December 12, 2008 (Sovereign Lake, BC) – The weather for today’s Haywood NorAm event on the Sovereign Lake trails couldn’t have looked more different than yesterday’s crystal clear blue skies and perfect hard grooming. Athletes were greeted with 10cm of fresh new snow on the ground and it didn’t stop falling all day. Despite the soft conditions today’s Tech Cominico sprints saw most of the men’s top 30 qualify on skate skis, double polling the entire course, and even a handful of women did the same.

In a come-from-behind effort on the final home stretch National Team member Dave Nighbor out-double polled APU’s Anders Haugen and Sun Valley’s Michael Sinnott for the win. Haugen and Sinnott battled to the line for second and third.

“I just find in the fresh snow the grip grabs easy and slows down the skis. It may be a bit slower off the start, but once you get your speed you can maintain it better,” said Nighbor, of North Bay, Ont. “It was a great day for me today. I knew if I could get to the final I could just rely on my technique and hammer it out in the end.”

In the women’s race Daria Gaiazova of Skielite won from wire to wire today clocking the top qualifying time and winning every round right through to the finals. In second place was USST member Morgan Smyth, followed by USST/APU skier Laura Valaas. The four top female qualifiers all raced on skate skis in the qualifying round.

“I surprised myself today and wasn’t sure if my arms would last, but they did last longer than everyone else’s,” laughed Gaiazova. “I trained very hard over the summer on my weaknesses and double-poling was one area I focused on so this confirms to me my summer training was good.”

For complete results click here. Tomorrow NorAm events will conclude with an evening classic 10km for women and 15km for men under the lights at Sovereign.

Results (brief)

Men

1. Dave Nighbor (Can)
2. Anders Haugen (USA)
3. Michael Sinnott (USA)
4. Alex Harvey (Can)
5. Garrott Kuzzy (USA)

Women

1. Daria Gaiazova (Can)
2. Morgan Smyth (USA)
3. Laura Valaas (USA)
4. Andrea Dupont (Can)
5. Shayla Swanson (Can)