It was a fun weekend at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre to wrap up the successful cross-country ski programs’ season.
On Saturday, the ‘Becky Scott’ sprints were held for the younger skiers, with bunnies, jackrabbits, and track attackers all participating.
The purpose of these sprints is to encourage young skiers to develop speed in their skiing and to expose them to a race-like experience in a fun environment.
Fun was definitely the main factor in the success of the event, with parents, coaches and teammates cheering on the competitors, and the junior development skiers racing along beside providing encouragement.
At the same time, over on the biathlon range, a fun relay race was taking place with mixed teams of parents and kids.
The biathletes (or kids) started first, skiing a one-kilometre lap before coming into the range.
Deirdra Holmwood shot clean on her first round, and headed off for her second lap with Danica Ariano and Lucas Sadesky close on her heels. Ariano managed to take the lead and held it going into the tag-off with her mom, Felicia O’Gorman.
O’Gorman, however, had neither skill nor luck on her side and saw her lead dwindle as she struggled to hit a target.
Despite her best efforts to trip up the other skiers on the last lap, David Ariano and Greg Sadesky managed to avoid O’Gorman’s unsportsmanlike behaviour and blow past her on the final hill.
Ariano took the win (along with teammate and daughter, Natalya Ariano), with the Sadesky team coming in second, and Ariano-O’Gorman settling for third.
Sovereign’s annual Loppet Sunday featured close to 300 entries enjoying the great conditions.
There were some impressive results with a one-two win for Dawson Bond and Cole O’Conner in the boys 7 and under, followed by Eva Rosen, Sophie Joerissen, Sierra Munroe, and Carmen MacArthur coming in 1-2-3-4 in the girls U7.
Mitchell Bond, Sam Rosen, Pedar Ree and Quinn Tobin finished in that order in the boys 8 to 10, while Madison Land took second in the girls 14 – 17 and Finn Plummer placed first in the 15-km.
Dudley Coulter won the 30-km event again this year, in a blistering time of 1:16:36, with other Sovereign masters skiers reaching the podium as well in their respective categories.
