Many members of the Junior Team with coach Andrea Stapff and chaperone, Tim Mcgrady left on Wednesday morning for a week exchange with Team Hardwood. They are meeting in Gatineaux for the Eastern Canadian Chmapionship that start on Friday and then they will head to Barrie Ontario for the last few days. Stay tuned for more details.

Check out Strathcona Nordic Ski Club Facebook and Instagram pages for more pictures about the exchange as well as many of the events listed below!

Joe Winkelaar and Gavin Johnston attended their second BiBC Cup race of the season in Quesnel on Jan 14 & 15, hosted by the Cariboo Ski Touring Club. Both athletes skied and shot well, improving on their results from the first BiBC race in Telemark in mid-December. On Saturday, Joe placed 7th in his category for the 7.5 km Individual race, with 2 bouts of prone, and 2 bouts of standing shooting. Gavin placed 5th in his 6.0 km Individual race, with 3 bouts of prone shooting. In Sunday’s Sprint race, Joe placed 6th in the 6.0 km race with 2 shooting bouts, and Gavin placed 7th in his 4.5 km race with 2 shooting bouts. This weekend they are heading to Callaghan for the BiBC Cup #3 race along with their Competitive Youth teammates and other club members.

The Competitive Youth Race Team headed to Callaghan for the Biathlon BC Cup Race #3 on Jan 28 &29 and had a great weekend of racing. In mixed sun and blizzard conditions, all athletes performed really well. Joe Winkelaar shot 80% in the 7.5 km Sr. Boys Sprint and posted a Nationals qualifying time. Sylvie Johnston shot 70% in the 6.0 km sprint and 60% in the 7.5 km pursuit and even brought home some hardware: both Silver and Gold medals in the Mixed Open Rec Category. Breannah Bugslag shot 50% on Saturday and persevered through illness to finish her Jr. Girls 6.0 km race on Saturday significantly faster than last year on the same course. Gavin Johnston raced solid on Saturday and even harder on Sunday to bring up his placing 4 spots in the Jr. Boys category. Finally, with only 3 weeks of Biathlon training in the Bears program, Conall Teixeira shot 40% in his first ever (cross-country or biathlon) race in the Mixed Juvenile 2.8 km Sprint, then improved his shooting to 60% in the 3.6 km Pursuit and moved up to finish 8th in a field of 15. These athletes, along with other club members will round out their racing season with club races at Mt. Washington on Feb 25th and March 18th.

We invite all SNSC members aged 9 and up to consider joining these athletes for these races. Registration is available on zone4.

Strathcona Nordics Junior Development Race Team recently travelled to Whistler Olympic Park in the Callaghan Valley, home of the 2010 Olympic cross country skiing events for the Teck Coast Cups #2 and #3 races in the Regional Coast Cup series.
Racers, aged 7 to 12, demonstrated excellent technique and stamina and fantastic results.

In the 2km classic style race, Bantam boys category, Joaquim MacPhail-McGrady of Comox and Fynn Mann of Courtenay brought home gold medals in their respective age groups, with Rory Bratrud of Comox winning bronze, and Noah Doeschner-Fretts of Black Creek earning 5th. Bantam girls, Carly Ram of Comox earned a gold medal, Claire Nagel of Courtenay and Vivianne Lemay bronze, in their respective age groups, and Madelaine Galik of Royston a 4th place finish.

In the 1.5km classic race, Bantam boys, Gavin Chatterton of Campbell River won a silver medal, and Everett Wells of Victoria placed 4th. A strong race by PeeWee girl Gillian Galik earned her a gold medal, while her brother Ben took a gold as well for Atom boys. Selina Nagel finished 8th in Atom girls.

In the 3 x 1km relay event, our young racers dominated, with PeeWees Gillian, Everett and Gavin earning a gold, Bantams Rory, Noah and Fynn bringing in a silver, and Joaquim and Madelaine racing to a 4th place finish.

In the Masters category relay event, Marilyn Atkinson of Royston, Lynn Swift of Comox and Chris Bowlby of Courtenay finished in a strong 5th place while our mens team of Rupert Wong of Courtenay, Rick Morson of Courtenay and John Andres of Campbell River earned an 11th place finish in an extremely competitive Masters mens category.

“Our young athletes have trained hard, and they raced with determination,” a parent supporter remarked. “We were thrilled with their results, and the kids had fun too.” Parents and athletes wish to thank the Junior Development team coaches Sarah Henckel, Gavin MacPhail, Jim Bratrud, Martin Hartig and Nick Holyome for all their hard work and commitment to the young athletes. Next on the competitive calendar for this group of racers is the BC Midget Championships in West Kelowna at the end of February.

The Strathcona Nordics Junior Race Team recently travelled to Callaghan Valley to compete at the Haywood NorAm Western Canadian Cross Country Skiing Championships. Junior racers, aged 13 to 17, were excited to be skiing on the 2010 Olympic courses in a field of over 300 competitors from across Canada including current National Team athletes. Our racers poured it on and came away with many top 10 finishes in the 3 day event.

In the 1km skate sprint on day 1, Gabe Gledhill of Cumberland dominated with a gold medal and Aiden Noble of Courtenay took silver in the juvenile boys category. In the girls juvenile race, Amelia Wells of Victoria placed 5th and Emmy Stapff of Campbell River 7th. In the junior boys category, on a 1.2km sprint course, both Ross Lamon of Comox and Tallon Noble of Courtenay earned silver medals in their respective age groups.

On day 2 in the classic style 7.5km race, Gabe Gledhill earned a bronze, with Aiden Noble close behind in 4th and Stephen Lamon of Comox in 6th. In the juvenile girls classic 5km race, Emma Wong of Courtenay placed 7th, Emmy Stapff 9th and Amelia Wells 10th.

The final day of competition was an inter-provincial relay with BC aiming to be the best in the west. With many of our racers on top ten teams, BC did indeed dominate the provincial standings. In the junior division, Tallon Noble’s team took home a gold medal with Ross Lamon and Gabe Gledhill earning silver. In the juvenile boys division, Aiden Noble was part of the silver medal team while Stephen Lamon was 5th, Joe Winkelaar of Courtenay 8th and Zander Swift of Comox 10th. Among the girls in the juvenile division, Amelia Wells finished her weekend with a 4th place finish and Emmy Stapff 10th.

Not to be outdone by the juniors our masters women came away with an excellent weekend of results with 4 top 10 finishes. In the 7.5km classic race, Marilyn Atkinson of Royston won gold, Chris Bowlby of Courtenay silver, Lynn Swift of Comox 6th and Marika Galik of Royston 7th.

“Strathcona Nordics are racing extremely well this season, thanks to an intensive dry-land training season last summer and fall, and excellent snow conditions on the nordic trails of Mt. Washington this winter,” explained assistant coach Brad Fraser. “At this race I observed some of our junior racers keeping the same pace as National Ski Team champions. It was thrilling to see.”

This was one of the largest contingents of racers to travel to an off-island race. The team is grateful to head wax technician Stewart Lamon of Comox. “He nailed the waxing, despite changeable snow conditions,” remarked Head Coach Andrea Stapff. “I was thrilled with the performance of our racers at Westerns. They’ve been training extremely hard and their results are proof. Many will be heading off to compete at the Eastern Canadian Championships in Ottawa next. Racing will be intense but they are ready to pour it on again.”