Photo credit: Sarah Murphy Cutline: Richard Boruta, shown in 2016 on a backcountry ski tour on Mount Rundle, fell in love with Alberta’s Rocky Mountains.Sarah Murphy
A month ago, Richard Boruta, his family and two friends were on a week-long and self-guided rafting trip on the Nahanni River in the Northwest Territories. It was a dream trip for Mr. Boruta, to celebrate his forthcoming 50th birthday.
Mr. Boruta had grown up in Czechoslovakia and as a boy he took summer canoe trips with his parents. It was the foundation of his love for the wilderness. He went on to coach athletes in biathlon – the sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle target shooting – and moved to Canada in 1998, in his early 30s. He was, most recently, a key development coach. Mr. Boruta had previously coached Canada's national team, including at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Mr. Boruta and his wife, Kamila Borutova, were outdoors adventurers: Their honeymoon in 2002 was a 10-day backcountry ski trip along the Continental Divide of Alberta's Rocky Mountains. The July trip on the Nahanni River, however, was the first time Mr. Boruta had led the whole family – their boys are nine and 11 – on such a big journey. It began with a 45-minute helicopter ride to Virginia Falls from Fort Simpson and finished at Blackstone Territorial Park.
"It was incredible," Ms. Borutova said. "We enjoyed absolutely everything. The river, the surroundings, the Kraus Hotsprings, camping, cooking and having fun as a family."
Mr. Boruta died on Aug. 9 in a rock-climbing accident near Canmore, Alta., where the family lived. He was 49. He and his wife and two friends had been hiking and rappelling on the Three Sisters peaks. On the Middle Sister, the four had rappelled in stages and there were a few more to go to the bottom. Ms. Borutova and the two friends were waiting on a ledge, as Mr. Boruta was the last to finish a pitch. He was on the rock wall about 10 metres above the group when something went wrong. Mr. Boruta fell 450 metres and died at the scene. It was about 7 p.m. The other three were rescued from the ledge by Kananaskis Public Safety.
"He was always so precise," Ms. Borutova said. "He always made sure everyone was safe. I don't know why it happened."
Richard Boruta was born on Oct. 11, 1967, several months before the Prague Spring began and then was ended by the Soviet Union in 1968. His parents, Jirina and Richard, were teachers. His early years were in the spa town of Jachymov in western Bohemia, near the German border. When Richard was nine, his family moved to Prague. Richard's sporting love was kayaking, before he took up biathlon as a teenager.
Mr. Boruta married at 18. The union lasted only a year, but produced a son, Michael. In the late 1980s, he started at Charles University in Prague, where he was studying as the Berlin Wall came down. He graduated with a master's degree in physical education. He also began his career as a biathlon coach, first at a university club and then, after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the start of 1993, with the junior national team in neighbouring Austria.
It was after a biathlon race in the Czech Republic in 1995 that Mr. Boruta met his future wife at a party. Kamila Horakova was an athlete on the Czech team. Her teammates wanted to talk to the Austrians and she spoke German. She discovered the Austrians had a Czech coach. Their relationship started slowly. By 1998, they were close. In June that year, the couple ventured to Western Canada, to travel and train. Mr. Boruta wanted to see the Rockies, and cowboys. The plan was to visit for the summer.
In between travels through British Columbia and the mountains, the couple set up in Canmore, where Mr. Boruta coached Kamila on the shooting range at the Canmore Nordic Centre, built for the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. Canmore had thereafter become a nexus for Canadian cross-country skiing and biathlon. Some locals spotted Mr. Boruta's expertise. The Czech Republic is one of several countries in Central Europe and Scandinavia where biathlon is a big-time sport. Mr. Boruta was offered a job coaching with a local club. The couple fell in love with the freedom and the mountains.
Mr. Boruta, as a man and coach, was soft-spoken and driven. He was carefully organized, exacting and punctual. He was honest and direct. But under the strict surface, he was kind and funny, a man with a dry sense of humour. He had a bright smile. Mr. Boruta inspired athletes to push themselves harder. One of Mr. Boruta's early athletes, Colin Bell, has remembered wanting to discover the secret that made top competitors from the Czech Republic and elsewhere in Europe. Mr. Bell learned it was an unrelenting commitment to training.
