OUA 2013- Race Report Version

The UW Nordic ski team gave a grand finale t to their last official, and most sought after race of the year.  What a season's worth of training was aimed to peak for: the 2013 OUA Nordic Ski Championships.  The event was held by Lakehead University at Lappe Nordic ski club, in Thunder Bay, Ont.

The OUA race format varies year to year, alternating short and long distances between the two disciplines, skate and classic.  This year's format was a middle distance skate race and skate team relay on the first day, and a long distance classic race on the second day.  The race distances were 5 and 10km skate races, for the women and men respectively, a 3.75km relay and 10 and 15km distance classic races.   Results from both middle and long distance races went towards an individual combined score by time and points from all three races contributed to an overall team score.  Six members of the men's team, two members of the women's team and two coaches made the trip to the three day event.

The women were the first to the line and proved some respectable results.  Fourth year Alison Stephenson skied a personal OUA best into 20th place in 20:17, and just twenty seconds behind was Katie Madden in 25th.  In the men's field the Warriors seemed to cross the line in pairs. Oliver Conway-White led the warriors in a remarkable 14th place in 32:55 and a close two places behind was Glenn Hartman in 16th place, in 33:16. Rookies Ryan Fahey and Colin Elliott crossed as 20th and 21st, a mere two seconds apart, while Tim Rhodes and Nolan Beanlands were 29th and 30th respectively.  This gave the Warriors a final day 1 result of having all athletes rank within the top 30 OUA positions.

The relay portion of the day gave the men's team an opportunity to show their strength as a team.  Each team consisted of three athletes, each to ski 3.75km and tag off to their next teammate.  Waterloo had one team, consisting of Glenn Hartman, Colin Elliot and Oliver Conway-White, step to the line.  The Warriors battled it out for places 3rd, 4th and 5th, along with Queen's and Laurentian's A team's.  In the final lap, Conway- White secured a solid lead on fourth, narrowly missing out on third place in a sprint to the finish.  The combined results of the individual skate and relay races gave the Warriors a solid team result- which, given the right effort the following day, could mean a top 3 OUA placing for the men's team.

To finish off the OUA Championships, once again, the only two women on the UW ski team stepped to the line for the 10km classic event.  The course was different this time- two 5km laps, consisting of both uphills and downhills of considerable size.  The coaches were able work out an outstanding wax combination of both optimal grip and glide, which rang in some terrific results.  Stephenson and Madden claimed places 24th and 36th in the women's race, in 41:24 and 43:58.  Conway-White continued to lead the men's team with a stellar performance, coming in 8th place with a time of 47:15- just above a minute off the leader.  The remainder of the men's team followed eagerly in a close pack behind with Rhodes in 16th, Fahey in 18th, Hartman in 19th, Beanlands in 23rd and Elliott in 32nd.

The combined results of the weekend proved some outstanding rankings for the Waterloo Warriors.  Oliver Conway-White’s combined times awarded him with a top 10 overall finish, naming him a 2013 OUA All-Star.  This, along with other team member's personal best's, led the men's team to an overall 3rd place OUA finish- notably the top result for the Warriors in recent years.