Huge thanks to Nakkertok for hosting the Eastern Canadian Championships! Having such a high caliber race in the area is a great development opportunity for Ottawa-Gatineau skiers. The large number of skiers, as well as the National Team skiers present, is a testament to how well the event was run. Hats off to the groomers who spent all night grooming the >25cm snowfall from Friday to get the courses in great shape, and to the numerous volunteers who helped make the event a success.
Dirk van Wijk, still grooming after 24 hours. (Photo by Ken Trischuck)
The Nakkertok Stadium offers great viewing of the majority of the sprint course. (Photo by Ken Trischuck)
Day #1 - Sprints
XC Ottawa had a very strong showing at this year’s Easterns on our home turf at Nakkertok. Saturday was the Teck Cominco sprints. The top 30 qualifiers in each category advanced to the heats, where 4 to 6 skiers raced head-to-head on the technical 1200m course. It was great to see so many XC Ottawa skiers making the A or B finals!
In the end Alana Thomas won the Junior Women's final! Megan and Sheila both raced the B final in Sr. Women's event. Megan finished 8th and Sheila was 10th overall. Karl had one of his better sprint days, making the B final and finishing 11th.
Alana Thomas (left) leading the Junior Women’s Sprint Final! (Photo by Jo-Ann Holden)
Alana Thomas on Dirk’s Dive - Junior Women’s Sprint Champion! (Photo by Jo-Ann Holden)
Megan McTavish in the Sprint Qualifying. (Photo by Jo-Ann Holden)
Zoe Braul in the Sprint Qualifying just headed out of the stadium.
Perianne Jones, Nakketok/National team skier leading the semifinal with Megan chasing. (Photo by Jo-Ann Holden)
Sheila Kealey in the qualifier. (Photo by Jo-Ann Holden)
Craig in the qualifier. (Photo by Ken Trischuck)
Karl skiing strong in the B final. (Photo by Jo-Ann Holden)
Perianne Jones, en route to a home course victory. (Photo by Jo-Ann Holden)
Day #2 - Classic Long Distance
Sunday was the long distance classic mass start. The women did 15km and the men did 30km. XC Ottawa had another impressive showing, with Megan McTavish and Sheila Kealey both placing top-5 in Open Women! Alana Thomas took home some more hardware with her second place finish in Junior Women.
Zoe Braul, 10th in Jr. Women's 15km. (Photo by Jo-Ann Holden)
Karl Saidla, fastest XC Ottawa man on Sunday, placing 11th with a time of 1:27:04 (Photo by Jo-Ann Holden)
Justin Demers leading a pack in the 30km classic. (Photo by Jo-Ann Holden)
Craig Storey powering through the stadium. (Photo by Jo-Ann Holden)
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