THUNDER BAY – SPORTS – The National Development Camp started off its official race season this weekend in Rossland, BC. The first weekend of Haywood NorAM racing kicked off with two days of events featuring classic races each day. Like Thunder Bay, Rossland, BC is also lacking in early season snow and had to accommodate by hosting two classic events instead of including a freestyle event.
Thunder Bay showed its dominance on the trails this opening weekend. Both Jennifer Jackson and Alannah McLean finished in the top 20 in the first Canada cup of the year. Jennifer finished 4th in the Junior Women category. Bob Thompson had the best result of the day finishing 7th overall in the Open Men category and as the 2nd Canadian. The top Canadian was former NDC Thunder Bay and Lappe Skier, National Team Member Michael Somppi. Andy Shields finished 12th and Ben Wilkinson-Zan placed 27th to top up the top 30. David Askwith and Julian Smith both finished in the top 10 of Junior Men.
The second day of racing Thunder Bay continued to show its strength powering through the marginal conditions. Andy Shields was the Top male, finishing 6th overall and as the second Canadian. Again, Michael Somppi was the top Canadian of the day. Bob Thompson again had a strong showing as the 8th finisher, Scott Hill was 19th and Ben Wilkinson-Zan was 25th to round out the athletes in the top 30 in the competitive field. First year members Julian Smith and David Askwith were 5th and 6th respectively in the Junior Men category. Alannah McLean finished the top 10 Senior Women while the newest team member Sadie White finished 15th in Junior Women.
The team will now travel to Whistler, BC to race at Callahan Valley for the next set of races in the Haywood NorAM series.
