THUNDER BAY – SPORTS – Day two of ski racing continued at Lappe Nordic Ski Centre with a short distance, interval start, and skate race. With overcast skies and temperatures not quite reaching as warm as they had earlier in the week the snow conditions at Lappe were ideal; well packed and extremely fast. These conditions give skiers good glide, challenging downhills and fast times.
Lappe’s Michael Somppi once again claimed a gold medal after easily winning the Senior Mens’ 10 km skate event, with a thirty-four second lead. He was joined on the podium by his Lappe teammate Andy Shields, of NDC Thunder Bay, who claimed the silver and Kevin Sandau of the Alberta World Cup Academy.
NDC Thunder Bay made clear use of the home course advantage with Bob Thompson finishing 4th, Evan Palmer-Charrette finishing 6th to round out the podium. Scott Hill also had a top ten finish in 7th place. The Junior Men’s podium is comprised of Phillipe Boucher (1st) and Alexis Dumas (2nd),both of Quebec, and NDC Thunder Bay’s Sam Greer in Third. The Top 6 podium is completed with Zachary Cristofanilli (Quebec) in fourth, Julian Smith of NDC Thunder Bay in fifth and Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier (Quebec) in sixth. NDC Thunder Bay’s David Askwith also produced a top ten finish, in ninth place. Today’s event saw seven of the eight NDC Thunder Bay men achieve top ten results.
The Senior Women skied a fast five kilometre race. Darhia Beatty of Whitehorse won the event, Olympian Perianne Jones finished second, Andrea Dupont finished third, Heidi Widmer in fourth, Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt in fifth, and Cendrine Browne in sixth. Alannah McLean, NDC Thunder Bay, rounded out the top ten NDC’s Jennifer Jackson steps on the national podium in third place and will be joined by teammate Sadie White in fifth.
Sam Hendry of Canmore Nordic, won the Juvenile Boys’ 5km race in a time of 12:08, followed by Antoine Laforte of Quebec in second and Finn Dodgson of Team Hardwood in Third. Martti Muzyka was the top Thunder Bay skier in the race finishing thirteenth. Kaia Andal of BC won the Juvenile Girls 5 km race, followed by Molly Miller in second and Anna Goodwin in third. Heidi Stewart of Big Thunder was the top Thunder Bay skier finishing 32nd.
Hannah Mehain of Sovereign Lake won the Junior Girls 5 km race, Marie Corriveau of Quebec finished second and Eliza-Jan Kitchen of Hollyburn finished third. Laura Inkila was the top local skier finishing 19th. Antoine Blais of Quebec won the Junior Boys’ 5 km race, followed by Ryan Jackson of Hardwood Hills and Gareth Williams of Telemark, BC.
