Pictures!

For those two people who are still mildly interested in this blog, UW Nordic IS still alive. The nice weather in southern Ontario combined with the desperate need of this reporter to watch Cross Country Skiing World Cup and pretending to get a degree of some sort has really put the breaks on creative writing. And that is not going to change, as today is just the photo update from the relay race at OUA's.















Cam Moore holding strong in the pack at the start of the men's relay.
















Andrew Jeffrey showing his love for bananas in his crucial second leg role.
















Kieran Jones leading Laurentian A on the anchor lap, both gearing up for the shootout at the finish line.















Kelly Skinner making sure she keeps her brains warm on the lead lap of the woman's relay.















Martha Sutton overcoming lower-body injuries to ski a hard second spot, leading Queens, Guelph(who we love), and University of Toronto.















Nellie Dow fighting hard on the anchor leg.
















Yudai Nakagawa checking his camera during a break in relay action. A rare opportunity to see the man behind so many of the pictures you see. While he was missed due to a severe oversight by a terrible blogger last post, this week's blogger is keen to give Yudai his credit as brillant photographer and great supporter of the relay team.
















UW's rabid fan base, discussing the mornings results and just how awesome Kieran Jones is.


A quiz this week to get some fans back on board:
How many pictures is Nolan (Beans) Beanlands in?
Comment, and maybe you'll get a sneek look at The Post of the Year if you guess correctly.
(Ed. Note: the post of the year might be the update from day 2 of OUA's - but you won't know until you guess correctly)

OUA Championships Relay

Apologies for the length of time between blog posts; the author has been on Safari in Africa. Several lions, an elephant and a giraffe later, the UW Nordic Ski Team took to the trails at Glebe Park in Haliburton. On deck in the afternoon was the Women’s 3x2.5km Skate Relay as well as the Men’s 3x5km Skate Relay. Waterloo fielded just one team in each category, as holes in the Men’s lineup as a result of injury prevented the Waterloo B team from taking to the start line. The Women’s Team consisted of Kelly Skinner, Martha Sutton and Nellie Dow, all of whom put forth strong races in the morning. As Waterloo did not have enough women to make a relay team at OUA Championships last year, they set out with a high bib number and a vengeance, showing the rest of Ontario that women do, in fact, go to Waterloo, regardless of the rumours. Ed. Note – The male to female ratio at Waterloo is not as high as some claim. The most recent census lists only 1.5 males to 1 female. If you’re female, the odds are good, but the goods are usually odd. Lakehead again proved that they are the dominant force in OUA Nordic Skiing and took 1^st and 3^rd. Waterloo A, with Nellie Dow running the anchor leg scared ahead of All-Star Queens anchor Julie McVicar, managed an impressive 6^th place.

On the Men’s side, much deliberation was done for the relay team selection. After a lengthy round-table discussion, a Q&A session and a end-goal quantification meeting, it was decided that Cam Moore, Andrew Jeffrey and Kieran Jones would have the best shot at repeating the success of last year. The experienced and cagey veterans Moore and Jones rode lead and anchor respectively, while recently-drafted Andrew Jeffrey was sandwiched in the middle like a good Oreo cookie. Again, Lakehead was the class of the field, placing 1^st and 3^rd. The surprise of the day however, came from Waterloo A. Sitting in 4^th after the first leg, and then dropping back to 6^th and 15 seconds out of 5^th on the second leg, Jeffrey tagged off to Jones, who is of dubious skate-skiing value. Somehow, despite the fearsome firepower of each school’s anchor skier, Jones managed to close the gap to 5^th place Laurentian and engage in a fierce battle, culminating in a exciting sprint finish, which Jones disappointingly lost. While on the surface the 6^th place result is equal to the performance put on last year, the coaching staff was impressed that the men were able to finish 1 sec behind Laurentian A.

While clearly the men on the relay team have to take the overwhelming majority of the credit for their impressive finish, credit must be given to the enthusiastic cheering squad, including injured Derek Hartman and easily-identifiable Nolan Beanlands.

Pictures commemorating the epic event will follow shortly.