December 07, 2013 (Sovereign Lake, BC) – The USA’s Brian Gregg and Canada’s Heidi Widmer were up to the challenge as athletes faced an extra test today in Sovereign Lake, BC at the opening round of the 2013/14 Haywood NorAm Series. Not only did they have to perform to their best ability but they had the extra challenge of facing very chilly temperatures of -19 degrees Celsius.

Brian Gregg leading Christopher Hamilton © Julie Melanson

With the scheduled morning start delayed as temperatures dipped below -20 degrees, it was worth the wait for the men’s 15km FR race that welcomed warmer sunshine at noon allowing the skiers better glide.

Gregg topped the field taking first in the Elite men’s race with a time of 41:03. While visiting Sovereign Lake last week Gregg said he time-trailed the course to give himself an edge today. He was followed closely by fellow Yank, Matt Liebsch (BortonVolvoXCU) at +3.3 while veteran Canuck, Graham Nishikawa of Whitehorse, claimed third. The fourth place finisher was Patrick Stewart-Jones of Nakkertok, and fifth went to Kevin Sandau of Foothills Nordic.

In the women’s field Widmer of Foothills Nordic described her race to be “…so cold with lots of climbing, but it was so beautiful out there, that it was hard to focus.” Yet her focus on the scenery didn’t seem to affect her performance. Her race was strong with a decisive first place finish in the 10km FR as she was followed by Amanda Ammar (+26.3) of Canmore. Foothills Nordic was well represented on the podium with third place going to Zoe Roy. In fourth was Brittany Webster of Canmore, followed by Emily Nishikawa of Whitehorse.

Full results here.