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Olympic file: Newcomer claims men's luge title

The Canadian Luge Championships took place this past weekend at the Olympic track in Calgary, an annual event that assists managers and coaches in selecting the national team for the season.

The Canadian Luge Championships took place this past weekend at the Olympic track in Calgary, an annual event that assists managers and coaches in selecting the national team for the season.

Matt McMurray, 22, beat all of the members of the 2006 Olympic team to the bottom to claim the national singles title. He bested the previous champion by just 0.005 seconds.

“This was a very big day for me to win my first championship, but also because it was a selections race,” he said.

Sam Edney and Ian Cockerline placed second and third respectively.

In the women’s event, two-time Olympian Regan Lauscher took kthe women’s title, followed by Meaghan Simister and Monica Gorham.

The Moffat brothers, Chris and Mike, won the men’s doubles event, beating out Grant Albrecht and Eric Pothier, and Cameron Gunn and David Adair.

 

Crawford top-10 in cross-country opener

The FIS Cross-Country World Cup season launched in Dusseldorf, Germany this past week with men’s and women’s sprint races and team relays.

In the women’s sprint, Chandra Crawford of Canmore, Alberta placed 10 th overall, moving up from 24 th in the qualifier, while teammate Perianne Jones was 41 st .

The men’s sprint was 1.5 km, and the top Canadian was Philip Widmer in 36 th . Stefan Kuhn was 60 th , Sean Crooks 70 th , and David Nighbor 71 st out of 77 racers.

In the 6x0.8 km women’s relay, the Swedish team claimed the top place, followed by Russia and Finland. The Canadian women did not enter a team.

In the 6x1.5 km men’s relay, Sweden also took the top place over the second Norwegian team. The second Swedish team was third. Canada was 17 th , after being eliminated in the semi-final.

 

Track Club up to 160 members

The Track Club, a community-based organization created to support the Whistler Sliding Centre, is up to 160 members in the Sea to Sky region. Members range from kids keen to try the track when it opens in early 2008 to community members interested in becoming officials. For more information or a membership visit the website at www.bcsliding.com .