February 21, 2016 - Caledonia Nordic Ski Club

 Media Release
Sunday, February 21, 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Palmer-Charrette and Browne win the Open Races and BC Takes back
the Western Canadian Championship
Prince George, BC – Under sunny skies with warm temperatures at the Otway Nordic
Centre, the 2016 Haywood NorAm Western Canadian Championships came to a close.
Saturday night’s temperatures, which reached a low of -9o C, ensured the trails would be
in great shape for today’s race. All races today were in the classic technique with the
exciting mass start. All skiers, within a category, start at the same time with the first
skier across the finish line declared the winner. It was a great way to top off the three
days of racing which, by all accounts, were very successful. BC took back the Western
Canadian title from Alberta amassing 8510 points. Alberta was second with 4883.
Yukon, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and North West Territories followed in that order.
In the 20 km Open Men’s race, a train of five skiers broke away from the main pack.
Evan Palmer-Charrette (Ont.), Andy Shields (Ont), Patrick Stewart-Jones (QC), Michael
Somppi (Ont) and David Palmer(BC) formed the lead pack from the 10 km mark through
to the finish. In the end, Palmer-Charrette out sprinted the others, placing 1/10th of a
second ahead of Shields; 5/10th of a second ahead of Stewart-Jones; 1.2 seconds ahead of
Sompii; and 13.9 seconds ahead of Palmer. Palmer-Charrette completed the grueling
20km race in 53:11.6. The top Junior Man was Gareth Williams (BC) with Caelan
McLean (YT) taking silver and Peter Hicks (AB) taking the bronze.
In the 15km Open Women’s race a lead group of Cendrine Browne (QC), Annika Hicks
(AB), Katherine Stewart-Jones (QC), and Katie Weaver (BC) broke from the others at
3.75 km. Browne led for the remaining 11.25 km, finishing 52 seconds ahead of Hicks;
52.6 seconds ahead of Stewart-Jones; and 2 minutes 48.1 seconds ahead of Weaver.
Browne’s time was 46:00.1. Weaver was the top Junior Woman with Ingvild
Hoymork(AB) and India McIsaac (AB), placing second and third, respectively.
Rachel May, from Salmon Arm, won her second consecutive gold medal in the Junior
Girls category, winning the 7.5 km race. Sara McLean (AB) was second and Caledonia
skier Kaia Andal was third. Julia Brown (Salmon Arm) led Alana Brittin (Revelstoke)
and Katia Lumb (North Vancouver) in the 7.5 km Juvenile Girls race. The third
consecutive podium sweep for BC in this category.
Reed and Ty Godfrey from Canmore took gold and silver, respectively, in the 10 km
Junior Boys race. Hamish Woods from Smithers placed third. Remi Drolet from
Rossland earned his third consecutive gold medal beating the field in the Juvenile Boys
10 km race. BC skiers swept the Juvenile boy’s podium with Cole Turner from Williams
Lake and Ross Lamon from Mt Washington placing second and third.
In the Teck Northern Cup: 1 km races were won by Isla Cadell (Atoms Girls) and Kai
Pettersen (Atom boys); the 1.1 km races were won by Payton Sinclair (PeeWee Girls),
and Ian Van Bergeyk (PeeWee boys); the 2.5 km races were won by Grace Turner
(Williams Lake) (Bantam Girls) and Kaden Kwiatkowski (Kamloops) (Bantam Boys);
Marielle Ackermann (Kimberley) (Midget Girls) and Aiden Noble (Mt. Washington)
(Midget Boys) won their 5km races. In the Masters Category, Caledonia’s Conrad
Allgaier won the 10km men’s race and Sheila Corbett (Salmon Arm) the women’s.
The Caledonia Nordic Ski Club, a not-for-profit organization, has evolved over many
years, to become a full service Nordic ski club and one of the largest of its kind in
Canada. CNSC is run by a volunteer board of directors who meet regularly once a month.
Each is dedicated to skier development and the promotion of the sport of cross country
skiing for fun, fitness, recreation and health. For more information regarding the
Caledonia Nordic Ski Club please visit: www.caledonianordic.com .
CCC is the governing body of cross-country skiing in Canada, which is the nation’s
optimal winter sport and recreational activity with more than one million Canadians
participating annually. Its 60,000 members include athletes, coaches, officials and skiers
of all ages and abilities, including those on Canada’s National Ski Teams and ParaNordic Ski Teams. With the support of its valued corporate partners – Haywood
Securities Inc., AltaGas, and Mackenzie Investments – along with the Government of
Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Paralympic Committee, Own the
Podium and B2Ten, CCC develops Olympic, Paralympic and world champions. For more
information on CCC, please visit:www.cccski.com. All results can be viewed at zone4.ca
For more information, please contact:
Cal Benson, Media Coordinator, Caledonia Nordic Ski Club
Cal@bcbenson.ca (250-613-8656)