The sun came out to shine on over 100 racers who made it out to the Nickel Plate Nordic Centre on Jan. 30 and Feb. 1 for the sixth and seventh races of the 2015 Teck Okanagan Cup series.
The two-day event hosted competitors from four skiing clubs, including 30 skiers from the local Nickel Plate Nordic club joined by visitors from Larch Hills Nordic, Sovereign Lake Nordic and Telemark Nordic, with 66 skiers competing in the free (skate) technique races on Jan. 30 and 44 racers competing in classic sprints on Feb. 1.
Matthew Broder, 11, had a good day on the track coming in second in the Bantam 2 division.
“It was fun, I had a couple stumbles on the race course, but other than that I thought I had a good, hard race,” Broder said.
He added he practises at Nickel Plate quite a bit, making the win a little sweeter.
“It felt awesome. It’s my first top of the podium finish. I think it’s awesome to have it at our home mountain too,” Broder said.
Edging Broder out for first in the division was Sol Jacques, a longtime skiing partner of Broder’s.
He and Matthew have been on the track ever since they can remember.
“We used to be towed in these little stroller things behind our parents, I think we were about one (year old), but when we actually started skiing we were about three maybe,” Jacques said.
“I love the ski community. You make friends really quick in all the races,” he said as he and his friends quickly dropped what they were doing to cheer on a fellow skier heading across the finish line.
This is his third year racing. He and Broder get in plenty of travel time racing in West Bank, Salmon Arm and Kamloops to name a few.
In the final race of the first day Brian May, from Salmon Arm, took first in the men’s 15 km race with a time of 38:53.
“It was really fun, conditions were great. It’s just really nice to be out here in the sun enjoying it,” May said.
May, who skis with Larch Hills Nordic, was neck and neck at points with Nickel Plate’s Tim Musselman Bell.
“I led the first lap, he took the second lap and finally in the third lap I was able to get away. It’s fun to have a close race and somebody to race against so it was good fun,” May said.
John Wilkie from Nickel Plate finished off the top three out of 14 finishers in the master men’s 15 km race.
Abbigail May and Randi Ostby from Larch Hills Nordic finished first and second respectively in the master women’s 10 km race followed by Telemark’s Kari Bailey in third.