BC takes the Lead at 2016 Haywood NorAm/Buff Sprint Western Canadian Cross Country Ski Championships
Prince George, BC – Over 250 skiers from across Canada participated today in the first race day of the 2016 Haywood Noram Western Canadian Cross Country Ski Championships hosted by the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club. Mike Norton, Acting Race Director for Cross Country Canada says “it was an awesome day at the Otway Nordic Centre today. Great weather and great conditions”. Norton went on to say that “although conditions are thought to be marginal by the local organizing committee standards, Otway was far better than most of the World Cup venues in Europe this year”.
In the Open Men’s category, Russell Kennedy from the Canmore Nordic Club nudged out NorAm Distance leader Kevin Sandau of the Alberta World Cup Academy by three tenths of a second. Kennedy skied the 10km Free Technique race in 22.19.1. Michael Somppi of the National Development Centre in Thunder Bay (NDC-TBay), Ontario was third 2.4 seconds behind the leader. Andy Shields (NDC-T-Bay) and Jesse Cockney, a native of Canmore, and skiing with the Pierre Harvey Training Centre and the National Ski Team, rounded out the top five men. Matthew Neumann, a Caledonia Nordic skier, living in Canmore, placed 10th. The top Junior Men athletes were Gareth Williams from Kelowna in first, Eric Byram, Canmore in second and Alexander Corbett from Salmon Arm, in third.
In the Open Women’s category Dahria Beatty catapulted over Cendrine Browne into the lead for the overall NorAm title. Beatty, a Whitehorse native, skiing with the Alberta World Cup Academy and National Ski Team (AWCA-NST) placed first in a time of 19:02.7 in the 7.5 km Free Technique. Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt, a native of St-Jérome, Que. and skiing with AWCA-NST was second 10.8 seconds behind Beatty. Maya Macisaac-Jones, on the Rocky Mountain Racers Team, placed third 45.7 seconds behind the leader. Annika Hicks, Canmore and Cendrine Browne, from St-Jérome, Que. also skiing with AWCA-NST rounded out the top five Open Women. Jacqui Benson a Caledonia Nordic skier placed 13th. The top Junior Women skier was Ingvild Hoymork from Edmonton, with Anna Zimmerman from Red Deer and Emily McIlroy from Camrose in second and third, respectively.
The Junior Boys podium was split between provinces with Ty Godfrey, Canmore, placing ahead of Conor McGovern, Red River, MB, and Hamish Woods, Smithers, following up in third. Juvenile Boys category was won by Remi Drolet from the Blackjack Ski Club in Rossland, Ian Oliphant, Vernon, and Donny Boake from Yellowknife rounded out the podium. Strathcona Nordic (Mt. Washington) skiers Aiden Noble and Stephen Lamon took first and second in the Midget Boys category, respectively. Luke Fricker from Canmore placed third to give Alberta a position on the podium.
The Junior Girls podium was dominated by B.C. hometown favourite, Caledonia’s Kaia Andal, placed seconded to Hollyburn’s (North Vancouver) skier Anna Goodwin. Rachel May from Salmon Arm placed third. Revelstoke skiers took all three top positions in the Juvenile category with Elizabeth Elliott, Beth Granstrom, and Alana Brittin place first, second and third, respectively. In the Midget Girls category Marielle Ackermann from Kimberley was sandwiched in second between Canmore skiers Isobel Hendry in first and Maya Fish in third.
Caledonia Nordic skiers Conrad Allgaier in the Masters Men and Jacqui Pettersen in the Master’s Women races won their categories.
The Haywood NorAm Western Canadian Championship is a divisional competition with skiers earning points for their home province. All the Western provinces plus a number of Eastern provinces will vie for the title. The standings after the first day have BC taking the lead with 3010 points, Alberta 1641 with Quebec, Ontario, Yukon, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, and Saskatchewan in third thru eighth position, respectively.
The stakes are high for individual skiers taking part in the Open category of the 2016 Haywood NorAm Western Canadian Championships—this is the final event in the Haywood NorAm series that will be used to qualify a man and a woman skier to participate in Ski Tour Canada from each of the disciplines-Distance, Sprint, and Overall. A total of three men and three women will qualify from the Haywood NorAm/Buff Sprint series.
Tomorrow’s race will feature the Buff Sprint Series for the Open and older youth categories. The race will be on a 1400 meter course for the Open category with shorter distances for the younger categories. The Teck Northern Cup series will also begin tomorrow with prologue races for the youngest youth categories. The start time is 9:00AM for the sprint qualification round and prologue races. The exciting head to head races in the Sprint Finals are scheduled to begin at 11:45 A.M. Action carries on with Sunday’s Mass Start races also beginning at 9:00 A.M. with the Open categories.
The public are invited to attend this significant event to see Canada’s World Cup and future Olympic competitors. No admittance charge.
Those wanting more information regarding the (a) competition should contact Chief of Competition Jim Burbee at competitions@caledonianordic.com or (b) Caledonia Nordic athletes taking part in this event should contact Caledonia Head Coach Graeme Moore at headcoach@caledonianordic.com.
The Caledonia Nordic Ski Club, a not-for-profit organization, has evolved over many years, to become a full service Nordic ski club and one of the largest of its kind in Canada. CNSC is run by a volunteer board of directors who meet regularly once a month. Each is dedicated to skier development and the promotion of the sport of cross country skiing for fun, fitness, recreation and health. For more information regarding the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club please visit: www.caledonianordic.com .
CCC is the governing body of cross-country skiing in Canada, which is the nation’s optimal winter sport and recreational activity with more than one million Canadians participating annually. Its 60,000 members include athletes, coaches, officials and skiers of all ages and abilities, including those on Canada’s National Ski Teams and Para-Nordic Ski Teams. With the support of its valued corporate partners – Haywood Securities Inc., AltaGas, and Mackenzie Investments – along with the Government of Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Paralympic Committee, Own the Podium and B2Ten, CCC develops Olympic, Paralympic and world champions. For more information on CCC, please visit: www.cccski.com. A Media Kit with additional information is available at: Haywood NorAm and Western Canadian Championships
For more information, please contact:
Cal Benson, Media Coordinator, Caledonia Nordic Ski Club
Cal@bcbenson.ca (250-613-8656)