Strong Start to the Season for CVTC

The name of the event belies the calibre of the racers: disguised as a provincial-level Alberta Cup, the racers included national team members and many a former Olympian, and might as well have been a NorAm or Canada Cup.  In the first race of the weekend, a skate sprint event, the CVTC team started hard and fast and showed on the results list the postive attitudes that have been apparent throughout the autumn training block.

Of the nine CVTC athletes, eight qualified in the top 30, with only Liam Patterson missing the senior men rounds - he ended up racing in the Junior Men finals, by the skin of his teeth (he finished 31st).  Sebastian Dandurand had the top qualifier result, finishing in 4th, only a few seconds behind Phil Widmer (Olympian and National Team member).  Crossing the finish line nearly all of the team commented how short and fast the course was, due to the glazed conditions and 1.1 km route.

As the heats broke out, CVTC continued to perform above expectations.  Sebastian Dandurand moved on to the B-Finals, finishing 7th overall in a very close sprint finish.  The rest of the team did not move past their quarter final but fought each one hard and performed better than in years past.  As coach Chris Manhard pointed out, "Some of the guys had the best sprint performance of their life, to date, today.  We are very happy with how the entire team performed.   Tomorrow should be another strong day and will be good for team energy, leading into the first NorAms next weekend."

"It was nice to get the first 'real' race of the season under our boots.  I'm very happy with how I skied today - the skis were great and the body felt good, too.  It was a long day... we had to start early and our heats were the last of the day.   We're all stoked for tomorrow," summarized Andrew Avis, of his first Alberta Cup race, and qualifying performance in the senior category.

The team races again tomorrow at the Canmore Nordic Centre.  Stay tuned to Zone 4 for live results and to www.cvtc.ca for a post event report.

Qualifier Results: http://zone4.ca/live.asp?id=6108&cat=34&lap=F&c=1

Sprint Heat Results: http://new.zone4.ca/l/race/6111/bracket