helped bring your vision to reality. The Board of Directors is
currently conducting plans that may create a vision for the next stage of development in this
great facility.