While most eyes in the Yukon were on the Arctic Winter Games, a select group of Yukon skiers competed halfway across the continent at the Canadian National Cross Country Ski Championships in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Graham Nishikawa, a member of both the National and Yukon ski teams, finished on the podium with a bronze in the individual start classic race on March 7th.
He flew through the 10-kilometre course in a time of 29:25, finishing in third position in the senior men’s race and only three seconds out of first place.
Conditions were good for the skiers, with lots of snow and temperatures hovering just below the freezing mark.
Other strong performances from the Yukon contingent were notched by Brynn Knight, who came in 6th in the Junior Girls five-kilometre race, only 27 seconds out of first place, and Emily Nishikawa, who was 47 seconds behind the leader.
Gruesome conditions didn’t keep Yukon skiers from turning in strong performances in Thursday’s knockout sprint races.
Bryn Knight, who has been turning in a string of strong performances in this meet, won the B final in a photo finish to rank fifth overall for the day.
Knight picked up a bronze medal earlier in the week in the 7.5-kilometre skate race.
Nishikawa, competing in the elite Open Men category, qualified for the heats with the fourth-fastest time of the day, but had a tough ride in his semi-final heat.
At the end of the day, he finished a highly respectable sixth.
Ray Sabo also had a strong race, finishing sixth overall in the junior boys 1.2-km sprint.
Skiers braved above-freezing temperatures and ankle-deep slush as they powered around the downtown sprint course.
Sprint races always feature lots of crashes, and the tough conditions made it particularly difficult for the skiers.
“The going was so hard that many of the skiers had to offset on the flats,” noted Yukon Ski Team Head Coach Alain Masson. “Everyone was exhausted at the end.”
The nationals finished up Sunday with the long-distance classic race.
Nishikawa competed in the men’s 50-kilometre, not normally his strongest event.
He raced with the leaders for most of the distance, but fell back to finish a respectable fourth.
Carbon Hill Sled Dog Race
Race results from each event:
Skijor 16 km (2-3 dogs)
1st Darryl Sheepway, 37:07
2nd Jonathan Lucas, 40:08
3rd Susie Rogan, 43:37
4th Al Doherty, 44:09
5th Carolynne Fujda, 48:12
Skijor 11 km (1 dog)
1st Isabel Beauregard, 35:46
2nd Elko Huber, 37:46
Children’s 3 km (2-3 dogs)
1st Rachel Kinvig, 8:56
2nd Nick Daniels, 10:36
3rd Jeff Diment, 19:58
4th Sarah Diment, 22:36
5th Jasmine Carey, 22:49
6th Finn Matrishon, 23:23
48 km (8 dogs)
1st Blaine Walden, 2:35:12
2nd William Kleedehn, 2:38:43
3rd Kiara Adams, 2:40:40
4th Gerry Willomitzer, 2:46:13
5th Matheus Blum, 2:48:24
6th Didier Moggia, 2:48:52
7th Ray Zaiden, 3:00:24
8th Annette Vickers, 3:00:44
9th Laura Jane Lucas, 3:10:13
10th Trevor Braun, 3:23:06
11th Peter Helbig, 3:25:10
12th Jim Stanford, 3:28:03
13th Kyla Boivin, 3:44:15
16 km (6 dogs)
1st Dave Johnson, 30:59
2nd Brian MacDougall, 33:42
3rd Jim Hajash, 37:43
4th Catherine Pinard, 37:52
5th Stacie Zaychuk, 39:03
6th Kim Nadeau, 39:45
7th Tammy DaSilva, 41:08
8th Maureen Boksa, 41:22
9th Brian Alp, 41:58
10th Genesee Keevil, 42:37
11th Tomohino Uemura, 43:10
12th Elaine Seier, 45:13
13th Charles Nadeau, 46:33
14th Harvey Van Patten, 46:48
15th Ely Boivin, 48:02
16th Janet Keller, 50:03
17th Paul Buchfeller, 56:07
Orienteering
With the Arctic Winter Games and the cross-country nationals, the low turnout was expected for Saturday’s ski-orienteering event, but it still proved to be a highly competitive race, especially among the enthusiasts tackling the long course.
Pippa McNeil’s devious courses at the biathlon range needed only nine controls to challenge the racers.
Short course — two kilometres
1st Sharleen Hamm, 26:45
Intermediate course — three kilometres
1st Miko Miyahara, 37:00
2nd Sherri Cooper, 37:49
3rd Shirley Hill, 39:54
4th Aileen McCorkell, Eleanor O’Donovan, 48:39
Long course — five kilometres
1st Brent Langbakk, 29:49
2nd Sky Pearson, 36:06
3rd Forest Pearson, 36:55
4th Ross Burnett, 40:31
5th Darren Holmcombe, 51:43
Indoor soccer
Under-16 (Monday)
Pepsi 7
Yukon Electrical 4
Paul Profeit and Cory Birckel both had hat tricks for Pepsi, and David Hemmings added a single. Michael Hemmings was Pepsi’s top player.
Dominik Messer was named MVP for scoring two for Yukon Electrical; Thomas Mills and Sean Porter added singles.
Dandelion Dental 9
Quantum Machine Works 8
Scoring for Dandelion were Josh Hanrath, with five goals, Logan Potter with three goals, and Katelyn Peterson with one.
Replying for Quantum were Markus Liebau and Carlin Wellspring with hat tricks, and Joaquim McWatters and Grant McWatters with singles. MVP for Dandelion was Logan Potter. MVP for Quantum was Joaquin McWatters.
Dave’s Cleaning 9
Alcan Adjusters 3
Tanner Coyne scored a hat trick for Dave’s; while Cody Morrison, Jim Semaschuk and MVP Graeden Ferguson all had doubles. Erin Linklater, Aaron Holway, and Shea Hierlihy scored for Alcan, and Cody Reaume was MVP.
Coed league (Thursday)
Coed soccer score from March 9, 2006
Sanchez Cantina 12
Traduction ABC Translation 8
Sanchez scoring was spread evenly with Jennifer Ellis, Tim Shoniker, Kate Rich, Leilah Cross, Vanessa Brault and Mo Sahid all scoring pairs.
Gregory Bryce, Aubyn Russell and Doug Hitch scored two each for the Translators. Julie Bernier and Simon Pulido added singles.
Curling
The seniors (50+) territorial playdowns at the Whitehorse Curling Club March 5th determined the teams that will represent the Yukon-NWT at the senior national championships in Summerside, PEI on March 25 to April 1.
Paul Hunter’s Whitehorse rink won 8-5 over Allen Hartman’s Yellowknife rink to win the men’s division, while Sandy Penkala’s rink, from Yellowknife, won 11-8 over Ruth Holt’s rink (Watson Lake), to take the women’s division.
Final standings: (win-loss)
Mens division
Hunter (Yukon 1): 5-1
Stuart (Yukon 2): 4-2
Hartman (NWT 1): 2-4
Whitehead (NWT 2): 1-5
Women’s division
Penkala (NWT 1): 5-1
Hemsley (Yukon 2): 3-3
Holt (Yukon 1): 2-4
Peterson (NWT 2): 2-4