Following a two week hiatus from racing, the senior contingent of Team Black Jack flew across the country for the 2015 Eastern Canadian Championships. As usual, the Canadian Eastern Championships Organizing Committee did a wonderful job putting on a very well organized event at the Nakkertok ski trails in Cantley, QC despite three days of racing in a row, 750 competitors and -20ºC weather.
The racing began with the skate sprint. After an overnight snow storm blew in and transformed the rock solid tracks into 8 inches of mush, we were all greeted with a superb opportunity to work on our soft-snow skiing. Julien had the top Black Jack finish of the day, floundering his way through the powder in the A-Final to a 6th position finish. Scott Fraser finished 21st and David 25th.
The second race of the weekend was a 15km Skate Individual Start. Julien skied to 17th, David (still recovering from a long lasting cold) 19th, and Scott 29th.
Completing the weekend was a 15km Classic Mass Start. Originally slated at 20km, the organizing committee was forced to shorten the event due to the cold weather. Julien had an excellent race, perhaps his best distance of the season, skiing with the lead group for the first 7.5km on his way to a 12th place finish, 3rd U23. Scott finished 19th and David, far from his best, ended the weekend in 23rd.
Joining the team for the weekend were Russell Kennedy (Canmore Nordic), Annika Hicks (Canmore Nordic), Gareth Williams (Telemark), and several members of the Hollyburn Ski Team.
Easterns marks the end of Period 2 of the Haywood NorAm FIS Continental Cup Series. On the NorAm overall ranking list, Julien leads the team in 9th position (2nd U23), Colin a close 10th (3rd U23), David 15th (5th U23) with Scott rounding out the team in 38th.
On the Buff Sprint Series ranking, Julien retains his spot as the top U23 skier in 5th position overall (a drop from 3rd after the Westerns), followed by Scott in 27th, Colin 30th and David 31st.
Many thanks to Dave Wood for his tireless work, and John Langstone, Louis Helbig, David Lumb and Jeff Sim for their contributions.
Photos courtesy of Bernard Pigeon
