NEWS RELEASE
NATIONAL TEAM DEVELOPMENT CENTRE
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This past weekend Thunder Bay athletes from the National Team Development Centre (NTDC), Big Thunder Nordic and Lappe Nordic competed at the 2022 Eastern Canadian Championships hosted by Évènements Nordiques Gatineau Nordic Events (ENGNE) at Nakkertok Ski Centre in Cantley, QC from the 11th-13th of February.
NTDC and Thunder Bay based athlete Guillaume Pelchat (Pembroke Nordic) dominated the U20 events by taking home 3 gold medals, in the 10 km classic, the classic sprints and the 15 km freestyle events. NTDC took home further medals with Shaylynn Loewen (Georgian Nordic) capturing silver in the senior women’s 15 km freestyle and Kendyn Mashinter (Walden Nordic) taking bronze in the U20 10 km classic. Max Mahaffy (Walden Nordic) narrowly missed out on a bronze, finishing 4th in the U20 15 km freestyle.
Conor McGovern with Big Thunder and Lakehead University had his best result of the weekend finishing 5th in the senior men’s 10 km classic race. Alexander Randall also with Big Thunder and Lakehead University had his best result in 17th in the U20 15 km freestyle race and Nicholas Randall had a strong finish in 18th in the senior men’s freestyle event. Sarah Lutes, also with Big Thunder and Lakehead University, had a strong performance in the women’s 10 km classic race finishing in 18th.
Thunder Bay’s junior contingency had a strong showing all weekend with many top 30 finishes in deep fields of over 100 athletes. The top 30 finishers in the sprint races qualified to move on to the elimination heats. Friday’s sprint event was led by Cedric Martel (U16) of Lappe finishing just off the podium in 4th place by 0.3 of a second. He was followed by Willem van Duyn, of Big Thunder in 7th and Lappe teammates Willem Abbink and Mikkai Jones finished 22nd and 23rd respectively. Edgar Sarrazin (U18) of Lappe finished his first day in 28th. Brooke Ailey (U18) also of Lappe, finished the day in 12th. Min Dobson (U16) also of Lappe Nordic finished in 18th.
Cedric Martel led the juniors again with a bronze medal in the 7.5 km classic race, followed closely by Willem van Duyn in 5th. Willem Abbink fought for a sprint finish of 19th place, just 0.6 of a second ahead of his competitor. Brooke Ailey stayed consistent in the top 20, with a 15th place finish in the 5 km classic event. Min Dobson bested her previous day’s results finishing in 12th place as did teammate Edgar Sarrazin who finished 15th, both nicely in the top 20.
Sunday’s final event, an interval-start skate race for all, saw Willem van Duyn climb on the podium for a bronze medal finish. He was followed by Cedric Martel in 8th, Willem Abbink in 14th, and Mikkai Jones in 18th. Min Dobson posted her best result with a 5th place finish. Brooke Ailey held strong in the top 15 once again, finishing 12th.
Athletes returned home to Thunder Bay to prepare for upcoming races including the US National Championship in Minnesota and the Canadian National Championships in British Columbia.
