The Nipissing Lakers Nordic Ski Team kicked off their 2022-2023 race season this past weekend at the Canada Cup/FISU World University Games Trials event held in Gatineau, QC. The weekend of racing included a 1.3km Classic Sprint race on Saturday, followed by a 10km Skate race on Sunday. Having had at least one member of the Lakers Nordic team be selected for Team Canada at the past five World University Games', our team was eager to continue that streak in 2023.

The weekend kicked off with the sprint qualifier on Saturday morning. With strong performances from the entire team, stand-out performances by Brooke Ailey, Alex Maycock, Joe Hutton, and Noah Sullivan advanced them through the quarter-finals.

On a very tactical course requiring a quick start, Ailey and Sullivan fought hard in their heats, but were unable to match the early pace and did not advance to the semi-finals. Hutton and Maycock found themselves in the same quarter-final and both had exceptional speed off the starting line.

In a battle to the finish line, Maycock found the speed needed to come out on top and take the final spot in the semi-final. Maycock had another strong start in Heat 2, but was unable to match the speed of Canada's top Men and was eliminated in the semi-finals.

At the end of the day, Tory Audet from CEGEP-Quebec took the gold medal in a time of 3:03. Ailey led our Lakers Women with a 16th place finish in a time of 3:29, followed by Emily Drake in 24th (3:42), Emmy Bach in 32nd (3:55), Ella Tucker in 34th (3:57), Sina Scholz in 35th (4:03), Jaime Schweyer in 37th (4:12), and Kate McIlraith in 38th (4:49).

On the Men's side, it was Sasha Masson of Laval who would take home the gold in a time of 2 minutes and 34 seconds. Maycock led our Lakers Men in 4th place (2:43), followed by Hutton in 12th (2:48), Sullivan in 13th (2:49), Ethan Aarts in 36th (3:08), Reid Locking in 38th (3:13), Cooper Legler in 39th (3:14), Oliver Czerny-Holownia in 41st (3:24) and Rowan Bach in 44th (4:55).

Conditions were fast for Sunday's 10km race, with the fastest skiers averaging nearly 30km/hour over the 10km distance. The Men started things off, with Xavier Lefebvre from College de Maisonneuve taking the top spot in a blistering time of 21:10. Our Lakers were once again led by Maycock, finishing in 8th spot in 22:25, followed by Hutton in 20th (24:10), Sullivan in 23rd (24:23), Aarts in 32nd (25:17), Czerny-Holownia in 41st (28:29), Legler in 42nd (31:37), and Bach in 43rd (33:25).

Lakers athlete Reid Locking had a strong start to his race, but unfortunately suffered a bad crash on his third lap and was unable to finish the race.

On the Women's side, it was Bronwyn Williams of Carleton U who took home the gold, finishing the 10km course in a time of 24 minutes and 59 seconds. Leading the Lakers Women on Day 2 of racing was Emily Drake, finishing 13th in a time of 28:01, followed by Ailey in 24th (29:06), Schweyer in 34th (32:16), Scholz in 35th (32:30), Bach in 36th (33:23), Tucker in 37th (35:31) and McIlraith in 38th (36:15).

The Lakers are now on route to Mont Ste. Anne, QC for the next Canada Cup race weekend, with three more days of racing starting this Friday morning.