March 17, 2004 – Beckie Scott acquired a taste of what it will be like when she finally takes her spot on top of the Olympic podium later this year. The Vermilion, Alta. native captured her first national title of the week on Wednesday in Charlo, N.B. after winning the two-day 10-kilometre pursuit competition.

Scott and Olympic teammate, Sara Renner, of Canmore, Alta., proved they are in a class of their own, jumping well ahead of the pack of Canucks at the national championships. With Scott holding a 2.8 second lead over Renner after the opening day of the event, the two Canadian cross-country ski queen's finished the five-kilometre classic skiing leg on Tuesday nearly 46 seconds ahead of the next fastest athlete.

Canada's top female skiers suited up again on Wednesday for the five-kilometre skate ski portion of the competition. A different day, the story was similiar with the Canadian duo further increasing their lead on the pack. While Scott started slightly ahead of her teammate, the 27-year-old Renner quickly made up the time difference, and skied the entire track with the Olympic champion, only to be narrowed out at the line by one-one-hundredth of a second. Scott finished the two-day event in a time of 42 minutes 53.2 seconds, while Renner, who enjoyed one of her most successful years on the World Cup, finished at 42:53.3. Scott and Renner's other 2002 Olympic teammate, Milaine Theriault, of St. Quentin, N.B., who has been working hard to get back into elite racing form this season, finished third in front of the New Brunswick faithful with a time of 44:34.9, while upstart Canadian athlete, Chandra Crawford, of Canmore, Alta., who won five international medals in the past month, finished fourth (45:32.0).

It was also a race to the wire in the men's competition. Ivan Babikov, who recently moved from Russia, and is now living and training in Canmore, Alta., narrowed out Chris Jeffries, of Chelsea, Que., at the line in the 15-kilometre men's two-day pursuit, wich combined 7.5 kilometres of classic and skate skiing each day. George Grey, of Rossland, B.C., rounded out the top-three on the podium on Wednesday in the bronze medal position, while Dan Roycroft, of Port Sydney, Ont. finished fourth (58:06.4). Jeffries and Grey, who completed their rookie season on the World Cup last week, are leading the Canadian men's cross-country ski program back to the international stage. Jeffries, 26, and Grey, 24, also welcomed teammates, Drew Goldsack, 22, of Red Deer, Alta., and Devon Kershaw, 21, of Sudbury, Ont., to the World Cup for the final month of the season. The quartet consistently improved throughout the year despite being five-to-seven years younger than the average athlete. The season was highlighted with a ninth-place result in a team sprint relay, the best result ever in the history of the program. Chris Butler, of Thunder Bay, Ont., (39:40.0) and Edmonton's Amanda Ammar (32:07.0) won the men and women's junior pursuit competitions on Wednesday. Quebec's Alex Harvey (34:33.4) and Natasha Kullas, of Timmins, Ont., (33:43.0) won the boys and girls juvenile events.