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Whitehorse company Proskida has signed a deal with Alpine Canada.

According to the Proskida website, the multi-year agreement gives Alpine Canada access to Protern.io, software which gathers data from a sensor on racers as they blast down a course.

The deal with Alpine Canada includes webinars, training and support for Canada鈥檚 National teams.

Proskida started in late 2015. It鈥檚 main product at the time was a tool for cross-country skiing, ski grips that collected data for the skiers to use to improve their race times.

鈥淲e sort of pivoted away from that in 2019,鈥� said Proskida CEO Alastair Smith. 鈥淲e ended up launching Protern.io in 2019. The focus of that was more on the software and being able to compute tons of performance data from a variety of different sensors and being able to let athletes and coaches really focus on the parts of the data that鈥檚 most important to them.鈥�

Smith said Proskida started in alpine skiing because of a good relationship with Swiss-Ski, Switzerland鈥檚 ski program.

鈥淲orking with them and applying our software we were able to basically bring the Protern.io tool to alpine skiing.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 been quite interesting because it鈥檚 fundamentally changing how that sport is being coached and how people are training with this concept,鈥� said Smith. 鈥淛ust to give you a quick idea, right now, whenever people train for alpine skiing, they鈥檒l set up a timing unit, and they鈥檒l have maybe one split halfway down, and they鈥檒l have a finish. So for every run, they get two bits of data. They know how they did halfway down, and they know how they did when they finished. So they can see if they were slow in the first half or the last half.

鈥淔or us, we collect about 5,000 data points for one run. So we can tell them what point on the course they basically slide the ski a little too much and then lose their speed, or when they were coming into a flat section, were they able to conserve their speed and be able to really carry that through to the end? So it goes from knowing 鈥榦k, I did ok in the first half鈥� to 鈥榥ow I know it鈥檚 between gates 7 and 8 just leaning into a turn at Gate 8, that鈥檚 where we were slowing down, that鈥檚 where we have to work on.鈥欌��

鈥淎nd it鈥檚 quick,鈥� stated Smith. 鈥淭hey can get this data when they鈥檙e done. So they can look at it going up the lift. And it makes their training way more efficient. It鈥檚 alpine skiing, it鈥檚 an expensive sport, and they can only get so many runs in in a day. So this just makes it so they can look at what鈥檚 going on and then make changes for the next run, so they can improve that much quicker with a limited amount of training time.鈥�

Smith described how the recent development with Alpine Canada came about.

鈥淲e鈥檝e actually been working with the para-alpine teams ... since we launched Protern. It means now that we have the men鈥檚 alpine team, the women鈥檚 alpine team, as well as the para-alpine team, all using Protern.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a few benefits,鈥� said Smith. One of course is that for those elite athletes, especially leading into the Olympics and Paralympics.

鈥淎nother part of this is ... working through the programs of excellence ... they鈥檙e learning how to apply this type of technology so that they can train better so that way, it can eventually help our younger athletes, by developing athletes achieve more, and hopefully we can develop more Olympic-calibre athletes through it.鈥�

Proskida has been working with Alpine Yukon.

鈥淲e did some work with them ... end of the season last year ... we had sensors on a few athletes, we were doing some video integration, and actually it was pretty fun to see them using it,鈥� related Smith.

The Proskida CEO describes what products and services they are supplying to Alpine Canada.

鈥淭hey have access to our sensors, they have accounts, to be able to process all that data. We also are working with them to work with their coaches, to help them understand how to get as much value out of the tool ... looking at their runs in a new and different way, all sorts of opportunities have opened up.鈥�

Smith says the Protern technology gives Alpine Canada a competitive edge.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 certainly where teams need to be going. I think pretty much any top-level team is going to be needing this type of technology ... I think for them, it鈥檚 going to be a matter of how to apply that data. That鈥檚 the 鈥榮ecret sauce.鈥� ... I think it will certainly give Alpine Canada and our athletes the opportunity to be competitive for sure, at the Olympics.鈥�

