March 20, 2014 (Corner Brook, Newfoundland) – Race Day 5 at the Haywood Ski Nationals was overcast and just below zero, another great day for skiing. The weekend could be another story with +5 and rain scheduled for Friday and temperatures around the freezing mark, just to keep the wax tech’s on their toes, for Saturday’s long distance classic races.

Today (Mar. 20) was the skate sprint events sponsored by Buff, featuring the junior and senior men’s and women’s categories.

In the morning qualifiers Knute Johnsgaard of Whitehorse and Perianne Jones of Nakkertok were the ones to beat going into the knockout rounds. The course was shortened slightly to remove a challenging corner that saw a few athletes come a little too close for comfort to several trees, due to the fast conditions.

The women’s final saw Dasha Gaiazova of Mont Ste. Anne take a significant lead by the halfway mark, but Jones came up from behind at the finish to make a race of it, less than a second back at the finish. Alysson Marshall of Larch Hills was 3rd.

The men’s final went to a photo-finish as Graham Nishikawa of Whitehorse came from behind to out-lunge his teammate Knute Johnsgaard by .07 seconds for gold. A full .04 seconds later was Nakkertok’s Patrick Stewart-Jones to claim bronze.

In the Junior Women’s race Nakkertok’s Katherine Stewart-Jones was the winner over Maya-McIssac-Jones of Rocky Mountain Racers and Dahria Beatty of Whitehorse.

Evan Palmer-Charette of Lappe won a close battle over Nakkertok’s Colin Foley in the Jr. Men’s final. Scott Hill of Hardwood took the bronze.

The definition of Force Majeure, when something happens that is out of your control to interfere with your race start.  Welcome to Western Newfoundland!

http://youtu.be/cEyE8szWfjU

Moose fact: Newfoundland has about 150,000 moose, but what’s really cool is that they are all descendants of a mere four moose that were introduced from New Brunswick in 1904.

Qualifications here
Final Sprint Brackets here

2014 Club Aggregate Results after Day6

2014 Year of Birth Aggregate Standings for Women after Day6

2014 Year of Birth Aggregate Results for Men after Day6

2014 Divisional Aggregate Results after Day6

Next up the final day of racing on Saturday, the long distance, mass start, classic races

Race Day 4 – March 19 Report

Race Day 4 at the Haywood Ski Nationals had brilliant sunshine, no wind and temperatures just below zero. A perfect day for ski racing.

To add to the atmosphere, a “local b’y”, Patrick McIlroy of Avalon ski club, came through with a bronze medal in the Juvenile Boys race. The win went to Antoine Laforte of Skibec and Thomas Manktelow of Canmore was 3rd.

In Junior Boys, Julian Smith of Georgian Bay Ski Club made a bit of a jump up from earlier results, capturing gold ahead of Olivier Hamel of Skibec and Aaron Fahey of Chelsea.

Molly-Jane Strum of Canmore won the Juvenile Girls class ahead of Alison Pouw of Nakkertok and midget age racer Molly Miller of Kimberley.

Marie Corriveau of Mont Ste. Anne led a trio of Quebec skiers to the Jr. Girls podium with Montériski racers Delphine Duvernay Tardif and Gabrielle Sarthou finishing in silver and bronze positions.

2014 CCUNC Aggregate Results after Day3
2014 Year of Birth Aggregate Standings for Women after 2 Interval Start Events
2014 Year of Birth Aggregate Standings for Men after 2 Interval Start Events
Ski Nationals pictures