The US SuperTour finals, the U.S. equivalent of the Haywood NorAm Cup, are now taking place in Tahoe California to close out the U.S. ski season. Competing against many of the top American racers, Whitehorse's Knute Johnsgaard finished 2nd, 14 seconds behind Erik Bjornsen of the US Ski Team over the 3.3k skate course. 3rd place went to Mark Iverson of the U.S.
Several other Canadians had good results, including Julien Locke of Black Jack ski club, who was the top junior.
Julien comments: It was an interesting race yesterday. Prologues are short and hard, and a lot of people who did fairly well (including myself) felt that they had bad races. 3.3km is a lot different than anything else we do. I never actually felt that I was going at my top speed, but I was able to keep the pace going in the final km, which is where a lot of people blowup. The rain was fun! I like racing and training when I'm soaking wet, so it was all good!
Black Jack Results at 2013 Nationals
Black Jack was well represented at the Haywood SkiNationals at Whistler Olympic Park at the end of March. Our skiers put in great effort and came away with impressive results:
David Palmer: 1st (Jr Men) 15km Interval Start Classic, 1st (Jr Men) 15km Interval Start Skate
Julien Locke: 2nd (Jr Men) 1.6km Individual Sprint Classic, 7th (Jr Men) 15km Interval Start Classic
Eric Byram: 5th (Jr Boys) 15km Mass Start Skate, 7th (Jr Boys) 1.2km Individual Sprint Classic
Rebecca Reid: 8th (U23 Women) 1.4km Individual Sprint Classic, 8th (U23 Women) 5km Interval Start Skate
Geoffery Richards: 8th (U23 Men) 1.6km Individual Sprint Classic, 8h (Jr Men) 15km Interval Start Classic
All are keen to head to Cornerbrook, Newfoundland for next year's event. Stay tuned!