Venezuela to Vancouver (24-Aug-08)

Falls Creek, VIC, August 24, 2008 - 21 year old Venezuelan cross country skier Cesar Baena

21 year old Venezuelan cross country skier Cesar Baena has begun the quest to represent his country at the Canadian Winter Olympics with some training and race experience at Falls Creek.

Fresh from a spell on snow with the Chilean military Baena is being shown the race tracks around Falls Creek by another skier (Paul Murray) also aiming to be at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The Venezuelan will compete in the  Australian Cross Country Ski Championships at Falls Creek in an effort to gain FIS points he'll need to qualify as Venezuela's first cross country skiing Winter Olympian.

Cesar isn't  the only international heading to Falls Creek to compete in the Australian  Championships. Czech skiers Jan Kriz and Viktor Novotny (who won the Austrian Dolonitenlauf World Loppet event) will participate in  the Kangaroo Hoppet as will two American cross country skiers from Oregon, Evelyn Dong and Zach Violett, plus a French skier Geoffroy Pais, who is tipped to finish in the top five men.