February 13, 2011 (Cantley QC) – Skiers lined up in highly variable conditions that included everything from blue sky to a heavy snow storm on Saturday for the 1.4km freestyle sprints on day two of the Eastern Canadian Championships and Haywood NorAm mini-tour in Cantley Quebec.

Amidst the heaviest snow of the day, U23 Whitehorse skier Emily Nishikawa emerged with her second win of the mini-tour, while in the men’s race, Jesse Cockney (Foothills Nordic), who was 6th in the sprint at the U23 Worlds, nabbed his first NorAm victory breaking Graham Nishikawa’s (Whitehorse) stronghold on the top spot of the podium.

“The sprint today went really well, it was a narrow course making it difficult to pass so I got to the front right off the start in all my heats, and that worked pretty well for me. I’m looking forward to Sunday’s pursuit, should be exciting,” Nishikawa told SkiTrax. With back to back wins she’s leading the mini-tour.

It was a sweep by U23 skiers in the women’s sprints with Heidi Widmer (Foothills Nordic) in second place and Erin Tribe (Team Hardwood) rounding out the podium in third.

Videos courtesy of Ottawa XC…

Cockney, 6th in the qualifying round, took the win over series leader Nishikawa, yesterday’s prologue winner who topped the qualifications. The Whitehorse skier is man to beat on the circuit as he has been untouchable so far and continues to lead the mini series and the overall. American Tim Reynolds (Craftsbury Green Racing Project), who qualified second, picked up 3rd spot on the podium.

“I felt pretty strong today and thought I would post a better qualifying time than I did. I really have a lot of work to do figuring out my “qualifying speed” over the summer time, but saying that I am really happy take my first NorAm victory,” said Cockney by email in a post-race interview with SkiTrax.

“It’s my first time racing Easterns and also my first time skiing these trails. They ski really well and had some really hard climbs on narrow trails. It’s always fun to race these smaller venues for a change of pace from the well-manicured runways of the Canmore Nordic Centre.”

Nishikawa commented as well saying, “The prologue on Friday went very well. I was surprised that my body was still moving well, being that this is the third weekend of mini-tours. The course on Friday was very tough with two major climbs.”

As for coming second in the sprint Nishikawa said, “The sprint course was very narrow making passing difficult which set up exciting finishes. I was pleased to be back on the podium. Tomorrow’s 30km will be very hard. I am looking forward to a rest after tomorrow.”

Men’s results HERE.
Women’s results HERE.