February 04, 2018 (Cantley, Que.) – The weather changed dramatically, as warmer temperatures and heavy snow greeted the racers at the “Fresh Air Experience” pursuit races at Nakkertok Nordic. The American racers continued to dominate in the competitions which are also a part of the “SuperTour”, the U.S. National Race Series.

The pursuit race is a combined competition, with Saturday’s results, time behind the winner, dictating the start time of racers on Sunday. On Sunday the first skier across the line was the overall winner.

In the Open Women’s competition Rosie Frankowski claimed her second gold in two days, in a dramatic race with her teammate Becca Rorabaugh. Frankowski started the day 47 seconds ahead of Rorabaugh, who clawed back most of that time over the 10k, finishing just 2 seconds back at the finish.

Third, with the fastest elapsed time of the day, was another U.S. Olympian, Vermont’s Kaitlynn Miller.

National Team member Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt, was the top Canadian in 4th, and the top local skier was Nakkertok Nordic’s Zoë Williams from Cantley, in 11th.

In the men’s 15k race, Sun Valley, Idaho’s John Hegman started the morning with a 10 second advantage over David Norris from Anchorage. Norris quickly overtook Hegman and skied on for a commanding 1:18 lead over Ben Lustgarten of Vermont. There was a photofinish for 3rd as Brian Gregg of Minnesota beat out Colorado’s Tad Elliot in a sprint finish.

The top Canadian was Scott Hill in 9th, with Gatineau’s and Nakkertok Nordic’s Dominique Moncion-Groulx, the best local skier in 18th.

Hannah Shields of Thunder Bay, made it 3 wins in a row for the Junior Women’s category, with Cantley’s Bronwyn Williams, skiing on her home trails to 3rd.  For the Junior Men’s class, National Junior Team member Nicolas Beaulieu of Orford was the winner and Kanata/Nakkertok’s Aidan Kirkham was third.

The Para-Nordic Nationals are also part of the event and National Team member Derek Zaplotinsky of Edmonton won his second gold medal in the men’s sitski mass start competition. Tanya Quesnel of Sudbury was the women’s champ. The standing class races were won by Kyle Barber of Sudbury and Lyne-Marie Bilodeau of Orford.

Today’s events wrapped up the Haywood Eastern Canadian Championships. The next major national event on the schedule is the National Championships in March, in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Results here.