January 26, 2013 (Duntroon, ON) – Brent McMurtry of Foothills Nordic claimed gold in the Haywood NorAm classic 1km sprint, adding a wrinkle to the selection process for the 2013 Nordic World Championship team heading to Val di Fiemme. McMurtry had finished 5th in the first of the two trial races at Lappe.

Phil Widmer from Canmore Nordic, the winner of the first trial race and the top qualifier on the day, had been leading going into the finish, but tangled with Foothills skier Jesse Cockney and was relegated by a jury decision to last place in the final. Cockney finished slightly behind McMurtry in 2nd with Graham Nishikawa of Whitehorse claiming 3rd.

Despite a collision early in the final, Andrea Dupont of Rocky Mountain Racers made it two trial wins in a row, after winning the qualifications by three seconds over Alysson Marshall earlier in the day having. These results give her a strong claim to a spot on the Nordic World Championship team. Whitehorse’s Emily Nishikawa finished 2nd with Marshall of Larch Hills placing 3rd.

Jennifer Jackson of Team Hardwood won the Junior Women’s race, followed by Sophie Carrier-Laforte from Skinouk and Kendra Murray of Whitehorse. Matthew Vrielink of Rocky Mountain Racers won the Junior Men’s race followed by Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier of Fondeurs-Laurentides and Vrielink’s club teammate  Matthew Saurette.

Races continue at Highlands Nordic on Sunday with free technique interval start races. The Whitehorse siblings, Emily and Graham Nishikawa, won the previous distance trial races at Lappe. By picking up medals in the sprints today, they appear to be in great form and provided they have some good results on Sunday would seem to have a good chance to make the Canadian team for Val di Fiemme.O Bike Show 2013