THUNDER BAY – National Development Centre – Thunder Bay athlete, Andrea Lee, captured a gold medal at the Haywood NorAm Canada Cup today in Mt. Orford, Quebec. Lee, who has been consistently in the top 6 on the NorAm circuit this season, finally got a taste of the medals. On a cold and windy day, Lee fought through and came out on top in the 15km mass start skate event, “This was such a fun and exciting race for me, I feel like my skating technique is finally starting to come together. We had some of the fastest skis on the course, thanks to our great support staff” Lee said after her race.
Lisa Patterson, who was part of the NDC support crew for this race, was very impressed by Lee, “the athletes toughed it out in the cold, slow conditions. Andrea skied a smart race sitting in the middle of a pack of 10 girls and out sprinted her competitors at the end to win.”
Other top results from the NDC team included Jack Carlyle, placing 2nd in the Junior Men’s 20km mass start skate race; Alannah MacLean 5th in Junior Women; and Dudley Coulter, who has been making his way through the ranks, skied to a very impressive 9th position in the Open Men’s field.
Full results an be found at www.zone4.ca
The athletes return to Thunder Bay tomorrow and will be in town for the RBC Sleeping Giant Sprints (March 1st) and the Loppet on March 3rd . Lee heads to the Ontario University Championships along with her teammates Harry Seaton and Alannah MacLean at the end of this month.
NDC member Chris Hamilton departed yesterday for the World Under 23 Championships taking place in Erzurum Turkey from February 19th-26th.