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Coast Cup brings out young skiers

French skier blows away competition

Sunday’s Coast Cup cross-country race, hosted by the Whistler Nordics Club, was a success with more than 110 participants taking part – including 80 kids ranging in age from five to 18.

Most of the participants were affiliated with clubs like the Whistler Nordics, Spud Valley Nordics and Hollyburn Nordics. A few travelled from Vancouver Island as well with the Stratcona Nordics.

The Coast Cup Series includes events across the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, and is considered a stepping stone to the provincial and national series.

For the adults, Whistler has met its next super-athlete in Florian Beliard, a newcomer from France who blew everyone away at the last Thursday night Loonie race. He proved untouchable again, finishing the 10 km race in 26 minutes and 48 seconds – almost three minutes ahead of Brent Murdoch’s time of 29:47. Mike Gilhooly was third in 29:50.

Beliard arrived in Whistler in November, and plans to spend a year here telemarking, cross-country skiing and mountain biking. He used to race cross-country in France, but mostly at the provincial level.

Despite his obvious speed and fitness, he found the course challenging.

"It was not too easy," he said. "There were steep uphills and downhills, and the snow was soft. But it was very nice, too, it’s a nice place to ski."

The women’s race started 30 seconds behind the men, but some of the top ladies managed to skate their way into the top-10.

Jessica Heyes of the Hollyburn Nordics finished in 20:21, first out of the women and seventh overall out of 32 starters. Whistler’s Joanna Harrington was second in 31:02, and Barb Zimich of Hollyburn was third in 31:14.

Heyes said she didn’t have a plan, but focused on keeping up to the fastest woman through the first lap of the course – Joanna Harrington.

"The course was fast, there were some good uphills and some fast downhills with twists and turns, a few scary moments," said Heyes. "Basically I just drafted the fastest woman as long as I could. The trail was really narrow so when I passed I had to do it strategically, really wait for the moment, and when it presented itself just go for it."

Heyes got involved with the Coast Cup series through her daughter, and together they will be heading to the B.C. Cup series championships in Prince George this weekend.

For Harrington, her only goal was to stay with the men’s field. "I was just hoping to stay with most of the guys I race against on Thursday night Loonie races, I wasn’t looking back for that first lap," she said. "I made a mistake in one section, (Heyes) pulled ahead, and I was thrown off the pace a little."

Harrington has been cross-country skiing for "a while" and still does a bit of coaching. Initially she looked at skiing as good cross-training for mountain biking, but she’s starting to get more into the sport for itself.

"Especially this year – there are so many trails open and they’re in great shape, and with the Thursday night races it’s gotten a lot more social," she said. "Having events like this every weekend is great, and great training."

This Sunday Harrington will be racing in the fifth annual Lost Lake Shuffle, and the following Sunday she’s planning to compete in the Whistler Cup Loppet.

In the youth categories, Pemberton’s Sydney Van Loon of the Spud Valley team was the only junior and completed a 5 km course in 17:50.

In the 5 km juvenile category (ages 15-16) Kris Liste of the West Coast Nordics was the top male in 17:18, followed by Nick Spurling and Harry Weaver of the Hollyburn Nordics in 17:49 and 17:57 respectively.

Lisi Schranz of Spud Valley was the top juvenile woman in 20:17, followed by Sonja Panozzo of Hollyburn in 23:44.

In the Midget category (ages 13-14) Jorgen Liset of the West Coast Nordics was first on the 3.5 km course with a time of 9:34, followed by Marcus Laube and George Urosevic of Hollyburn in 10:20 and 10:30.

Like mother like daughter, Kajsa Heyes of Hollyburn was the top female Midget, finishing her race in 10:40. Dakota Robertson of Hollyburn was second in 11:39, while Sylvia Watkins of the Strathcona was third in 12:25.

In Mini Midget (ages 11-12), Hollyburn’s Lucas Putnam-Rea, Sam Morris and Fred Weaver were first second and third for the men in 10:46, 11:13 and 11:32.

For the women it was all Spud Valley, with Tachona Jones, Rachel Leverton and Jenna Wilkins finishing first through third with times of 15:11, 15:16 and 15:24.

The women were fastest in the PeeWee category (ages 9-10), as Marissa Woods of Hollyburn took the win on a 1.8 km course in 7:32. Malia Irvine of Strathcona was second in 7:51, and Katie Weaver of Hollyburn third in 8:02.

For the boys, Colin Kirkby and Sam Langer of Hollyburn were first and second in 8:15 and 8:37, followed by Morgan Weddell of the Whistler Nordics in 9:14.

In the 1 km Atom category (ages 7-8), Amhani Jones of Spud Valley was fastest in 5:10, inches ahead of Sylvie Stewart-Grantham who was also clocked at 5:10. Iyla Nordin of the Whistler Nordics was third in 6:27.

Matan Guttman of Hollyburn was the top male Atom in 5:52, followed by Keanan Widmaier of the Whistler Nordics was second in 7:25.

The MiniAtom category (ages 5-6) also had five racers – all Whistler Nordics. With parents racing alongside, Michael Murdoch finished his kilometer in 6:02, Lauren McKay was second in 6:32, and Graeme Bowers was third in 7:18.