December 20, 2014 (Sovereign Lake, BC) – Saturday was the final day of racing for the Haywood NorAm competitions at Sovereign Lake and included a men’s 30km and a women’s 15km interval start free-technique races. It was also the final pre-Christmas opportunity for athletes to stake a claim to be named to the national team for the 2015 Junior/U23 Nordic World Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan from Feb. 2-9.

The men’s 30km event was quite a bit longer than typically run before Christmas. With next season’s U23 Worlds being held in Romania in mid-January, it was to be a bit of a test of a similar schedule next year. A snowy and windy morning so conditions were a bit challenging for all of the competitors.

The top U.S. skiers, 4-time Olympian Kris Freeman and Brian Gregg had sat out yesterday’s sprint and were rested and raring to go for the longer distance competition. Gregg set the early pace but Freeman was in a class by himself, finishing with a 1:30-minute margin on Gregg making it 3-for-3 NorAm victories for the US veteran.

“Won my third North American Cup in a row! Took the victory in the 30k skate in Silver Star Canada! @lillyhealth,” tweeted Freeman.

Michael Somppi of Lappe Nordic was 3rd and the top Canadian at 30 seconds behind Gregg. Paralympian star Brian McKeever of Lifesport was next in 4th, 1 and 1/2 minutes from Somppi.

Interestingly the next two skiers finishing shortly behind McKeever were his two guides from Sochi, Graham Nishikawa of Whitehorse and Rocky Mtn. Racers’, Erik Carleton. Lappe’s Andy Shields was 7th and in 8th was the top U23 athlete, Team Hardwood’s Scott Hill.

At one minute behind Hill, Whitehorse skier Knute Johnsgaard led a pack of U23 skiers separated by only 30 seconds, including Black Jack’s David Palmer, Skibec’s Raphaël Couturier, Colin Ferrie of Kimberley and Jack Carlyle of Soo Finish.

There was pretty tight competition among the U23 group, which should make for some interesting final World Championship trials races at Highlands Nordic in early January.

Graham Nishikawa who is now focusing more on school than skiing at the top level, made some big moves up the rankings through the early part of the races and had the following comments, “Arms were dead today after the sprints. Thought I d better back off as the pace was pretty tough. School is getting in the way of training. “

Dahria Beatty of Whitehorse led the Senior Women’s race from start to finish to post a 22-second victory over Brittany Webster of Highlands Trailblazers and fellow U23 athlete Cendrine Browne of Fondeurs Laurentide.

“Super course aujourd’hui à #SovereignLake lors du 15km skate! 3e senior et 2e U-23 #NORAM #loveskating,” commented Browne.

Quebec swept the Junior Men’s podium as Alexis Dumas of Skibec had a 15-second margin over Zachary Cristofanilli of Orford, who was less than a second ahead of Dumas’ teammate Phillippe Boucher.

Nakkertok’s Katherine Stewart-Jones dominated the Junior Women’s 5k with a comanding 1-minute lead over Eliza-Jane Kitchen of Hollyburn. 3rd was Annah Hanthorn of Whitehorse.

Results