February 5, 2007 – For the second straight day the field found themselves chasing Brittany Webster and Chris Butler in the Open class of the Haywood Canada Cup in Gatineau, Quebec. The strategy was similar for both skiers – get out in front and play “catch me if you can.”

Webster completed her run up to a well deserved rest by crushing the women’s field in her 4th win over the past 2 weekends. “It has been pretty hectic and I’m looking forward to a bit of rest before heading to Europe and the World Junior Championships,” stated a relaxed Webster after the race. “Cruise control was good enough today, anytime I tried to put it in overdrive I felt my legs lacked the jump of previous races,” continued the Haywood NorAm Canada Cup race series leader. Kate Brennan, Webster’s teammate from the National Team Development Centre in Thunder Bay and Mallory Deyne from Lakehead University played cat and mouse for most of the race. “Mallory had faster skis but I was able to sprint past her in the last half kilometer for second,” stated Brennan. Brennan has been one the fastest sprinters on the women’s circuit this season.

For Butler, the challenge was to pace himself over the double loop course. “The pace was a little slow at the beginning so I took the lead and tried to ski evenly from start to finish,” commented the double gold medallist on the weekend. Butler plans to head home to Thunder Bay for a rest before heading to Italy at the beginning of March for the U23 World Championships. Ian Murray from Nova Scotia and Jesse Winter, a teammate of Butler’s at the National Team Development Centre in Thunder Bay ended up in 2nd and 3rd spots.

The other double gold medalists at the Eastern Canadian Championships was Julien Nury in the Juvenile Boys class.

In a precursor of the National Championships, Ski elite, Nakkertok , Big Thunder Nordic and Skibec made notice that they represent the strongest clubs in the east. Skielite won the Aggregate title with 810 points, Nakkertok picked up 763 while Big Thunder Nordic ended up with 643 points, 15 points better than Skibec.

In the battle for the Provincial Aggregate honours, Ontario out-paced Quebec 1619 to 1503. Full results of the Haywood Canada Cup, including midget and mini-midget results are available at www.zone4.ca.

The final races of the Haywood NorAm Canada Cup series are schedule to begin on Thursday in Smithers, BC.