OUA Championships
Back in Ottawa, this time for the OUA Championships, the Waterloo Nordic Ski Team was prepared for the massive hills and technical descents of the Nakkertok Nordic ski facility. With a team of 5 women and 7 men, Waterloo was eager to face the stiff competition at the University Championships. Unfortunately, the majority of the women’s team came down with a serious cold in the week leading up to the championships.
For this reason, Kelly Skinner elected to stay home, and Nellie Dow was unable to race on Saturday. The men’s team managed to avoid the contagious virus, and therefore, stayed healthy for the championships.
Saturday dawned chilly, with a light dusting of snow on the race course. The men raced first, warming up the trails for the women’s race in the afternoon. Harry Seaton was the first Waterloo man to finish the 10 km course, with a fourth place finish, in a time of 32:40. On the women’s side, Tiffany Duncan was the first Waterloo woman to finish the 5 km race in a time of 22:49.
The individual start races were followed by the ever-competitive OUA team relays, which saw Lakehead University continue its dominance over the Nordic skiing field, winning both men’s 3 x 4km and women’s 3 x 2km relays. Waterloo fielded competitive teams in both categories. The men’s team, consisting of Harry Seaton, Colin Rhodes, and rookie Kieran Jones, came in 4th place in a combined time of 43:19, only 3:40 down from the winning Lakehead team. With Nellie and Kelly sick and Tiffany nursing an injury from the morning race, Surabhi Venkatesh, Toni Carlisle and rookie Amelie Gravel made up the women’s relay team, finishing strong despite some rough exchanges in the transition zone.
Sunday featured mass starts for both men and women. The women’s start was tricky, with a few falls as skiers fought to get to the front of the pack. The women skied two loops around the 5km course with Nellie Dow as the first Waterloo woman, finishing in 15th in a time of 43:21 despite still being not entirely recovered. The men started soon after, with Harry Seaton again leading out for Waterloo, finishing in 3rd place in a time of 49:57. Seaton also finished with a 4th place overall, gaining a spot as an OUA All-Star for the second year in a row. The men’s team also finished 4th overall in the OUA standings, and most were happy with a strong weekend of racing.
