December 11, 2008 (Sovereign Lake, BC) – Under clear blue skies and beautiful snow conditions Alex Harvey and Caitlin Compton skied away from their respective fields to win the Mass Start races on day one at round two of the Haywood NorAms. It was a great day of competition and hats off to the volunteers from across Western Canada who came together to put on a top notch event on short notice.

On the men’s side Mont Ste. Anne’s Alex Harvey of Canada’s National Ski team broke away from the lead pack with about 5km remaining in the 20km race and never looked back. Second place was decided by a mere 0.5 of a second going to National Ski team member Dave Nighbor with Graham Nishikawa from Whitehorse in third. Second through seventh place were all within 6 seconds.

After dabbling in biathlon for a year CXC’s Caitlin Compton confirmed that she’s back by dominating the women’s event. She broke away just prior to the half way mark of the women’s 15km race and continued to add to her lead all the way to the finish. Brittany Webster of the Highlands Trailblazers edged out Milaine Theriault of Foothills Nordic by 0.5 second for second place.

Up next will be the 1.1km classic sprints tomorrow, followed by an evening interval start distance classic race on Saturday, Dec. 13. For complete results click here.

Results (brief)

Men
1. Alex Harvey (Can) 50:49.9
2. Dave Nighbor (Can) 50:56.3
3. Graham Nishkawa (Can) 50:56.8
4. Chris Butler (Can) 50:58.2
5. Frederic Touchette (Can) 50:59.0

Women

1. Caitlin Compton (USA) 43:33.2
2. Brittany Webster (Can) 44:06.1
3. Milaine Theriault (Can) 44:06.6
4. Liz Stephen (USA) 44:08.5
5. Taz Mannix (USA) 44:14.9