SOLDIER HOLLOW — Watching Canadian brothers Brian and Robin McKeever cross country ski is to watch poetry in motion. When one moves, the other moves. When one zigs, the other zigs. They climb hills like a centipede. If synchronized skiing was a competitive sport, they would be world champs.
They ski so much alike it's hard to tell them apart, although there are differences.
At 28, Robin is six years older than Brian.
And Robin can see.
And Brian can't.
It is why they are flying down the hills and up the vales in tandem at Soldier Hollow this week. Brian is a contestant in the Paralympics, qualified by virtue of his visual impairedness and the speeds he skis.
Robin is his guide.
Brian is a legitimate gold medal threat in all three visually impaired Paralympic men's races scheduled at the Hollow this week — today's 5K, Tuesday's 10K and Friday's 15K. He (and Robin) warmed up this past Friday with a sixth-place finish in the 7.5K biathlon, a mere 21 seconds from a bronze medal despite the fact Brian missed three of 10 targets (blind biathletes shoot by listening to a high-pitched sound) and had to incur a three-minute penalty as a result. English translation: if he'd hit all the targets he'd have lapped the field.
"Good skiing, lousy shooting," Brian said, admitting his rifle practice lies somewhere between seldom and non-existent.
Then, putting a nice spin on for the future, he added, "Now it'll be nice not to have to worry about that shooting crap."
But while he'll lose the rifle he'll keep Robin, his ever-present and trusty sidekick who not only serves as his eyes on the course but possesses another equally important qualification.
He skis faster.
First thing you learn when you get into competitive blind racing: don't get a guide who's slower than you are.
When you're as fast as Brian, getting a guide isn't exactly like shopping at the mall. In all of Canada there are only a handful of skiers faster than he is, sighted or not sighted. Robin happens to be one of them.
On his best day, Robin may just be the fastest skier in Canada.
Four years ago he competed for Canada at every cross country distance at the Olympics in Nagano. He is a nine-time Canadian national champion and was a contender to compete in the recent Salt Lake Olympics but was not named to the Canadian team.
"There were a lot of reasons," Robin shrugs. "There's a lot of politics."
But nothing could keep him out of the Paralympics, where he gets to ski as fast as he wants and do everything he can to help his brother.
"It's very satisfying," says Robin. "Especially when we do well."
The brothers — they're the only siblings in their family — came by cross country naturally. Their home town is Canmore, Alberta, the city that hosted the cross country events for the 1988 Calgary Olympics. Robin was a teenage volunteer at the venue; Brian was in third grade.
They could both see fine back then. Brian didn't lose his sight until he was 18 due to a genetic disease. Tests have indicated, however, that Robin will keep his sight.
That means the brothers McKeever could be a force to contend with for many Paralympics to come; and maybe not just the Paralympics.
"I'd like to ski in the Olympics," says Brian. "I don't see any reason why I can't."
Don't bet against it. He follows in his brother's tracks very well.
Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.