The First Time Trial

With record November snowfall in Southern Onterrible, the UW Nordic Ski Team decided to hit up Duntroon Highlands Nordic for their first real ski of the season this past Saturday morning.

Despite disgustingly soft and slow snow, the decision was made to go ahead with the first on-snow team time trial of the season. A rough 5 or 6 KM (we’re not really sure) course was set out, and a leisurely 10.45 AM start time was set for the first showdown of the season. Due to reckless enthusiasm and a lack of interest in basic math, a mass start was decided upon, and the start line was drawn careful with some ski shuffling.

The entire men’s team was in attendance, including coop boy Derek Hartman. Not including the coaching staff, the start line held 7 men and 3 women. Conditions were destined to play a major part, as the Highlands Nordic grooming crew had difficulty keeping up with the 60 cm of snow that had fallen the day before. A less than aggressive mass start saw a tight pack in the men’s field for the first 2 km until Kieran Jones made a break for it and started to spread the field out. Things stayed spread out until the start of the second lap, when Yudai Nakagawa realized that it was in fact a 2 lapper, not a 1 lapper, and put on the jets, catching Jones near the end of the second lap. It’s still unclear how realizing that he had to do TWO laps rather than one made Yudai faster, but that’s Yudai.

An intense finishing race developed down the home stretch, with Kieran nipping Yudai by a boot length. This was mostly due to Kieran he realizing that passing was impossible on the narrow trail stretch into the finish and making sure he was in front for it. Sorry Yudai.

In the women’s race, things were considerably more spread out, as the slim 3 women field didn’t pack up as tightly as the mens. With Kelly Skinner still recovering from popping out her first child over the summer, and April Ross opting for a single lap, 2008 OUA All-Star Nellie Dow took the win convincingly. Luckily for the men’s team however, they all managed to stay ahead of her.

The full results tables follow:

Position	Name	Lap 1	Position	Lap 2	Position	Total Time
1.	Kieran	10:46	1	10:49	2	21:35
2.	Yudai	10:59	2	10:36	1	21:35.1
3.	Nolan	11:07	3	11:34	3	22:41
4.	Colin	11:07	4	11:59	5	23:06
5.	Cam	11:10	5	12:04	6	23:14
6.	Andrew	11:40	7	11:40	4	23:20
7.	Derek	11:28	6	12:15	7	23:43

Position	Name	Lap 1	Position	Lap 2	Position	Total Time
1.	Nellie	11:59	1	12:23	1	24:22
2.	Kelly	14:12	2	14:23	2	28:35
3.	April	20:40	3

The answers to last weeks question is obviously not Ottawa.

This weeks super difficult quiz – Should you sign up to play Fantasy Nordic Skiing?

Also, we will be starting a new feature. With the ski season approaching, we will be profiling each Waterloo athlete, one a week. Stay tuned to learn everything you wanted to know about Waterloo’s Nordic Skiers, and a whole lot you probably really don’t.

Peace out, a-town.