The KIXS (Kimberley Nordic Club cross country ski club) team attended the Western Canadian Championships in Red Deer, AB on January 19 to 21 and posted some good results.
Coach Frank Ackermann describes the action.
“We had a record number of skiers there this year, with a total of seven racers. For some of them, this was their first experience at the Western Canadian Championships. Other skiers had personal bests. Both Adeline Charles and MacKenzie McLean had excellent results in either the distance or relay events. Loic Weber learnt a ton of tactics and ski racing techniques in his first ever Western Canadian Championships. All of the skiers qualified to move onto the heats during the first day of sprints, which was a fabulous result. One of our stronger skiers in the Junior Girls category (Quinn Morgan) had a pole broken by a competitor in her quarterfinal heat and wasn’t able to advance. Marielle Ackermann and Sydney Wilson (both racing in the Juvenile girls category) posted the second and third fastest qualifying times, and made it through to the A final, and both finished on the podium. Marielle with a gold and Sydney with a bronze. That was really exciting to watch.
“The second day of racing saw Sydney narrowly missing the podium in the mass start classic race with a fifth place finish, only 1.5 seconds away from 2nd place. The last day of racing saw racers from different clubs getting placed together to race on provincial relay teams. The BC teams did very well, with the team including Sydney Wilson getting a bronze medal. Other notable results saw Ben Gadd, a Junior Boy, having a stellar relay leg for his team, and Quinn Morgan helping her team to a fourth place finish.”
