March 23, 2006 – It was Whitehorse’s Graham Nishikawa and Edmonton’s Tara Whitten that won the skating races at the NorthwesTel, Haywood Canada Cup and Western Canadian Championships.

The men’s mass start 15k saw Graham Nishikawa, Dan Roycroft and Erik Carleton in a sprint finish, with Nishikawa .3 seconds in front of Roycroft and Carleton 1.1 seconds off the lead.

In the women’s 10k, Tara Whitten won by a comfortable margin over Ontario junior Brittany Webster, with another Alberta athlete Rhonda Sandau in third. Nishikawa and Webster were also the top U23 athletes.