In 2000, a skier from Quebec was looking to set a record for distance skied in 24 hours. Mr. Boruta signed on to help and Ms. Horakova, as she was then known, was asked to ski for support. Mr. Boruta encouraged her to do more than ski alongside. It was early April and they skied laps of 2.2 kilometres. The Quebec skier dropped out midway. Ms. Horakova went for more than 23 hours, from noon till almost noon again, to establish a record of 333 kilometres (Guinness certified).
"No one was expecting I could ski that far," Ms. Borutova recalled. "Toward the end, Richard was pushing me, my mental limits. 'You can do it: It's only 30 more kilometres.' He was incredibly supportive."
The couple married on a cold Christmas Eve in 2001. The next year, Mr. Boruta became head coach of the national team. He spoke four languages – English, Czech, German and Russian – which was a great help on the biathlon tour in Europe. He was also a masseur on the side, another plus for a team on a threadbare budget.
Zina Kocher was among his athletes. She had moved to Canmore, from Red Deer, when she finished high school in 2000 to train with Mr. Boruta. He had seen potential in her at the national championships.
In 2003, a few days before Christmas, the team was at a race in a village in Slovakia. It was Ms. Kocher's first full season on the World Cup circuit. In the 7.5-kilometre sprint race, Ms. Kocher skied well, and shot better than usual. She hit all 10 of her targets. After the second five shots, she pushed out for her final lap, in a promising position.
Mr. Boruta was known for his quiet voice. Listeners at close range sometimes had to strain to hear. At this race, Ms. Kocher, in the zone in her final push, was surprised to see her coach running beside her up a hill, cheering and urging her on to the finish. Then he was there again, on another hill, louder than ever. Ms. Kocher finished 10th, her first top-10 World Cup result.
"He had immense passion," Ms. Kocher said. "He was always an unwavering rock. It didn't matter if it was the Alberta Cup, nationals, or the Olympics. He didn't get stressed out. He gave you the feeling everything would be fun: 'You've got this.'"
After the 2006 Winter Olympics – where Mr. Boruta guided seven athletes and Ms. Kocher had Canada's best result, 27th in the women's 15-kilometre individual – Mr. Boruta stepped back from the national team to focus on starting a family with Ms. Borutova. "Family was his priority," Ms. Borutova said.
In 2010, the family moved back to the Czech Republic. Ms. Borutova, who didn't speak English when she moved to Canada, had struggled for years with homesickness. But back in the Czech Republic, Mr. Boruta working with the junior national team, the family realized where their hearts belonged. "You know," Kamila said to Richard, "I think Canada is our home."
Ms. Borutova recalled of that time: "Canada was calling us. We had to go to Czech [Republic] to understand that."
Back in Canmore, Mr. Boruta became head coach of the Biathlon Alberta Training Centre, established in 2011 for promising athletes in their late teens and early 20s from Alberta and other provinces. It became an important pillar in the development of biathlon in Canada. Among the highlights is 19-year-old Megan Bankes of Calgary. This past winter, Ms. Bankes won gold in the 12.5-kilometre individual race at the biathlon junior world championships.
"It's based on the foundation Richard gave them," said Matthias Ahrens, head coach of Canada's national team.
Scott Gow, who was part of Canada's men's relay team that won bronze at last year's world championships, said Mr. Boruta had wide influence. Mr. Gow had never been directly coached by Mr. Boruta, but benefited from his guidance over the years.
"Richard might say something you've heard a million times but when he said it, it carried more weight," Mr. Gow said.
Mr. Boruta was three times named Biathlon Canada male coach of the year, most recently this year. Ms. Borutova has asked friends wishing to remember her husband to offer donations to the Biathlon Alberta Training Centre, through Alberta Sports Connection.
"He was the best father and the best husband," Ms. Borutova said. "Really kind, and loving."
Two days after the rappelling accident, Ms. Kocher hiked above Canmore, across the valley from the Three Sisters. She posted an image to Instagram and a message. She wrote about the pull of the mountains, the desire to climb and feel the force of nature and also the inherent risk in such adventures. She signed off with praise of her coach, who had over the years become a second father.
"You shaped so many of us into who we are today," Ms. Kocher wrote.
Richard leaves his wife, Kamila; his sons, Michael, Thomas and Lukas; daughter-in-law, Petra; granddaughter, Sophie; mother, Jirina; father, Richard; mother-in-law, Helena; and father-in-law, Joseph.