The weather almost stole the show today during the Fresh Air Experience Race Day at the Eastern Canadian Championships at Nakkertok Ski Centre. The start of racing saw rain and above zero temperatures, with heavy snow and then bone chilling cold in place, by the afternoon. The wax and the athlete’s ski selection became a big part of the competition.

Today was a classic race, to determine the Eastern Canadian sprint champions. Mont Ste. Anne’s Marie Corriveau narrowly edged out local favourite Zoë Williams, in the morning qualifier.

Williams took the morning qualifier result in stride, breezing through the knockout heats, and registering a dominant 11 sec. victory, over Corriveau, in the final. In 3^rd was Nakkertok’s Hannah Shields. The next 3 skiers were juniors, also from Nakkertok, with Lea Skerrett (U Laval) 4^th, Magalie Daoust 5^th and Katya Semeniuk (Alberta World Cup Academy) 6^th.

Zoë Williams: “It was fun, but a crazy day. I think we had every single weather condition possible, which kept things more interesting. My body felt in great shape”.

Étienne Hébert of Montériski set the morning qualifying standard and led through his quarter and semi-final heats. The final was a bit more challenging, with Barrie’s Scott Hill, yesterday’s winner, taking the lead from the start. Hill lead the race until the top of the final uphill, with both Hébert and Quebec City’s Antoine Briand just edging Hill in the last few meters.

Pembroke’s Guillaume Pelchat was the top junior in 5^th and the top local skier was Gatineau and Nakkertok’s Dominique Moncion-Groulx, who was 7^th.

Étienne Hébert: “It was a great race today, but all about the conditions. In the final I went with a ski that had slightly better glide than grip and it gave me the edge on the final downhill and the sprint to the finish.”

Racing wraps up tomorrow with interval start skate races and the race starts have been delayed until 10:30 due to the anticipated cold weather conditions.

View all the results 

Anton Scheier, 613-601-8257 media@engne.ca or 
Marie-Pier Pelletier-Millette, +1 (819) 593-1159 mariepierpm@gmail.com