The weather gods were in good form on Saturday at the Mt. McIntyre ski trails as skiers competed in the annual Sportees Sprints.
After a week of frigid temperatures and strong winds, the day was almost perfect for the athletes and officials who turned out for the longstanding event.
After some hard-fought rounds of the 600-metre course, Emily Nishikawa and Ray Sabo were victors in the senior men’s and women’s categories.
On the junior side, Dahria Beatty and Jeff Wood took top honours.
After a qualification round to sort out seeding, the athletes competed in a succession of heats over the tough course, with the top skiers advancing to successive rounds until ultimate victory.
“We are developing some fine sprinters in the territory,” said Yukon ski team head coach Alain Masson as he watched the proceedings. “It’s a race of tactics as well as raw speed and strength and the more experience our athletes get the better off we’ll be when the competition arrives for the Games.”
“Sprint races are probably the most exciting ski races around for spectators and athletes alike” noted chief of race Claude Chabot.
Sprint racing in cross-country is a relatively new phenomenon and the formats are still evolving. The Sportees Sprint race was the first time local race officials had tested the recently introduced format that will be used at the Canada Winter Games.
“We have moved to a six-person final heat, which leads to some pretty wild racing as skiers jockey for position around tight turns, steep climbs and descents, all at breakneck speed,” added Chabot.
Sprint races for the Canada Winter Games will be held on March 6th and should be one of the highlights of the games for spectators.
Yukon Brewing Copper Haul Twister League
The third race day in the series: Alpine Vet Race Day, is set for January 20.
Registration and mushers meeting at 8:45 a.m. at Icy Waters Ltd, km 4.2 Fish Lake Road.
Multiple dog teams are asked to park at the McIntyre Marsh lookout; single dog teams, spectators, volunteers should park at Icy Waters Ltd., or along the road.
All races are mixed class: For the Alpine Vet Race Day the 19-kilometre Twister sled teams may have two to six dogs and the Skijorers two to four dogs (both up one from December); the five-kilometre kids race is two to four dogs for sleds, and one or two for skijorers; and the pet dog race is one dog, and so long as it is attached to you, you can use anything (but no motors.)
Due to the excellent 38-team turnout in December, of which 29 were in the Twister, the organizers have to limit teams to a max of 40 for safety, so make sure you are on time! No limit on numbers of kids and pet dog teams.
The passing rules have been detailed on the blog, and they will be fully explained at the race meeting. Thanks to all the volunteers in the previous races, please come out again, we can’t run it without you, and there’s a pair of Arctic char fillets waiting for each of you.
The firepit at the start will be in action again, if everyone could just bring one log that would be plenty to keep everyone warm, and there will be a potluck after the race, whilst all the times and places are calculated, please bring what you can.
Also thanks to the Klondike Snowmobile Association which is coming out Friday to help groom the course (it could be an even faster trail than December). Yukon Brewing and Alpine Vet provided the cash prizes. For more info visit www.copperhaultwister.blogspot.com.
Whitehorse rink scores rare eight-ender
In curling, an eight-ender happens when all eight stones score for one team. It is exceptionally rare.
According to sport historians, it is even rarer than golf’s sought-after hole in one.
Dale Enzenauer’s rink threw one of those rare curling milestones Thursday evening at the Whitehorse Curling Club during Thursday Night Open League play, when his team scored eight in the 7th end.
The team was up one when it scored its eight points and the game ended with final score of 13-4.
Enzenauer, the skip and third Doug Hamilton had experienced this feat before. But it was a first for lead Steve Fraser and second Mark Vigneau.
It’s the first in a couple of years at the club.
Squash
Thursday night league
Electrical Shop 15
Northern Lights
Optometry 14
Tracy Pittman and Chris Ziegler gave Electrical Shop the edge with two three-set sweeps, over Tara Matechuk and John Kramer respectively.
For Northern Lights, Monica Gibson beat Noah Mooney in five sets and Mark Beese swept David Buckler in three.
Well-Read Books 19
Navigo Broadband 11
Mark Dyer led the Well-Read squad to a solid win, beating Zoe Walker in straight sets.
Ronnie Sue Steinhagen and Jessica Borgford won their matches as well, beating Lisa Gudbranson and Ryan MacKinnon in four sets each.
Jeff Wright had Navigo’s only win, beating Benoit Brouillard in three.
Whitehorse Travel 19
Sterling Investments 12
Lara Lewis recorded a straight-sets win over Sterling’s Bryan Gartner, while Patti Flather and Ashley LaBar needed five sets to dispense with Beth Ellis and Amberley Wolfe.
Jeanette Carney had Sterling’s only win, beating Lesley Cabott in straight sets.
Standings as of January 11:
1st Kumon Learning, 136
2nd Well-Read Books, 125
3rd Sterling Insurance, 124
4th Electrical Shop, 117
5th Navigo Broadband, 114
6th Whitehorse Travel, 109
7th Northern Lights, 89
Whitehorse
recreational hockey
Thursday results:
Environmental Dynamics 8
Alkan Air 2
Andrew Greenlaw, Brian Douglas and Dave Richard led the scoring for the Dynamics, netting two goals each. Alain Desroches, and Justin Halowaty scored as well, and Andy Connors had three assists on the night.
