The World Under-23 Cross-country Championships got started in Slovenia under less than ideal conditions on Tuesday.
Yukon’s Graham Nishikawa, competing in a one-kilometre sprint race, made the cut for the heats by placing 26th in the qualification round and then moved up a notch to finish 25th overall.
Phil Widmer, finishing 15th, was the top Canadian skier in the men’s race.
Dasha Gaiazova was the top Canadian in the women’s race. She won the B final and ranked fifth overall.
Nishikawa had a great start in his heat, and was leading going into a major hill. Then the skier beside him fell and landed on his ski, causing a major pile-up.
“By the time we got untangled, everyone else got around us and it was too late to catch up,” said Nishikawa in a press release.
“I am still happy with my result in the very challenging conditions. My shape is good and my strongest events are still to come on Thursday and Saturday.
“Hopefully the conditions will get better and I can get a great result in the next race.”
Conditions for the race were tough, very slushy with deep pockets on the trail. There was at least one fall in every heat due to the poor conditions.
Because the going was so tough, some skiers had to resort to using offset technique on the flats, unheard of at this level of competition.
Nishikawa was the second Canadian across the line in Thursday’s 15 kilometre classic race, finishing in 42:38 to take a respectable 37th place. The event continues with a pursuit race on the weekend.
Cross-country skiing
Fifty-one skiers lined up for the duathlon style Subway #2 race Wednesday at Mount McIntyre.
With a temperature of minus 5 Celsius and light wind, all skiers were happy with the conditions; fast snow and no need to worry about freezing on the downhills.
Marcus Waterreus took the open men’s category in a time of 16:41 and Janelle Greer was the fastest woman with a time of 19:34.
Marcus was followed closely by Alain Masson, Ray Sabo and Colin Abbott.
And in the women’s category, Heidi Brook came in a minute after Greer and then the skiing sisters Robyn Findlater and Amanda Deuling were close behind.
The duathlon, or continuous pursuit style race, is popular because it combines both technique and requires a quick transition, which gives the race a different twist
Several skiers under 12 completed the challenging course in good time with Holly Bull, Terri Publicover, Miguel Rodden, Kendra Murray and Marie-Louise Roy finishing in less than 30 minutes.
Subway Night Race #3 is scheduled for February 22.
Hockey
Atom division (Tuesday)
Gem Gas 10
Locksmith Services 3
Scorers for Gem Gas were Riley Pettitt with four goals and an assist, Christopher Anderson with three goals, Willy Oulton with a pair of goals and one assist and Craig Berube with a goal and two assists. Graeme Close helped out with four assists, Scott Meredith with two, Ben Deacon and Austin Limoges added one east.
Locksmith Services’ scorers were Ryan Chippett with a pair of goals and Trey Charlie with one. Mathew McCarthy had two assists.
Oldtimers league (Sunday)
Firth Rangers 2
AON Flames 2
Sean McAskie and Brian Boorse scored a goal each for the Rangers, assisted by Dennis Shewfelt, Ross Phillips and Brian Gudmundson.
Bill Bohmer scored both Flames goals, with Terry Berquist and Lorne Burnett assisting.
Performance Centre Turbos 7
Klondyke Dental Molars 1
Bob Parks got the hat trick for the Turbos, and Laurie Malo added a pair. Tim Turner-Davis and Blaine Demchuk added singles. Alain Pelletier assisted on two goals.
Oldtimers (Wednesday)
Firth Rangers 5
Kilrich 5
Tim Vincent, Brian Boorse, Rob MacDonald, Brian Gudmundson and Al Hammond scored for the Rangers.
Kilrich’s Tony Clennett and Wade Harrison both scored a pair, and Russell Bamford added one.
Peter Grundmanis and Rob Miller had two assists each on the night.
Klondyke Dental Molars 4
Edgewater Windsors 3
Mitch Organ, Gary Boyd, Bob Allison and Larry Warner scored for the Molars.
Scoring for the Windsors were Steve McGrath, Morley Lessard and Rick Blaker.
Soccer
Under-seven (Wednesday)
Ruby Range Outfitters 5
Heritage North 2
Sean Clarke notched an impressive four goals for Ruby Range, and Kelcy Armstrong added a single and was named MVP as well.
Jacob Dionne and MVP Malorie Hanson scored for Heritage North.
Under-nine (Monday)
Local YO17 6
Locksmith Services 2
Dylan Reed and Peter-Joe Jensen both scored three goals for YO17. Bohdi Elias and Riley Bedard scored for Locksmith.
Under-11 (Tuesday)
Bumper To Bumper 8
Kiwanis Club 4
Kurtis Hills had the hat trick for the Bumpers, and Adam Torgerson booted in a pair. Kelsey Smeeton, Jonathon Koltun and Toni Lafferty added goals as well. Jessica Christiansen was named Bumper to Bumper’s player of the game.
Felix Bouchard, Jessie Cebuliak, Travis Banks and MVP Jenna Bianowski scored for the Kiwanis Club.
CIBC 6
Hougen’s Sportslodge 2
CIBC’s Charlie Kedziora scored three goals, with Thomas Pearson-Bouchard adding two, and Thomas Mostyn kicking in a goal as well. Kedziora was named MVP.
Colin Kabanak and Youje Blackburn scored for the Sportslodge, and Raymond Emsley was MVP.
Under-16 (Wednesday)
Dandelion Dental 10
Pepsi 9
Scoring for Dandelion were Josh Hanrath, with a hat trick, Stephen Dynes and Logan Potter with a pair each, and singles by Mallory Collins, Andrew Walchuk, and Wayne DuPont.
Cory Birckel scored four goals for Pepsi, David Hemmings had three, and Paul Profeit and Michael Hemmings added singles. MVPs were Mallory Collins for Dandelion and Devon Armstrong for Pepsi.
Pristine Autocare 10
Alcan Adjusters 6
Kyle Levia scored six times for Pristine in their win over Alcan. Josh Scheffen added two, and Courtney Grant and Ester Worthington added singles. Levia was also named MVP.
Daniel Staley, Aaron Holway and Shea Hierlihy all scored for Alcan, and Kelsey McHugh was MVP.
Dave’s Cleaning 6
Yukon Electrical 1
Cody Morrison scored four goals for Dave’s, while Graeden Ferguson and MVP Jim Semaschuk added singles. Ateca Mills scored for the Electrical and Amy Andison was MVP.
Squash
Tuesday night league
Ketza 24
Pizza Hut 11
Ketza managed to win all the games they played, but defaulted on one match. Michael Hanson and Jim Gilpin swept Pizza Hut’s Don Murphy and Marc Emond, respectively, and Blaine Tessier beat Don Emond in five sets.
Kilrich 15
Underhill 14
A close series with two wins for each team. Kilrich scored the extra point due to a five-set loss by Marie Desmarais to Underhill’s Chris Toleman.
Kilrich’s Rob Schneider swept Shaun Stinson, and Kyle Marchuk beat Denny Kobayashi in four. Underhill’s Cameron Webber won by default to Al Hammond.
Electrical Shop 18
Assante 10
Electrical Shop’s Robert McMynn swept Trevor Mead-Robins of Assante. Dan Thomson beat Mark Tubman in four, and Kevin McDonell needed five sets to take out Assante’s Richard Meredith.
Standings
1st Ketza, 184
2nd (tie) Assante, Pizza Hut, 168
4th Kilrich, 154
5th Underhill, 152
6th Electrical Shop, 146
7th Yukon Brewing, 112