Alicia Wallace
Rossland News
Black Jack ski racer Colin Ferrie has been selected to represent Canada at the Cross Country Skiing World Championships. Ferrie trains full time here in Rossland and skis for Black Jack. He has qualified for the Cross Country Skiing World Championships in the under 23 years old category, to be held in Almatey, Kazakhstan in February from Feb. 1 – 8.
“Colin Ferrie was selected based on being first on the distance ranking list; this included third place finish in the skiathlon and second place in the 15 kilometre (skate),” disclosed the selection committee.
The Haywood NorAm world skiathlon trials were held at Highlands Nordic in Duntoon, Ontario from Jan. 7-11. Four Black Jack skiers — Colin Ferrie, Scott Fraser, David Palmer and Julien Locke — represented Rossland at this event. All four of the Black Jack skiers qualified into the heats.
The selection committee also gave an honorable mention to Black Jack’s Palmer who had outstanding distance results.
In the 15 km skate the racers gave it everything they had. Ferrie finished seventh; Palmer was 10 seconds behind him and finished in eighth position. Fraser was 35th and Locke finished 40th. It was after this race that Ferrie was selected to the Canadian team.
In the sprints, Locke finished sixth overall and in the under 23 years category he placed third.
From Ontario the men then flew to Calgary to meet the rest of the Black Jack racers for the Western Canadian Championships. Thursday’s NorAm race was held at Lake Louise. It was a great day for Black Jack with all four men who competed at Duntoon, placing in the top 13. Ferrie finished eighth, Palmer and Fraser were one second apart placing them in 11th and 12th positions while Locke was six second behind Fraser and finished 13th.
On the Saturday the Western Canadian Championship sprint races were held in Canmore. Locke took top position in the under 23 years and second overall.
