March 19, 2015 (Thunder Bay, ON) – The weather was chilly again at Lappe, with temperatures in the minus teens as the athletes got to the site for the longer sprint competitions. Fortunately yesterday’s strong winds didn’t show up, so sunny skies were welcomed by all as the suppliers didn’t have to pull down their flags and stop merchandise from blowing off their tables.

Jesse Cockney (r) and Hakon Hjelstuen go head to head in the semis © CCC

The trails were hard packed, granular snow and some athletes experimented with double poling on skate skis, while most went with klister. Some challenges on the men’s course with an icy corner in the qualifier caused the jury to use only the women’s course for the heats.

In the morning Buff sprint qualifiers for open men and women, international skiers set the top times, with Norwegian skier Hakon Hjelstuen of Michigan Tech and Finlander Anita Kirvesniemi of St Scholastica University. Anita is the daughter of Finnish ski legends Marja-Liisa and Harri Kirvesniemi.

Peri Jones (l) battles with, Anita Kirvesniemi © CCC

For the juniors it was Maya McIssac-Jones of Rocky Mountain Racers and Joey Foster of Team

There was some hard fought competition in the heats as Jesse Cockney of Foothills Nordic and Hakon Hjelstuen battled it out with Hjelsteun prevailing in the semi by less than 1/2 a second.

On the women’s side Perianne Jones of Nakkertok and Anita Kirvesniemi also battled it out in the semi with Peri winning by .02 seconds.

The Open finals were a different story as both Perianne and Jesse cruised to comfortable wins.

Jesse Cockney the Canadian Champion, Buff sprint winner by a large margin © CCC

On the men’s side Jesse won by almost 4 seconds over Julien Locke of Black Jack with Hjelstuen 3rd and  Raphaël Couturier of Skibec 4th, but the Canadian Championship bronze medallist. Of interest Jesse had only qualified 15th after trying to go with no grip wax and Julien Locke had qualified 24th.

Peri Jones crossing the finish line © Martin Kaiser

On the women’s side Peri skied to an easy 2 second win over Alysson Marshall of Larch Hills and Andrea Dupont of Rocky Mountain Racers. Peri was jubilant, claiming victory in what was probably the last big sprint race of her career. The win was maybe a little easier as Whitehorse’s Dahria Beatty, Sunday’s gold medallist and today’s 2nd qualifier, crashed early in the race to finish well off the pace.

Joey Foster takes the win © CCC

In the junior men’s final Joey Foster of Team Hardwood continued his winning ways in a hard fought final. Julian Smith of Georgian Bay Nordic and Angus Foster of Big Thunder made a bit of an early break but Joey Foster fought back for a close victory, drafting a bit on the final downhill before powering by for a 2,10ths of second win over Smith and  Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier of Fondeurs.

Maya McIssac-Jones edges Jenn Jackson at the line © CCC

On the women’s side it was Maya McIssac Jones of Rocky Mountain Racers taking a big lead at the start and holding off Jenn Jackson of Team Hardwood at the finish by 1/2 a second. Third was Sophie Carrier-Laforte of Skinouk.

Junior Women "A" finalists (l-r) Maya McIssac-Jones, Annah Hanthorn, Ember Large, Katherine Stewart-Jones, Sophie Carrier-Laforte, Jennifer Jackson © CCC

The CCUNC events wrapped up today with the Lakehead University Thunderwolves grabbing the men and women’s crowns. Nippising was 2nd in the women’s standings and Carleton 3rd.  On the men’s side Laval was 2nd and Carleton were again 3rd.

Individually Scott Hill of Lakehead and Frédéric Touchette of Laval tied for individual honours while Alannah MacLean of Lakehead and Kajsa Heyes of Nippising shared the women’s individual title.

Qualifying Times
Results
Sprint Brackets