XC Ottawa faced tough conditions on Wednesday for the classic race. The snow which had been melting all week was now freezing solid and on top of that we had a wind storm with gusts up to 90km/h! The Junior categories (juvenile and junior boys/girls) were canceled for the day and moved to Saturday but the Open and Junior men's and women's categories went ahead as planned.
The course was our first try at the "high" five km course which had been closed for the skate race due to the snow conditions. Each lap of the five high took us up and down the Niagara escarpment twice, the women completing two laps and the men doing three.
On the Open Women's side Megan McTavish had a good race coming in 14th (8th Canadian), Sheila Kealey, whose skis lacked grip came in a solid 25th place finish while Alana Thomas took the 18th spot.
In the Junior Women Adele Lay broke into the top 10 after a panicked start (something to do with a broken binding) and finished 10th. Zoe Braul and Danielle McVicar had solid races coming in 18th and 20th respectively in the 10km time trial.
In the Open Men Karl Saidla fought through slippery skis for 28th while Justin Demers finished 54th. In the Junior Men category Colin Abbot had a very good race finishing 8th while Matthias Purdon struggled to 36th. The challenging conditions made for a tough day for XC Ottawa but we came away with some good results in the end. Thanks to John and Franc for working on the skis!
Junior and Juvenile Individual Classic Photos
Colin in his Yukon Uniform. [Photo Credit: 2009 Ski Nationals]
Karl, screaming around the last corner. [Photo Credit: 2009 Ski Nationals]
Sheila. [Photo Credit: 2009 Ski Nationals]
Alana in her Hardwood outfit. [Photo Credit: 2009 Ski Nationals]
Megan had fun, smiling all the way. [Photo Credit: 2009 Ski Nationals]
Justin starting strong. [Photo Credit: 2009 Ski Nationals]
Ed McCarthy, Italian? [Photo Credit: 2009 Ski Nationals]
"Setting the Stage. Setting the Pace.
La mise en scène. Au rythme du client."