The Strathcona Nordic Ski Club and Vancouver Island were well represented by 13 athletes at the Haywood 2018 NorAm/US Super Tour Cross Country ski race in Vernon in early December. This was the first time on snow for most of the athletes, who put all their hours of dryland training to work, and displayed some excellent skiing and results over the two-day event.
“The race course at Sovereign Lake in Vernon is challenging, and considering other clubs have been training on snow since as early as mid-October, I’m extremely proud of our racers,” said head coach Andrea Stapff of Campbell River. “We had only one day of being back on snow before this race, which is a major event on the North American race circuit. I saw improvement over the three days in everyone as they got more comfortable back on their skis again.”
Top 10 results as follows:
•Junior boys: Stephen Lamon of Comox, ninth, 5km skate mass start; Gabe Gledhill of Cumberland, fifth, 10k classic interval start.
•Junior men 1.2k skate sprint: Tallon Noble was seventh out of 63 racers. Tallon also races for Team Telemark in Kelowna, and is a member of the Canadian Junior Men’s Team.
In a bold move, Gabe raced with the junior men and finished 23rd — an impressive result for the 16-year-old BC Ski Team member.
All the racers are excited to be back on snow and are looking forward to training at Mount Washington.
FMI: Strathconanordics.com, or check Facebook and Instagram.