Podium Finishes for Big Thunder Nordic at Eastern Canadian Championships
(Duntroon, Ontario) Over 400 athletes from across Canada braved the tough conditions and competed in the 2019 Haywood Noram Eastern Canadian Championships AltaGas Sprint Senior Para-Nordic National Championships & Ontario Cup #4 this past weekend, February 1-3, 2019. The event was hosted by the Highlands Trail Blazers Race Society at Highlands Nordic in Duntroon, Ontario, located 10 km South of Collingwood.
The first day of competition, Friday, February 1st, started off with the AltaGas classic sprints for the Junior and Senior Men/Women and a classic prologue race for the Midget, Juvenile, and Junior boys/girls. Under blustery conditions and temperatures hovering around -10, Big Thunder put in some solid performances. Heidi Stewart, who also trains with the National Team Development Centre (NTDC) stood on the top step of the podium in the Junior Women’s category. She was followed closely by her sister, Anna Stewart, who placed 5th and was racing up a category. Mia Serratore skied a strong race and crossed the line in 3rd place in a tough Senior Women’s field. Angus Foster, also with NTDC and Big Thunder Nordic put in a strong performance for 6th in Senior Men. Malcolm Thompson who skis for the Lakehead University Varsuty Nordic Ski Team and Big Thunder, placed a strong 4th in a deep Junior Men’s field. Malcolm will be representing Ontario at the Canada Winter Games later this month. Max Hollmann, an up and coming talent placed 5th in the Junior Boys 2.2km classic prologue race.
The Saturday and Sunday races were a 2-day pursuit format. The skiers finish time on Saturday determines their start time on Sunday, from fastest to slowest. Saturday’s race was an interval start classic. Anna Stewart was 1st in the Junior Girls 5 km Category while Carley Kiiskila had a very solid race and won her year of birth. Mia Serratore had another podium, this time a silver in the Senior Women’s 10 km category while Alannah MacLean, who skis for Lakehead University finished a solid 5th. Erik Schlyter and Max Hollman had very impressive results in the Junior Boys 10km Category finishing 4th and 8th respectively.
The final day of racing saw some tough conditions as freezing rain turned to rain for the start of the skate pursuit. Anna Stewart finished off her successful weekend by capturing gold in the Juvenile Girls 7.5 km skate pursuit and increasing her lead by 30 seconds. Teammate Carly Kiiskila placed 9th overall. Kai Meekis, who also represents NTDC and Big Thunder, was 4th fastest of the day and 4th overall in the 15 km skate. Heidi Stewart worked her way up from 20th in the classic to place 6th overall in the Junior Women’s 15 km skate. In the junior boys 10 km category, Max Hollman put in another strong race with the 3rd fastest time of the day and 4th overall in the pursuit. Teammate Erik Schlyter cracked the top ten in 7th.
Next up on the schedule is the Ontario University Championships and Ontario Cup #5 in North Bay, ON from February 16th-18th. The Men’s team is looking to defend their title while the women look to re-claim the title, which Carleton won last year.
The Haywood NorAm Series is sanctioned by Cross Country Canada (CCC) and by Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS). The intent is to provide a high calibre race opportunity for elite and developing skiers in North America.
Full results can be found on www.zone4.ca
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Submitted by:
Amanda Kates
amandaholdsworth@gmail.com
807-355-1780
