Rossland Skiers Dominate at Vernon NorAm Race
By Rossland Telegraph
The cream of the crop stacked the top of the leaderboard in the men’s and women’s individual skate races at the Haywood NorAm series near Vernon, B.C. on Sunday afternoon.
Canadian World Cup team veteran, George Grey, led the way for Rossland’s skiers and won the men’s 15-kilometre race after clocking a time of 39 minutes 16.5 seconds at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Ski Club.
Gold in the Junior Boys 7.5K race went to Black Jack’s Geoffrey Richards. Rossland’s Monica Markvardsen took the silver in the Junior Women’s 20K
while Rebecca Reid, also from Black Jack, won silver in the Junior Girls’ 7.5 K race.
Rounding out an exceptional weekend for Rossland, Markvardsen took bronze in the Junior Women’s 1K and Reid took bronze in the Junior Girls’ 0.8K.
Grey, who is competing in his ninth season on Canada’s senior team, was using the race as a final tune-up before joining his teammates on the World Cup in Davos, Switzerland next weekend.
The Haywood NorAm Series was originally scheduled to continue at Whistler Olympic Park, the site of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Nordic events, next weekend but has been cancelled due to limited snow. North America’s top racers not competing on the World Cup will hit the start line again next weekend at Sovereign Lake Nordic Ski Club.
Cross Country Canada is the governing body of cross-country skiing in Canada. Its 51,000 members include athletes, coaches, officials and skiers of all ages and abilities, including those on Canada’s National Ski Teams and Para-Nordic Ski Teams. Cross-country skiing is Canada’s optimal winter sport and recreational activity with more than one million Canadians participating annually.
Top-Five Men’s Results:
1.George Grey, Rossland, B.C., 39:16.5; 2. Graham Nishikawa, Whitehorse, Yukon, 39:41.8; 3. Brent McMurtry, Calgary, 39:53.4; 4. Leif Zimmerman, U.S.A., 40:05.8; 5. Alex Harvey, St-Ferreol les Neiges, Que., 40:06.1
Top-Five Women’s Results:
1. Caitlin Compton, USA, 30:07.1; 2. Milaine Theriault, St. Quentin, N.B., 30:24.2; 3. Liz Stephen, U.S.A., 30:47.8; 4. Brooke Gosling, Calgary, 30:56.7; 5. Shayla Swanson, Calgary, 31:00.3
–submitted with additional reporting by Adrian Barnes.
