Race Report: Rossland Sprints

CVTC opened the racing weekend in Rossland with a skate sprint. With Santa making his list (and checking the results twice) the team certainly earned more than a lump of coal in their stockings. 

The day started bright and early with strong results in the qualifying round.  CVTC qualfied three seniors (Dandurand, Schrama and Richards) in what was arguably the toughest field this year.  There were a significant number of americans in attendance which slimmed the qualifying spots available to Canadians.  The Junior field was not quite so stacked and all four of the CVTC juniors qualified, as planned.

"Without a doubt this was the toughest field this season.  I am very proud of our seniors and their results, though at first blush they may not look so impressive.  Dandurand would have finished 13th if there were only Canadians in the field.  This is fantastic for a first year senior.  Further, all of our seniors finished within 2 seconds of the winners of their heats - they were not dropped, which shows that they are within catching distance of some of the best sprinters in North America, " surmised Chris Manhard, head coach.

"Our Junior also performed very well.  I thought Andrew Avis and Colin Foley had particularly good days.  There is always room for improvement, but we are skiing where we should be at this time," said Manhard.

Tomorrow's event, a 15 km classic individual start will be gruelling and sure to show the fittest athletes.  Racing on what has been described as "the hardest course in Canada, tougher than Canmore" the team will have their work cut out for them.  "The course has lots of hard climbs with very technical downhills.  The natural snow is also a bit softer and slower than Canmore, which also adds challenge," said Manhard. 

The men start at 10:00 am PST.  Results will be available shortly after at www.zone4.ca. 

Final Results: http://zone4.ca/results.asp?ID=6157&cat=all

Qualification Results: http://zone4.ca/results.asp?ID=6153&cat=all

Summary Results

Name                                 Rank (Qualifier)        Rank (Final)
Sebastian Dandurand                24                            25
Martin Schrama                         25                            27
Geoffrey Richards                      27                            28
Paul Dupuis                               44
Benjamin Osorio                        47

Juniors:
Colin Foley                                 8                             5
Andrew Avis                               12                           14
Sam Morris                                19                            26
Liam Patterson                           24                           22