Competing against six clubs with a total of 166 racers in the Teck Okanagan Cup 2, the Nickel Plate Nordic from Apex had two skiers reach the podium.
Rachel Shanner and Justine Odian each placed third in their respective juvenile girls / boys 5-kilometre categories on the weekend. Nickel Plate Nordic coach Jerome Jang said his skiers performed well, while some did better than expected and others not as good.
“Rachel could have gone second, but did not ski to her absolute best for the day, however did well to take third,” said Jang. “Justin had a good ski to place third, especially since he fell a couple of times.”
The Teck Okanagan Cup 2 attracted a competitive field in all categories with the Okanagan zone one of the strongest, said Jang. It wouldn’t surprise him if the Thompson/Okanagan zone wins the BC Winter Games in the cross country skiing events.
“Justin was a surprise breakthrough with his third place finish, although it was leading up to a good performance with his third place finish on the Saturday loppet in the 7.5-km classic race,” he said.
Conditions were excellent with over 30-centimetres of new snow and -11C air temperature and -10C snow temperature on hard well-prepared skating surfaces.
“It was a little slow with the new snow and cold temperatures so the athletes had to work a bit harder,” added Jang.
Other top local finishers include Tom Evans, placing fourth in 46 minutes, 19 seconds in the Master’s Men (40-49) category and Richard Finlay who also placed fourth in the Master’s Men (60+) category in 1:09:18.
Nickel Plate Nordic also hosted the successful loppet on Sunday, Feb.1. Top local racers included Evans in third in the men’s 40-49 age category (30-km classic race); Murray Farbridge: second in the men’s 50-59 age category (30-km classic race); Sarah Broder: third in the women’s 16+ age category (15-km classic race); Rachel Shanner: third in the women’s 14-17 age category (7.5-km classic race). Eleven Nickel Plate Junior Racers participated in the Nickel Plate loppet.