The fresh snow that fell just prior to the start of the weekend combined with bitterly cold temperatures made for a chilly skate race on slow snow. Start times were delayed to mid-day to give the sun a chance to warm things up to legal race temperatures. Luckily the weather came through and Nakkertok ran a compressed schedule (changing 30 second interval starts to 15 second starts) that kept things exciting.
In the men's race, XCOttawa toed the line with Steffan Lloyd, Andre Marchand, Karl Saidla, Arthur Ayers and training partners Mark Rajack and Colin Abbott. Steffan led the way with a very strong race, finishing 12th in open men. Andre, Karl and Arthur skied remarkably similar times finishing within 50 seconds of each other in 28th, 30th and 31st in open men.
The women's race saw tight finishes and top tens between the XCOttawa women. Sheila Kealey led the way in senior in 8th position, followed closely by Megan McTavish in 10th, Ingrid Hagberg in 12th and Kyla Vanderzwet in 13th. Our only junior racer, Logan Hong, finished a strong 10th place.
Thanks to Bernard Pigeon for the pictures!