The Black Jack Ski Team returned from the Haywood NorAm Western Canadian Ski Championship in Prince George with great results including a golden sweep by Black Jack skier Remi Drolet.
The Rossland native’s versatility was on display at the Otway Nordic Centre as Drolet led the Black Jack ski team, capturing three gold medals in three events on the weekend.
The 15-year-old dominated in Friday’s 3.75 kilometre free skate taking first place with a time of eight minutes 45.9 seconds to finish over 40 seconds ahead of Ian Oliphant of Sovereign Lake.
Drolet followed that up with an explosive sprint on Saturday finishing the icy 0.8 km course in a time of 1:51.07 for first place, 6.76 seconds ahead of Konrad Van Varseveld of Larch Hills Nordic, and third place finisher Ian Williams of West Kelowna’s Telemark ski club.
He capped off his great performance with his third gold medal on Sunday, winning the 10-km classic in 28:33.0, beating out Cole Turner of Williams Lake, and Ross Lamon from Strathcona who finished third.
Other highlights included a fourth place finish by Jasmine Drolet in the mid-distance free skate, and Michaela McLean came in seventh and Sage Robine eighth in Junior Girls, while Sophie Edney placed 10th in Juvenile Girls
In Saturday’s Classic Sprint, Michaela McLean finished seventh in Junior Girls and Chiaki Yamamoto came eighth in Open Women. Daniel Merlo was eighth in Junior Men, while in Open Men Colin Ferrie placed fifth, Scott Fraser came eighth and David Palmer 10th.
In Sunday’s 20-k Classic Distance Mass Start David Palmer broke away from the pack with five of Canada’s top skiers but faded in the end to finish fifth. Evan Palmer-Charrette of Thunder Bay won it in a time of 53:11.6, beating out teammate Andy Shields by one-tenth of a second. Patrick Stewart-Jones claimed third, while Black Jack’s Colin Ferrie placed 10th. Chiaki Yamamoto came seventh in Open womens 15-k Classic, Jasmine Drolet just missed the podium capturing fourth in Midget Girls and Sage Robine came seventh in Junior Girls classic.
The Black Jack skiers helped BC take back the Western Canadian title from Alberta amassing 8,510 points. Alberta was second with 4,883. Yukon, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and NWT finished in that order.
