Following a great start to the season at the FISU Trials/Canada Cup races in Gatineau last weekend, the Nipissing Lakers Nordic Ski Team continued east to compete in another Canada Cup event in Mont Ste. Anne, QC this past weekend.

With a few athletes heading home to start their holidays, 12 of our athletes continued on to compete last Friday through Sunday to cap off their pre-holidays racing block.
Racing began on Friday with a 20km Skate race for both men and women. The men started things off, with Sasha Masson from Laval taking the top spot on the podium in a time of 47:44.
Leading the Lakers Men on day one was Ethan Aarts in 17th place (53:48), narrowly edging out teammate Noah Sullivan by just .1 second. Rounding out the Lakers results were Joe Hutton in 25th (57:18), Cooper Legler in 29th (59:20), and Oliver Czerny-Holownia in 32nd (1:00:39).

On the Women's side, it was rookie Helen McCulligh of Carleton who was first across the finish line in a time of 59:08. Leading the charge for the Lakers Women was Emily Drake, continuing to build on some strong performances the weekend before to finish in seventh place in a time of 1:01:49. Drake was followed by her teammates Ella Tucker in 14th place (1:07:46), Brooke Ailey in 15th (1:08:23), Jaime Schweyer in 17th (1:13:10). Ailey, who was among our top women the weekend before, unfortunately suffered a hard crash during her race and was unable to continue competing over next two days.

Day 2 brought the second sprint competition of the season and the Lakers were excited to keep the momentum going from the weekend before. On the Men's side, it was Ry Prior of University of Calgary who claimed the gold medal, rounding the 1.1km course in a time of 2:18. Leading the Lakers was Hutton, posting the 13th fastest time of 2:32, followed by Aarts in 14th (2:33), Sullivan in 19th (2:35), Legler in 34th (2:53) and Czerny-Holownia in 35th (2:58). Hutton and Sullivan both advanced through to the quarter-finals and into the semis for their first time, earning top 12 finishes in the Open Men's category up against some of Canada's best skiers.

The women's sprint saw Tory Audet of CEGEP-QC once again dominate the Women's field, posting a time of 2:40, a full 10 seconds ahead of the second fastest woman. Leading the Lakers in the Sprint was Drake in 16th place (3:02), Tucker in 23rd (3:17), Emmy Bach in 26th (3:26), Sina Scholz in 27th (3:26), Schweyer in 28th (3:35), and Kate McIlraith in 29th (3:59). Drake earned a spot in the quarter-finals for the first time this season.

The final day of racing brought some challenging conditions in a 10km Classic race. The men once again kicked things off, with Felix-Olivier Moreau of CEGEP-QC taking the top spot on the podium in a time of 32:13. Leading the Lakers was Aarts, finishing in 20th place (36:16), with Sullivan close behind in 21st (36:18), followed by teammates Hutton in 33rd (38:40), Legler in 37th (39:47) and Czerny-Holownia in 40th (43:43).

In the women's race, Tory Audet once again took the top spot in a time of 36:15. Drake continued to lead the way for the Lakers in 13th place (42:48), followed by Schweyer in 20th (46:03), Tucker in 21st (47:09), Bach in 23rd (48:01), Scholz in 24th (48:52) and McIlraith in 27th (52:34).
 
After a big two weeks of racing, Lakers head coach Toivo Koivukoski liked what he saw from his skiiers.

"The team has capped up two weekends of ski racing, with five races over nine days. This and the time spent on snow will carry us into the ski race season. We had some solid performances from our men in the sprint events both weekends, with more skiers moving through to the heats and semi-finals than we've managed in the past, demonstrating depth on the team. Qualifying two skiers, Alex (Maycock) and Joe (Hutton) to wear the maple leaf at the FISU World University Games shows that Nipissing is a part of the high-performance pathway for cross country skiing in Canada," the veteran coach explained. "We saw some standout performances on the women's side, with renewed consistency from proven veteran Emily Drake and great promise from first year student-athlete Brooke Ailey. We had some hard knocks in terms of falls and hope for quick recovery and health from all of our skiers.

"Through the ups and downs of ski racing we strive to celebrate the successes of our teammates as accomplishments for all. The skiers know that they have done the same workouts and this makes incredible results seem that much more possible," Koivukoski added.

The team is now heading into a training block over the holidays to prepare for the rest of their competition season.

With two athletes heading to Lake Placid for World University Games (FISU), others with their sights set on the 2023 Canada Winter Games in February and OUA and CCUNC Championships later in the season.