The athletes stood six abreast, toeing the start-finish line. The oval snowshoe course would be sharply uphill at first, then a sloping left-hand curve, followed by a long downhill, another curve and a final, gradual, thigh-killing uphill straight.

Erika Van Steelant's daughter Leaha was among them, wearing No. 24 on her lavender bib. She was one of three Canadians in the Monday morning heat at Kincaid Park. Leaha prefers longer distances, her mother said; the 400 meters isn't really her favorite race.

The starter walked along the line of racers, showing his pistol and explaining what he would do. When he reached the end of the line, he turned, raised the pistol and fired. The snowshoers set off, sending the snow flying.

Canada sent 98 athletes to the Special Olympics World Winter Games. Sixteen of them are snowshoers, including six from Manitoba. The province has had a Special Olympics program since 1980, and Leaha, who is 27, has been competing for about half that time.

"It just changed her life," Erika said. Leaha no longer has to take many of her medications. She has lost weight. "She has a focus. She has an ambition. After the first time she went to nationals, she said, 'This is what I want to do.' "

What Leaha does, Erika does. When Leaha runs on the streets around their Winnipeg home, Erika stands on a corner where she can keep an eye on her. When Leaha trains on the other side of town, Erika drives. When Leaha travels to compete, Erika goes along to cheer.

"I'm her No. 1 fan," she said. "This is a big part of my life."

By the time the runners reached the far side of the oval, Leaha was in second place. Ahead of her was another Manitoban, Jennifer Adams. Behind was Carol Anne Stocker, originally from Masset in the Queen Charlotte Islands but living now in a group home in Victoria, B.C.

"Come on, Leaha. Faster. Keep going. Keep going," Erika called. She turned to Trudy Bueckert, whose grandson, Jean Paul Levesque, is also on the snowshoeing team. "Oh, I know I'm not going to have a voice tomorrow," she said.

The women are part of a contingent of 19 family members who traveled from Manitoba for the Games. Those at the snowshoeing oval made a boisterous and colorful crowd. Most of the mothers wore red fleece maple leaf caps with "Canada" lettered across the fronts in white, the sort of caps it requires a good deal of self-assurance to wear.

Adams crossed the finish line first, in just more than two minutes. She wobbled and sat down in the snow, overcome by shortness of breath. A couple of Canadian officials rushed an asthma inhaler out to her, and she soon recovered. Leaha arrived second and Stocker third.

Erika is originally from the same part of Austria as actor and Special Olympics booster Arnold Schwarzenegger. Her parents moved the family to Canada when she was 6, and she grew up in Winnipeg. Now, after three children and 25 years as a farm wife, she's back in the city. She juggles four part-time jobs with Leaha's training and travel schedule, minds her daughter's nutrition and spends a lot of time behind the wheel and a lot of money on gasoline.

"As long as she's happy, I'm happy," Erika said. "You live for the happiness of your child."