Hello everyone, it looks like the worst of the cold spell is behind us.
For training this week, we will do the following;
Tuesday 4 pm: ski in classic and do some specific strength
Thursday 6 pm: participate in the fun time trial at 6 pm organized by the WCCSC. Registration $5 and will include a burger.
Saturday 11 am: participate in the race at the biathlon facility. We will register everyone unless you let us know by Wednesday you are available for the race.
Press release from the Western Championships;
January 22, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Western Canadians Wrap-Up
To no one’s surprise, Whitehorse skiers garnered a schwack of honours at the Western Canadian Cross Country Ski Championships held in Canmore this past weekend.
The Westerns, part of the Haywood NORAM race series, was structured as a three day “mini-tour”, like an abbreviated Tour de Ski (itself modeled on the Tour de France).
Athletes started off with an individual start classic technique race on Friday, moved to a sprint on Saturday, then finished off the grueling weekend with a free technique race using a pursuit start.
The usual suspects topped the podiums on day 1, with Emily Nishikawa the fastest Open Woman, followed by Dahria Beatty and Janelle Greer, who were first and second in the Junior Women’s category,
Meanwhile, on the men’s side, David Greer, who has been tearing up the trails lately, narrowly missed the podium with a fourth place finish. The race was won by National Team Skier Brent McMurtry, from Calgary’s Foothills club.
And in the Junior Girls race, Holly Bull also pulled down a fourth place finish, one of her best results ever at this level of competition.
On day two, the skiers hit the trails for a free technique sprint competition, 1.2 km for the women, 1.4 km for the men.
This time, it was Janelle Greer topping the list for the Yukon, picking up the gold as the top Junior Woman and in 8th place overall. Emily Nishikawa dropped back in the overall standings with a 5th place in the Open category, and Dahria Beatty was knocked out in the quarter finals. This dropped her into second place overall (behind Greer) in the Junior Women’s competition.
David Greer, not generally a strong sprinter, was also knocked out in the quarter finals, but managed to hang onto 5th place in the overall tour standings. After a disappointing first day, Graham Nishikawa came on strong with a 4th place finish in the sprint, moving him up to 6th overall in the open men’s group.
The final day had the skiers heading off on a free technique distance race, with start times based on their cumulative times from the previous two days, with fastest out first. This makes for exciting racing, with the first across the line the overall winner for the tour.
And exciting racing it was.
Emily Nishikawa, starting the day 15 seconds behind Alysson Marshall, almost closed the gap, but couldn’t quite finish her off, ending the day only 2 seconds behind.
In the Junior Women’s field, Dahria Beatty had a superb final leg, ending up as top Junior for the day, and almost cracking the podium in the Senior category. She was followed closely by Janelle Greer, 2nd overall in the Junior Women’s field.
Graham Nishikawa also had a strong final day, making a charge to move up into second spot overall behind Kevin Sandau, also of the National Ski Team. David Greer dropped back a bit, but held onto a top 10 placing.
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For more information contact:
Claude Chabot
Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club
867 333-0171
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