Ottawa, ON – Nipissing Lakers Nordic Skiing wrapped up a successful weekend in Ottawa for Canadian Eastern Championships this past Friday-Sunday. Out-racing Ottawa rivals of Carleton and UOttawa, our women's and men's teams showed great depth.
Universite Laval, Laurentian, McMaster, Guelph, Queen's, and Waterloo added to a large University field of nearly 50 women and men.
 
The weekend opened with a skate sprint where 7 Lakers qualified in the top 30 to ski their respective heats. A big congratulations to Ewan Pengra and Nathan Golisky who advanced to the Junior Men's final and scored 4^th and 5^th place finishes. Eily Woodman gained valuable sprint experience in the Junior Men's quarter final as well. Cooper Legler just missed heats and finished 32nd University.
 
Mia Smith led the women in qualifying as third University skier, followed by Brooke Ailey in 12^th, Sean'Hope Craig in 13^th, and Charlotte Ailey 23^rd. All advanced to the quarter finals.
 
Skate sprint
https://zone4.ca/race/2026-02-06/dc3823f4/results
 
Saturday was the skate 10km event which was delayed due to cold weather. Despite the tough conditions, skiers showed resilience and finished well on a gruelling 3 x 3.3km racecourse.
 
Golisky 7th
Woodman 15th
Pengra 16th
Legler 39^th 
 
Smith 5th
B. Ailey 11th
Craig 17^th
 
Skate 10km Interval start
https://zone4.ca/race/2026-02-07/93159e14/results
 
As temperatures stayed extremely cold into Sunday, race distances were shortened from the planned 15km to 10km to prevent excess cold exposure. The Lakers again showed depth and consistency in their performances.
 
Pengra 13th
Woodman 19th
Golisky 21st
Legler 34th
 
Smith 4th
B. Ailey 10th
Craig 18th
C. Ailey 22nd
 
10km classic Mass start
https://zone4.ca/race/2026-02-08/8efc5cc4/results