Smith explains how the the technology works.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a sensor that鈥檚 a high-speed, high-accuracy GPS, so it鈥檚 measuring data at 10 times a second, and the skier wears that, and it just goes at the top of their back and it鈥檚 collecting all the time ... so when they ski the course again, the sensor鈥檚 collecting all the data. What the coach will do, with our software, they can say 鈥榦k, this is the section ... important to me ... every time they synch the sensor, our software basically pulls out any of the data that happened in that ... run, and then we present it in a pretty simple way. Like there鈥檚 a variety of ways ... splits and things. Then the coaches, from there can compare specific runs, re-sort things based on different criteria, and so they can really kind of start to look at the run from the very simplest, just getting their times, to going more detailed of being able to compare where the skiers were on the course when they were losing a bit of speed.鈥�

Proskida has a number of high-powered alpine skiing programs on board, including the Swiss, the Germans, Swedes, French, and Russians at the national team level. At the club level, the U.S, Italy and Norway are involved.

鈥淭he elite athletes ... it鈥檚 fun to see it being used at that level, but what鈥檚 really interesting too is ... to see the sport kind of progress and to be able to play a role in helping those young athletes get more out of their runs and being able to just improve that much quicker,鈥� said Smith.

Of course, alpine ski clubs aren鈥檛 the only ones interested in the Protern technology.

鈥淥ur longer-term vision is actually applying this technology to other sports, so to endurance sports,鈥� said Smith. 鈥淲e actually have interest from some big-wave surfers in Maui who are using the tech. We have Olympic-level cross- country ski teams as well using it. We built the tool to be flexible and to be able to take any kind of sensor data. And to be able to let people really hone in on the areas that are most important to them and to compare that over time. And that鈥檚 kind of our unique take to sport performance analysis.鈥�

Protern isn鈥檛 just for alpine skiing.

鈥淣o. That鈥檚 where we started,鈥� said Smith. 鈥淲e鈥檙e having great success there, but where we really see it growing is in cycling and running and quite frankly, a whole bunch of other sports, smaller ones like rowing, maybe even surfing.鈥�

Smith is proud that Proskida is a Yukon company with tremendous growth potential.

鈥淚t鈥檚 awesome to build something in the Yukon that鈥檚 making an impact world-wide and that鈥檚 kind of been our goal from the beginning. We always believed that you can build something that鈥檚 kind of world-changing, from Yukon. That鈥檚 pretty exciting for us ... we鈥檙e keen to keep growing, to bring on more customers and to enter more sports and really grow this company. It鈥檚 a big market. Within sport, there鈥檚 about 10 billion a year spent just on performance analysis. Especially in the endurance market. So there鈥檚 a lot of opportunities here, for sure.鈥�

So how far can this company go?

鈥淭he sky鈥檚 the limit ... there鈥檚 a big market to grow into,鈥� said Smith enthusiastically. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no reason why this can鈥檛 be a multi-million dollar company ... alpine skiing is a good start for us, but cycling and running 鈥� that鈥檚 where we鈥檙e moving to ... it鈥檚 massive. You look at the companies that are out there, like Zwift, a cycling training tool. They鈥檝e raised $400 million. They鈥檙e worth over a billion dollars. You have Strava ... they鈥檙e in the billions in terms of worth. I鈥檓 not sure exactly we鈥檒l be in the billions but certainly ... people are very interested in getting better and we鈥檙e not talking just elite athlete. These are what鈥檚 know in the industry are 鈥楳AMIL鈥檚鈥�- middle-aged men in lycra ... health is important to them and the competitiveness of sport, the camaraderie of sport, like all of those things are ... they鈥檙e keen on it. And being able to see gains, that鈥檚 a pretty big thing for them, so ... this is the space we鈥檙e playing in.鈥�

Smith says he鈥檚 proud to show that you can succeed in the Yukon.

鈥淚t鈥檚 fun. People know where Yukon is. They get it. So it solidifies that thing that you can 鈥� great ideas, great company ... talented people can come from anywhere. That to me is what鈥檚 so exciting about building this business. We can do this here.鈥