January 31, 2011 (Orford, QC) – Graham Nishikawa (AWCA) and Liz Stephen (USST) were unstoppable in the handicap start pursuit skate races on the final day of the Haywood NorAm in Orford, Quebec on Sunday, claiming commanding race-day wins and the mini-tour overall victories.

Stephen overwhelmed the women’s field by a 2:37.1-margin with a time of 41:29.4 in 15km freestyle pursuit to take the overall mini-tour win followed by Brittney Webster (NST/Highlands Trailblazers) in second with Alana Thomas (U23/Nakkertok) capturing third behind Webster. Thomas had the second fastest pursuit time of the day moving her up from 7th at the start to 3rd overall.

As expected Nishikawa continued to dominate the men’s field taking the pursuit win in 48:04.3 and the mini-tour victory by a solid 2:38.8 over Drew Goldsack (Rocky Mtn. Racers/NST). Goldsack, with the third best pursuit time, made up a 13-second deficit and added another 18 seconds over the 20km distance for a solid second place finish over Stefan Kuhn (Canmore Nordic/NST) in third.

According to Kuhn…”Tough day on the ski trails today, body was not good. Nish was on fire this week!”

Men’s Pursuit and overall results HERE.
Women’s Pursuit and overall results HERE.