Nordic club hosts skiers from across Canada
Many of Telemark’s young up-and-coming skiers had a chance to rub shoulders with some of Canada’s elite racers as the local nordic club played host to one of the largest cross country events ever to come to British Columbia.
More than 460 competitors, including five members of Canada’s national nordic team, coverged on the West Kelowna site last weekend for the Haywood Western Canadian/NorAm/B.C. Cup over three days of competition.
With the exception of a heavy snowfall on Sunday, which slowed the proceedings somewhat, event chair Scott Davis said the weekend of competiton was an unqualified success.
“It was such a big event, we had the same race committee and timing committee that served at the Olympic Games and they said our event was just as well organized and ran very smoothly,” said Davis.
“That came across in the words of so many people who participated and said how much they enjoyed it. It’s one of the biggest cross country events ever to come to this part of the country, and we know Telemark is an incredible club in a great location.”
National team member Perianne Jones dominated the women’s competition, winning the Teck sprint on Friday, the 2.7 km Classic Prologue on Saturday, and the Haywood Multi-stage competition on Sunday.
In the men’s race Friday, Drew Goldsack skied to a comfortable victory in the Teck sprint. On Saturday, Stefan Kuhn won the classic prologue by a narrow margin over Drew Goldsack and Graham Nishikawa.
On Sunday, Canadian team member George Grey—who missed Saturday’s events with the flu—came from a non-seeded wave start position to post the best multi-stage time of the day in 38:20.8.
One of the most noteworthy performances of the weekend came from Rocky Mountain skier Maya MacIssac-Jones who, at just 15-years-old, took second place on Sunday in the open category against older, more experienced skiers.
“She showed has potential to be one of Canada’s future Olympic stars,” Davis said of MacIssac-Jones.
It was also a valuable weekend of experience for young Telemark skiers who produced some excellent results.
Aaron Myshak-Davis won gold in the peewee boys events on both Saturday and Sunday and was the overall aggregate champion in his division.
The following are top-10 results for Telemark athletes in the youth divisions:
Free Technique Sprints
•Junior Men 1.3km
Jeff Kerkovius 6th, Kurt Behnsen 9th
• Junior Boys 1.3km
David Palmer 8th
• Junior Girls 1.3km
Emily Ertel 8th
•Juvenille Girls 600m
Alex-Myshak Davis 6th, Mirena Dimova 9th
Classic prologue
•Atom Girls 1km
Courtenay Vissia 6th
• Atom Boys 1km
Grayson McKinnon 2nd, Mark Lovesay 7th, Mason Hawes 10th
• Pee Wee Girls 1.5km
PG1—Sally Haaheim 8th, Michelle Kraetzer 9th
PG 2—Ailie Hayman 2nd
PG3—Kyra McNulty 9th
• Pee Wee Boys 1.5km
PB1—Aaron Myshak-Davis 1st, Hamish Graham 4th, Carter Fortney 7th, Bryson Conlin-Mouat 10th
PB2—Ian Williams 3rd, Scott McKinnon 10th
• Midget Girls 2.7km
MG1—Veronika Dimova 4th
• Midget Boys 2.7km
MB1—Gareth Williams 6th
• Juvenille Girls 2.7km
JVG2—Alex Myshak-Davis 2nd, Mirena Dimova 8th
• Junior Girls
JG2—Emily Ertel 1st, Desirae Martin 8th
• Junior Boys
JB2—David Palmer 5th
• Junior Men
JM1—Jeff Kerkovius 5th, Kurt Behnsen 9th
Pursuit / Mass Start Free Technique
• Atom Girls 1km
Sophie LaChapelle 3rd, Kira Friesen 8th, Andrea Kraetzer 10th
• Atom Boys 1km
Grayson McKinnon 4th, Erik Haaheim 7th, Liam Friesen 8th, Simon Yanow 10th
• Pee Wee Girls 1.5km
PG1—Sally Haaheim 8th, Kennedy Dickie 9th, Abigail Ertel 10th
PG 2—Ailie Hayman 3rd
PG3—Kyra McNulty 4th
• Pee Wee Boys 2.7km
PB1—Aaron Myshak-Davis 1st, Hamish Graham 6th, Chet LaChapelle 8th, Carter Fortney 10th
PB2—Ian Williams 3rd, Scott McKinnon 9th
• Midget Boys 5km
MB1—Gareth Williams 9th
• Juvenille Girls 5km
JVG2—Alex Myshak-Davis 5th, Mirena Dimova 7th
• Junior Girls 5km
JG2—Emily Ertel 2nd, Desirae Martin 7th
• Junior Boys 10km
JB2— David Palmer 5th
• Junior Men
JM1—Jeff Kerkovius 3rd, Kurt Behnsen 5th
Race winners from Telemark in the masters divisions included Gerry Morrison, Gary Wade, Eric Rayson and Ian Crosthwaite.
For complete results, visit zone4.ca.
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