February 12, 2011 (Cantley, QC) – Whitehorse skiers Emily and Graham Nishikawa, who ski with the Alberta WCup Academy, made their mark at the opening Prologue on Friday, stage 1 of the weekend’s mini-tour, as the Eastern Canadian Championships and Haywood NorAm got underway in Cantley, Quebec.

Emily Nishikawa (Whitehorse/AWCA) lead the women’s field with a time of 8:32.6 over the the 3km classic course with junior Heidi Widmer (Foothills Nordic/AWCA) her nearest rival 12.3s behind in second with Larch Hills U23 skier, Alysson Marshall (AWCA/BCST) in third at 17.9s behind the winner.

“The prologue was really fun – short and sweet,” Emily told us post-race by email. “It was my first time racing that distance so I wasn’t totally sure what to expect. I started pretty relaxed, but got stronger towards the end of the race.

“The course was great, it had some good climbs and fast downhills.  Overall it was a great day, pretty cool that both my brother and I were on top of the podium!”

In the men’s race Graham Nishikawa (Whitehorse/AWCA) continues to dominate as he cruised to a decisive victory in 7:07.3 over Foothills Nordic U23 skier Kevin Sandau in second just under 10 seconds back with American Tim Reynolds from Vermont (Craftsbury Green Racing Project) in third at 3s behind Sandau.

Drew Goldsack (Rocky Mountain/NST), who is battling with Nishikawa for a trip to the Scandinavian World Cups as series leader, didn’t gain or lose any ground with his 5th place result – both skiers use their best eight races from the season to date. Canadian World Junior Championship skier, Andy Shields was the top junior in 7th.

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