CROSS-COUNTRY:

Killick, Crawford win XC national titles

March 16, 2010 — Cross Country Canada         

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WHITEHORSE, Yukon — It was a sunny day and just below zero as the skiers competed in the shorter distance, classic races Tuesday at the 83rd Canadian Championships, the Haywood Ski Nationals in Whitehorse, Yukon.

Up and coming young Canadian ski star Graeme Killick of Banff Ski Runners topped three 2010 Olympians to finish as Canadian champion in the men's 10 km classic event. 

Killick began the interval start race slightly in front of the favourites and was back in fourth position on the first lap before he was able to receive split timing, place information from his support coaches. As the race progressed, Graeme skied a consistent pace through the second lap to move ahead of his rivals, finishing just under four seconds ahead of Brent McMurtry of Foothills Nordic.

McMurtry along with third- and fourth-place finishers Rocky Mountain Racer's Drew Goldsack and Canmore's Stefan Kuhn were members of Canada's 2010 Olympic Team at Whistler. Kuhn had raced to get to the competition, having just returned from the World Cup in Oslo, Norway. Frederic Touchette of Mont Ste. Anne., a teammate of Killick at the U23 World Championships, finished fifth.

Killick felt the course and conditions were perfectly suited for him and was exceptionally pleased with his first Canadian senior championship victory.

On Monday, Chandra Crawford ran a very successful Fast and Female event that saw 120 young girls turning out to learn from the best Canadian female racers. Tuesday, Crawford, a member of Canmore Nordic, put theory into practice and showed that she is more than a skating sprint specialist, capturing the Canadian championship in the women’s open class. She won with a seven-second margin over fellow Olympians Madeleine Williams from Edmonton Nordic and Caledon's Brittany Webster of Highlands Trailblazers. Shayla Swanson of Foothills Nordic finished fourth and Perianne Jones of Nakkertok was fifth.

The gold medallist in the junior men's class was Joey Burton from Overlander Ski Club in Kamloops, finishing in 16th place overall in the open race. Andrew Stewart-Jones of Nakkertok, Gatineau, area placed second and Martin Schrama of Banff Ski Runners was less than a second back in third. Etienne Richard of Skibec, Quebec City, was fourth and two seconds later was Bob Thompson of Team Hardwood, from Southern Ontario.

Quebec dominated the 5 km juvenile girls class with Frédérique Vézina the champion in a time of 15:27.1 as Maya Macisaac-Jones of Rocky Mountain Racers finished second, 4.5 seconds back. Many racers had trouble keeping up with the Joneses as Nakkertok's Émilie Stewart-Jones was third, Mont Ste. Anne's Anne-Marie Comeau was fourth and Katherine Stewart-Jones was fifth.

Nakkertok's Michelle Workun-Hill, in a strong comeback from a serious leg injury in the fall, was crowned junior women’s national champion, finishing 10th overall in the open category. Joining Workun-Hill on the podium were local skiers Dahria Beatty and Janelle Greer, finishing second and third, respectively, for the host Whitehorse Ski Club. Rebecca Reid from Rossland's Blackjack Ski Club finished fourth and Marlis Kromm from Foothills Nordic was fifth.

In the juvenile boys 5 km, Alexis Turgeon of Skinouk, Gatineau, skied to the gold medal, just over 10 seconds ahead of Colin Ferrie of Kimberley Nordic. Raphaël Couturier of Skibec was third. Kimberley Nordic also had a fourth-place result by Stefan Sander-Green and another Skinouk skier, Simon Lapointe, was fifth.

In the Canadian colleges and university championships, the woman's division was led by Alana Thomas of Carleton University with a time of 16:08. Kara Jaspers and Anna Crawford, both of Lakehead,ounded out the podium. Andy Brisbin, representing the University of Alberta, Augustana campus, earned the gold in the CCUNC men's competition. Brisbin was followed by Benjamin Hebert of the CECEP Edouard-Montpetit and Kieran Baird of the University of Alberta, Augustana, campus.
 
Racing continues Wednesday with the middle-distance free technique events.  SRC

Complete Results:
http://zone4.ca/results.asp?id=2972