.: Ski XCOttawa.ca :: Skiing in Ottawa and Gatineau Park

Noram Day 3 in Thunder Bay: 10km and 15km Freestyle time!
By:  Andre Marchand   (2013/01/12)

RSS

The men were the first off for the 15km individual start freestyle event, with 30 second interval starts. It was barely light out at 9:00 am when Logan Potter of XC Ottawa left the start gates wearing bib number one, kicking the day off in style in his new Podiumwear suit. Two pairs of wind briefs and a Buff tightly wrapped around your face seemed to be the dress code for this chilly final day of racing.

As per usual at Lappe the races ran like clockwork, with no start time delays and all the extras that make racing at Lappe so great. Notably there are the pancakes that are always flying off the grill, and are amazing, but I think most racers had pushed this delicious thought to the back of their minds as they awaited the start. In the start area there were volunteers waiting with blankets to wrap around you in those few cold minutes between your start and taking your warm-ups off. Way better than pancakes, at least in that moment. Huge thanks to the volunteers!

The course itself consisted of three 5km laps for the guys, and two 5km laps for the girls. Each lap could basically be broken down into three parts, the first part was rolling and mainly downhill with a few turning flat sections. Then in the middle were some more gradual climbs with rolling terrain before coming to the last part of the course, which could easily be summarized as “PILON” and “THE GRUNT”. These are consecutive very steep and very long climbs joined by a very steep downhill that did not give you the rest that you wanted. This was essentially the business end of the course, and where you could definitely get your money’s worth of pain! Both names, especially the latter, lived up to my expectations.

Overall the team raced well, with a few bumps here and there, but these things happen in the early portion of the year and on the 3rd race in 4 days. Everyone is looking forward to the next race in Duntroon Ontario in two weeks from now, and getting back into the routine of real life after the holidays. Here are a few pic’s I’ll leave you with, courtesy of Peter Beisel.

Keep the shiny side down!

Andre M.  

IMG_0739.jpeg

Megan working her way through the 2nd part of the course

IMG_0751.jpeg

Katie, "looking spiffy" to quote the race commentator

IMG_0742.jpeg

Sheila off and running!

skate_matthias.jpeg

Matthias hammering to the be the top finisher for XC Ottawa that day!

Full results here: http://zone4.ca/results.asp?ID=5237&cat=all

 

 
Interesting Reading. . .
Interested in supporting XC Ottawa or advertising on our site? Email: info@xcottawa.ca.
© Copyright 2001-2006, www.xcottawa.ca. All Rights Reserved. Contact us before re-publishing anything seen here.