Morning Star Staff
Three days of racing brought a ton of podium finishes for Sovereign Lake racers at the B.C. Cross-Country Ski Championships at Telemark, outside of Kelowna.
The provincial finals featured more than 500 racers from as far away as Washington state.
“Conditions were challenging,” said Sovereign Lake’s Felicia O’Gorman. “The snow level had dropped with the warm weather, but the race crew at Telemark managed to maintain the trails over the three-day event to keep them in the best shape possible for the racers.”
The classic mass start on Friday saw several Sovereign Lake racers ski to podium finishes.
Dawson Bond won the atom boys division with Ian Oliphant taking gold in midget boys.
Mitchell Bond struck silver in pee wee boys, and Sierra Munroe captured bronze in atom girls.
In the Masters categories, Glen Bond and Gerry Breneman both took first place in their age groups while Paul Hardy grabbed third in his division.
Sovereign racers rose to the challenge again on Saturday with Dawson Bond taking first, Eva Rosen grabbing first in atom girls followed by teammate Munroe for another third. Mitchell Bond traded silver for gold in an exciting photo finish, and Oliphant again left no doubt about his win in midget boys.
Master skiers Jen Bond and Sarah Purslow went one-two in their age group, while Hardy grabbed silver and Breneman bronze.
Sunday’s relay races were intense with deep competition in all categories.
Franziska Plummer, Purslow, and Sam Loewen dug deep to take third in the open women. The team of Bond, Bond and Nate Hardy skied hard to a fifth-place finish in pee wee boys, and Clara Hardy, Danica Ariano and Madison Land pushed to the line to finish ninth in midget girls.
Weekend results showed the strength of the Sovereign Lake team heading to nationals in March, as all racers had solid top-10 finishes, including Paige Latta, Emma Smedley, Michelle Metza, Carson Bassett, Aidan Andrews, and Eric Embleton.
Oliphant joins the squad heading to nationals, as does Hannah Mehain, who was away representing B.C. at the Canada Games in Prince George.
The B.C. Cup Series’ top racers were also recognized on the weekend, with awards going to Sovereign Lake’s Mitchell Bond taking second in his age group, and Oliphant and Mehain both winning top spot in their respective categories.
