January 9, 2006 – In the first Nationally sanctioned continuous pursuit event held east of the Monoshee Mountain Range of British Columbia, Dasha Gaiazova and Graham Nishikawa skied strong free technique legs to capture the gold in the final races of the Haywood NorAm competition at the Centre de biathlon Myriam-Bedard Val Cartier, on Sunday, January 8. Under ideal ski conditions 65 women and 71 men participated in the selection races for Canada’s World Junior and World U23 teams.

“I felt really strong today,” commented Gaiazova at the end of the 10 km (2 x 5 km) event who came into the exchange zone tied with eventual second place finisher Shayla Swanson of Canmore. Gaiazova’s winning time of 32:41.0 was 53 seconds better than Swanson at the end. “Milaine Theriault (3rd) and Perianne Jones (4th) are coming off of colds over the holidays and I think they ran out of energy halfway through the race,” continued Gaiazova, who posted her third NorAm victory of the weekend and solidified her lead in the overall Haywood NorAm standings for women.

Perhaps the surprise of the day came from 18 year old Brittany Webster, of Collingwood, Ontario. Skiing for the Highlands Trailblazers, Webster produced the fastest junior women’s time, good enough for 6th overall. Only 1 minute 46 seconds off of Gaiazova’s overall pace, Webster turned in the third fastest skate leg of the Open Women’s competition. Kate Brennan of Kanata and Marlis Kromm of Calgary rounded out the top three junior women finishing 12th and 15th respectively.

In the Open Men’s competition, Graham Nishikawa and Dave Nighbor again exchanged leads throughout the 20 km (2 x 10) pursuit competition. However, unlike the 15 km interval race on the opening day of the Haywood NorAm in Val Cartier, Nishikawa out sprinted Nighbor over the final 2.5 kilometer loop to win by 14 seconds in a time of 56:28.8. Alex Harvey of Club Nordique Mont-Ste-Anne took advantage of a spill by National Junior Team 2014 member Brent McMurtry to finish 3rd in the Open Category and first of the Junior Men. Chris Butler of Thunder Bay rounded out the top three Junior Men.

Nishikawa takes over the lead in the Haywood NorAm points total by a mere 2 points and was awarded the coveted Red LEADERS bib for the first time in his skiing career.

The Haywood NorAm Canada Cup program resumes on February 4 & 5 in Cantley, Quebec where the Nakkertok Ski Club will host the Eastern Canadian Championships. National Ski Team member Ivan Babikov, fresh from convincing performances at the US Ski Nationals, is expected to lead the charge at these important Canada Cup competitions.