The stars aligned just right for Whitehorse’s Caelan McLean in the Don Sumanik Memorial Cross Country Ski Race at the Whitehorse Nordic Centre on Saturday.
After winning the juvenile male division in the Sumanik classic race on Dec. 29, McLean repeated the feat in the Sumanik free technique race.
With the fastest overall time from the two races, the 15-year-old was awarded the Don Sumanik Trophy for male skiers.
“It’s nice. I was a bit surprised to get the trophy,” said McLean. “Fabian (Brook) is older and faster. He raced in this race, but not the race before (on Dec. 29).”
Brook, who had the fastest time for males in Saturday’s 7.5-kilometre race, was sick for the first Sumanik race and did not compete. David Greer, who was fastest on Dec. 29, was absent from Saturday’s race.
Brook finished in 21 minutes and 44 seconds, while McLean had a time of 22:22.5. Juvenile boy Marcus Deuling had the third-fastest time of 22:23.6, ahead of Hudson Lucier (23:35.4), also in the juvenile division.
Open men’s winner Jonathan Kerr had the fifth-fastest time for males with 24:28.1.
Whitehorse’s Heidi Brook – Fabian’s sister – made it two in a row on Saturday. Heidi, who skis for the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks, won the open women’s division with the fastest time on the 3.75-kilometre course.
The 20-year-old won the Don Sumanik Trophy for females, having won the Dec. 29 race as well.
“It was pretty exciting. It was pretty cool to be up there with Caelan, too,” said Brook. “We both grew up in the same town and skied at the same club.
“I think I had more fun at the classic race (on Dec. 29). I prefer the longer races. Today was pretty short and it was done really fast.”
Brook finished with a time of 12:09, outpacing the second fastest racer, Julie McVicar (13:17.8), also in the open women division. Third fastest on the course was junior girl Adrienne Hynes with a time of 13:18.3.
Brook placed 15th in the five-kilometre event at the NCAA West Regional Championship last season and eighth in the junior women 20-kilometre race 2011 Haywood Ski Nationals.
McLean won the juvenile boys division at the Yukon Cross-Country Ski Championships last March. He also represented the Yukon at the 2012 Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse, winning a bronze in the 7.5-kilometre classic for juvenile males.
David Greer and Fabian Brook are both members of the Yukon Elite Squad, which was formed last April and is currently in its first season of competing. So far the five-person Whitehorse-based team has had skiers reach a World Cup event and member Colin Abbott qualify for the U23 world championships next week in the Czech Republic.
“It’s been a great success so far,” said Brook. “I think a lot of us have met our goals, especially for Colin. He’s off to the world U23s.
“We’re all doing what we hoped.”
A total of 38 skiers raced on Saturday. The peewee and atom division races were postponed when temperatures fell below the minus-15 cutoff for those age groups.
The Don Sumanik races are named for the man who was instrumental in the creation of the Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club’s chalet and bringing a FIS World Cup event to Whitehorse in March of 1981. He died in December of 1981, the year before the start of the Sumanik races.
“He had a dream we should have a chalet for the cross-country skiers,” said Sumanik’s widow, Elsie. “So he started writing letters for donations all over Canada – everywhere – including Whitehorse. The donations started coming in so they started building the ski chalet.
“The races got bigger and bigger and that’s where we are now.
“It was his dream to build it and it’s here.”
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Results
Open women (3.75 km)
1st Heidi Brook – 12:09.4
2nd Julie McVicar – 13:17.8
3rd Lois Johnston – 14:44.5
Open men (7.5 km)
1st Jonathan Kerr – 24:28.1
2nd David Kerr – 25:53.9
Junior female (3.75 km)
1st Holly Bull – 13:42.2
2nd Colae Swenson – 14:46.2
Junior male (7.5 km)
1st Fabian Brook – 21:44.0
Junior girls (3.75 km)
1st Adrienne Hynes – 13:18.3
2nd Nahanni Sagar – 13:37.7
Junior boys (7.5 km)
1st Trevor Bray – 24:25.8
2nd Andrew Seal – 29:07.1
Juvenile girls (3.75 km)
1st Cambria Fuerstner – 13:31.4
2nd Eliza Paul – 13:44.8
3rd Natalie Hynes – 13:50.3
4th Solstice Toews – 14:09.0
5th Nadia Moser – 14:37.5
6th Alexis Gee – 15:07.2
7th Maria Peters – 16:30.6
8th Heather Thomson – 17:10.7
Juvenile boys (7.5 km)
1st Caelan McLean – 22:22.5
2nd Marcus Deuling – 22:23.6
3rd Hudson Lucier – 23:35.4
4th Simon Cash – 24:27.9
5th Mac Prawdzik – 25:26.1
6th Tristan Sparks – 32:02.4
Midget girls (3.75 km)
1st Regan Fuerstner – 14:41.9
2nd Hannah Deuling – 14:58.1
3rd Hannah Shier – 15:00.7
4th Savannah Cash – 15:29.8
5th Hannah Jirousek – 15:36.9
6th Dagmar Janzen – 18:02.0
Midget boys (3.75 km)
1st Michael Kishchuk – 14:12.7
2nd Liam Adel – 14:43.3
3rd Pelly Vincent-Braun – 15:40.1
4th Jake Draper – 16:04.3
5th Daniel Sennett – 16:35.0
6th Francis Reid – 17:21.2
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com