Great start for cross country skiers at Otway with two gold and one silver
By Carolynn Boomer, Team BC Mission Staff
The men’s 10km classic with its quick course, started the day off for Team BC cross country skiers. Coming in fifth was Colin Ferrie (Kimberley) with a time of 26:44.03, just six seconds off from a medal. Teammates Geoffrey Richards (Rossland) with a time of 26:56.31 and David Palmer (Revelstoke) with a time of 27:06.19, came sixth and seventh respectively. Gareth Williams (Kelowna) was 13th, with his time coming in at 27:53.23 and Julien Locke (Nelson) came in at 28:41.19 for 21st.
On the women’s side was the 7.5km classic. Hannah Mehain (Vernon) raced a 24:27:1 for ninth, Eliza-Jane Kitchen (North Vancouver) came in at 24:27.2, just 1/10 of a second behind Mehain for 10th. Twelfth was thirteen-year-old Molly Miller (Kimberley) with a time of 24:44.8. Katie Weaver (North Vancouver) came in 18th at 25:49.4 and Kajsa Heyes (North Vancouver) came in at 20th with a time of 25:49.8. Coach Chris Manhard said, “I was very happy with the results there is always room for improvement but for the first day it was a great effort by everyone.”
For the Para Nordic skiers, Team BC captured three medals! PN men’s standing 2.5km classic saw Andy Lin (Burnaby) win gold! Lin was very excited as he was shooting for the gold in the intense final. In PN women’s standing 2.5km classic, Emily Weekes (North Vancouver) took the silver and Lindsey McDonald (North Vancouver) came fifth. “I liked the downhill because fast is where it’s at,” said Weekes.
In the PN men sit-ski 2.5km classic, Ethan Hess (Pemberton) came fifth and Sam Piercey (North Vancouver) came 9th. In the women’s, Emily Suchy (Revelstoke) won gold with a time of 9:13.4. Para coach Tony Chin was pleased with today’s races as most of the athletes have had no snow to train on, as four of his athletes are from the lower mainland.
See Canada Games live streaming at www.canadagamestv.ca and follow live updates on Twitter from @GoTeamBC with the hashtag #TBCXCskiing.