Alkan’s scorers were Paul Hamilton and Leroy Wolfe.
Sports North 5
Narrow Gauge Contracting 2
Linus Fraser led Sports North with a three-goal performance, while John VanRanden and Derick Bilodeau scored singles.
Alex Vatour and Hector Lang scored for Narrow Gauge.
Whitehorse
oldtimers hockey
Sunday results:
Kilrich 4
Klondyke Dental Molars 4
Kilrich’s Paul Lackowicz, Tim Vincent, Stu Mackay and Wade Harrison all scored goals, but the Molars kept things even with Woody Bennett netting a pair and Bob Schwinghamer and Jordan Borgford adding singles.
Edgewater Hotel 4
Firth Rangers 1
Rick Gingell, Sean McAskie, Rick Smith and Dave Ecker all scored for the Hotel. Scoring the only goal for the Rangers was Dave Borud, unassisted.
Indoor soccer
Under-18 (Tuesday)
Subject: U18 soccer scores
Dave’s Cleaning Services 9
Shaske & Zeiner Appraisals 7
Dave’s scoring was led by Cody Morrison, who netted five goals. Magen Coyne, MVP Aaron and Jimmy Semaschuk and Sandy Schneider added singles.
David Hemmings scored four times for the Appraisals, and Markus Liebau scored a pair, while Nathalia Jimenez added a goal. Jessica Williams took top player honours.
Qualita Cleaners 9
Sportslodge 5
Qualita thumped Sportslodge good, with John Borud’s hat trick leading the way. Dylan Cole netted a pair and Cory Birckel, Daniel Staley, Scott Longman and MVP Ryan Wilson scored as well.
Josh Hanrath scored four for Sportslodge, and Joel Stacey added one. Karlee Bendera took top player honours.
Under-15 (Thursday)
Pine Plumbing 13
Audette Construction 5
Pine flushed Audette with Tyler Pumphrey scoring five goals, Michael Donohoe and Cody Reaume netting hat tricks, and Jaime Whitty and Josh Scheffen scoring as well. Michael Donohoe was the top plumber.
Tyler Audette scored two for Audette, and Erin Eady, Dakota Couch and Alex Lindsey scored as well. Rhiannon Jones was named Audette’s player of the game.
Under-nine (Thursday)
Tim Hortons 3
Better Bodies 1
Tim Hortons scorers were Benjamin Grundmanis, Damien Terry and Dustin Muckosky. Luka VanRanden was Tim’s player of the game.
Better Bodies lone scorer was Shaun Clarke, and Megan Banks took MVP honours.
Mobile Maintenance 6
Northern Denture Clinic 0
Graydon McDonnell and Logan Harris scored two goals each for Mobile, while Quintessa Maltais and Jacob Fitzsimmons added singles. Lauren Leslie was named player of the game.
Issac Allen was named Northern Dentures’ player of the game.
Coates Services 4
Brouwer Claims Canada 3
Kyle Jacobs, Kole Smeeton, Braeden Klassen and Hannah Milner scored for Coates, with MVP going to the birthday boy, Riley Smoler. Scoring for Brouwer Claims Canada were Chris Torgenson and Brett Nichols, who had a pair, with the MVP nod going to Austin Bourque.
Under-seven (Tuesday)
Underhill Geomatics 11
Plantation Flowers and Gifts 1
Brandon Barrett led Underhill with an amazing eight-goal performance, and Brandon Smith added two more, while MVP Anthony Barteaux added one.
Goal scorer and MVP for Plantation Flowers and Gifts was Dylan Cozens.
Boston Pizza 5
Yukon News 4
Jonas Leas led the Pizza crew with four goals, while JJ Cannings added the fifth. Kathleen Lanigan was named top player.
Yukon News’ Ryan Hindson scored all four goals, and Elisha Leenders took player of the game.
Under-seven (Thursday)
Yukon News 9
Plantation Flowers and Gifts 3
The News bounced back after Tuesday’s loss to win handily over Plantation. Liam Adel led the News with five goals, Ryan Hindson netted four and Sarah Leslie was named MVP.
Malorie Hanson scored all three goals for Plantation and took MVP honours.
Boston Pizza 8
Murraya Dental 0
Jonas Leas netted five goals as BP shut down the Dental. Joe Parker netted a pair and Kathleen Lanigan added one. Leas was named player of the game.
Robyn Moore was named Murraya’s top player.
Coed league (Sunday)
Assante Financial 8
Yukon Brewing 7
Assante’s Caitlyn Wintmute led her team to victory, netting two goals. Jeremy Raymond, Meghan Fraser, Kelly Lanighan, Joseph Fred, Luke Wadey and Greg Morrison scored as well.
Mo Sahid 2 Geordo Matechuck 2 Yukon Brewing Kate Rich 1 Spencer Ritch 1 David Atkin 1