As 17-year-old Janelle Greer prepares for a busy season of competitive cross country skiing, the teen has been selected as a forerunner to ski the 2010 Olympics trails in Vancouver.

"It's pretty exciting, I'm definitely looking forward to it,” Greer said.

The forerunner has the important job of skiing the trails minutes before the Olympic athletes to ensure that the track is free of snow, branches and other debris to make the track fair for all the competitors.

They also check the signage along the trail.

Pre-skiing the trails can make them faster and helps to make them fair for the first and last racers.

"I'm really excited. It'll be a really good experience and a good eye opener,” said Greer.

The high school student will join 26 other athletes from across Canada.

The group is split up into two weeks. Greer will be in the first week group.

"It'll be a pretty exciting time for them,” said Claude Chabot, chief of competition for the upcoming Haywood Nationals to be held in Whitehorse in March.

Athletes were chosen by an application process that included essay questions and other pre-requisites.

The judges did their best to use a group that represented all of Canada and was gender equal.

Prior race performance was also a factor.

Cross Country Canada chose the 27 forerunners.

"To be a forerunner you have to be able to keep a pretty good race pace,” said Chabot.

The skier hopes this won't be her last trip to the Olympics,as her brother prepares for the 2014 games to be held in Sochi, Russia.

"I hope I get to go sometime in the long run,” said Greer. "Possibly 2018.”

The host city for the 2018 Olympics has yet to be decided, but after this week's announcement of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the deadline for bids is on Oct. 15.

Germany, South Korea and France have already announced their intentions to put forward a bid.

"I hope the day comes,” said Greer.

Chabot says the young athlete could very well return to the games.

"She's got a good career ahead of her,” he said.

Besides her trip to the Olympics, Greer has a busy season of competitions ahead of her.

Before February she will compete at the World Junior Trials, the Silverstar Races and possibly the Besh Cup.

After the Olympics she will compete at home at the Nationals in Whitehorse.

"For an upcoming skier this should be a great motivator,” said Chabot. "Janelle's got an incredible amount of talent, so she doesn't need much motivation.”