March 23, 2008 (Callaghan Valley, B.C.) – It was a tremendous day for Canada’s Sara Renner as she won the women’s 30km classic event at the Haywood XC Canadian Ski Championships. It was a fitting finish to the first season back for the Canadian star after taking a year off to give birth to her first child. In the men’s 50km event Ivan Babikov was the strong man today and the jubilant winner as he completed the course in 2:22:02.6 taking home his second title of the championships.

Open Women’s 30km Classic

It was the last race of a long week in a long comeback season, still Sara Renner had reserved more than enough for the final, but most grueling event as temperatures warmed and tracks became sticky. She finished in 1:36:09, one minute and nine seconds ahead of Canmore club mate Chandra Crawford. Dasha Gaiazova, who also trains in Canmore but skis for her Quebec club of Skielite took the bronze medal, 2:43:4 minutes back. Fourth place went to USA’s Lindsay Williams of Northern Michigan University, 3:41 minutes back, while fifth place went to her teammate Lindsey Dehlin at 3:53 minutes back. Sixth position went to Tasha Betcherman of Lappe Nordic who missed the turn off for the finish and started on to the course before she realized what had happened. The mistake probably cost her three places. She ended up 4:05 minutes back.

By the first lap Renner and Crawford had separated themselves from the group. With the exception of small groups of two to three skiers, the field strung out by the 10km mark.

“It was hard so I focused on staying relaxed. I was quite tired but I paced myself and just kept skiing relaxed,” said Renner. “I’ve been through quite the season and now I want to relax with my daughter – and hang out in the playroom.”

Meanwhile Crawford said she added just one more element to her strategy. “I had a simple plan: Ski relaxed and stick. So I stuck on Sara as hard as I could for the first 7.5km, after that I couldn’t hack the Renner pace.” Both skiers said they love this kind of mass start race, “you get to ski together,” said Crawford.

Gaiazova was just happy to have the race over with. “The forecast was for snow the whole day and then the sun came out. We said ‘Oh my God, what next? You never know what to expect here – every five minutes the weather is changing.” Crawford said she was lucky in that the women’s team was able to make a quick adjustment in their ski preparation when they saw that the weather was changing. “The men were having problems on the course and we knew they had roughed up the kick with sandpaper, so we were able to smooth it out a little before we skied. I ended up having really good hairies,” said Crawford referring to the midsection of the ski.

Gaiazova has had a long season as well. While living in Canmore she continued taking a course for her science degree from McGill University, and spent five weeks in Europe skiing on the Europa Cup circuit as well. Two weeks after these championships she writes her final exams and then she graduates in June, though she can’t imagine life without school. “I am sure I will take a couple of other courses soon. It would be great to know more languages,” she added.

By the time Gaiazova and her teammates were called to the podium the weather in Callaghan Valley, B.C. had changed yet again with a new dump of snow about to be delivered to the valley where the snow seems to rarely stop coming.

Open Men’s 50km Classic

Under surreal weather that went from near blizzard conditions to mist that hid the upper reaches of the 7.5km race course to blue skies and blazing sun, once again wax technicians could make or break the race. Still, Ivan Babikov, racing for xc.com who said he lost ground on the descents because of slow wax, was able to deliver a solo finish to the thousand plus spectators at Whistler Olympic Park in 2:22:02.

It was his second gold medal of the week. USA’s Torin Koos of Levinworth Winter Ski Club (Washington State) took second place, 14.7 seconds behind, while veteran Canadian national team member Robin McKeever skied to third spot, scooping the silver medal as the second Canadian, at 1:16 minutes back. Dave Nighbor skied to the fourth position thus taking the bronze, 3:02 minutes back. Graham Nishikawa of Whitehorse took the fifth spot, 4:10:1 minutes back, while Jon Anders Gaustad of Hamar, Norway took sixth in a sprint against Nishikawa, at 4:10:7 seconds back.

The mass start race was tailor-made for spectators as a group of eighteen skiers broke away by the first lap skiing at an unrelenting pace. Each subsequent lap saw more skiers dropped until the race-deciding peloton became Robin McKeever, Andrey Golovko, Torin Koos, Brent McMurtry, Graham Nishikawa, Dan Roycroft, Dave Nighbor, Zachary Violett, Jon Anders Gaustad of Norway, and Bjorn Lind.

It was McKeever who pushed the pace according to Babikov. “Robin skied really fast. He made his move on the uphill one lap before I was planning on going. I felt good so I kept pace with him,” said Babikov. The next lap it was his turn. “I lost Robin on the next climb on that hill, then I lost Torin on the hill after that. I watched the guys carefully, seeing how they were feeling, though I was surprised to see Torin up there as he’s more of a sprinter. I think I raced a controlled race. It felt good the whole distance.”

Koos says this is exactly the kind of race he craves by the end of the season. “I’m strictly a sprinter, but I really like long distance racing and I don’t have too many opportunities to do them.”

He returned home from the World Cup circuit five days before the championships and spent all five in bed trying to recover from a cold. But the day’s resting paid off for Koos, who hadn’t skied a mass start race since December, but he said the course suited his skiing style. “I ski with a more upright style and on this sort of up and down course in warm weather – you really have to be technical about where your kick is. It’s a little bit more of a challenge.”

McKeever was also very happy with his race, despite experiencing severe leg cramps for the last ten kilometres. “Everything cramped up for me, quads, calves—all into spasm,” said McKeever, who limped into the mix zone after the race. “But I made all the breaks, and that’s what I wanted to do. I had great skis – fast and good glide.”

McKeever’s brother Brian was noticeably absent from this year’s championships, but according to Robin after the season Brian had – winning his way across Europe and at home at the Alberta World Cup in the Paranordic events for blind skiers – it was time for “some telemarking in the sunshine.” Brian will try to make both the Olympic and Paralympic teams in 2010, but it looks like it may be a possibility for both McKeevers. “I’m training for the Paralympics,” says Robin, who skis as his brother’s guide, “and the other – a distance event – that would be the icing.”

Results

Elite Women

1. Sara Renner (Can) Canmore, Alta., 1:36:09.7
2. Chandra Crawford (Can) Canmore, Alta., 1:37:18.7
3. Dasha Gaiazova (Can) Montreal, 1:38:53.1
4. Lindsay Williams, USA, 1:39:50.8
5. Lindsey Dehlin, USA, 1:40:02.9.

Elite Men

1. Ivan Babikov (Can) Canmore, Alta., 2:22:02.6
2. Torin Koos, USA, 2:22:17.3
3. Robin McKeever (Can) Canmore, Alta., 2:23:19.4
4. Dave Nighbor (Can) North Bay, Ont., 2:25:05.5
5. Graham Nishikawa (Can) Whitehorse, Yukon, 2:26:12.7.

Junior Men
1. Frédéric Touchette (Can) St-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que., 1:26:28.8
2. Haakon Lenes (Can) Banff, Alta., 1:26:29.2
3. Graeme Killick (Can) Banff, Alta., 1:26:32.4
4. David Greer (Can) Whitehorse, Yukon, 1:28:52.1
5. Charles Brassard (Can) Jonquiere, Que., 1:29:01.2.

Junior Women
1. Catherine Auclair (Can) Mont Ste Anne, Que., 53:02.4
2. Julie Boisvert(Can)Gatineau, Que., 53:22.7
3. Natasha Kullas (Can) Timmins, Ont., 53:52.3
4. Adele Lay (Can) Collingwood, Ont., 54:20.1
5. Zoe Braul (Can) Ottawa, 55:39.3

For complete results visit www.zone4.ca