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Updated: Red Deer hosts Western Canadian cross country ski Championships

Close to 340 competitors raced in the three-day event
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Competitors in the Masters’ division at the Western Canadian cross country ski Championships raced late in the afternoon on Saturday at River Bend Golf and Recreation Area. Nearly 340 racers competed in the three-day event. (Photo by BYRON HACKETT/Advocate Staff)

Some of the top cross country skiers in Canada descended on Red Deer over the weekend for the Western Canadian Championships.

Overall, 340 competitors took to the track at River Bend Golf and Recreation Area for the three-day competition, some coming from as far as Ontario to compete. With many cross country races in Eastern Canada being cancelled because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, athletes travelled from far and wide to compete in Red Deer.

“What’s really exciting is we had people fly in from Ontario, drive in from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, the Yukon and B.C. Covid has made things really complicated and we tried really hard to make sure that we’re doing this really, really well,” said Lisa Marr-Laing, chief of competition, who added there are about 50 support staff, coaches and volunteers helping make sure the event ran smoothly.

“It was a question right up to the day before it started, is it smart to bring this many people in. People have been super respectful. We have really good COVID mitigation (measures) in place. We expected to have quite a diminished number of people… we were really shocked by the broad base of people that were coming from all across the country. Racers made a huge attempt to get here.”

In addition to the Western Canadian event, Alberta Cup 5 and 6 races took place at the Red Deer course over the weekend.

Red Deer last hosted the dual event in 2018, as a precursor to the 2019 Canada Winter Games. The Western Canadian event back then served as a test for the 2019 Canada Winter Games. Marr-Laing said that was huge for Red Deer and it’s cross country ski community.

“We did this and it was a huge success because we had just built wider trails for all the events and it was our chance to try them out and try out our then very robust volunteer force. I think we had 180 volunteers. Because of COVID this is a much smaller event,” she said.

Friday featured shorter to mid-distance free technique races, meaning they were able to skate ski or classic ski. Saturday, was the sprint races, from the youngest category, all the way up to people in their 60s and 70s. Saturday, there were about 140 heats, with six people going off every minute.

In Saturday’s Open men 1200 metre sprint race, Red Deer’s Owen Pimm captured top spot in a time of 2:34.22. Pimm also won the Open men 10km race on Friday in a time of 22:39.

Pimm grew up in Red Deer and skied with local Cross Country Ski Club, Red Deer Nordic since he was four years old.

He now lives in Canmore and skis with Trail Sports Elite. From Feb. 1-14, Pim and fellow athletes with Nordiq Alberta — Alberta Ski Team (AST) will be travelling to Central Europe to race internationally at the Planica Slovenia Alpen Cup, and Swiss Cup in Klosters, Switzerland.

In March he will compete in the Canadian Cross-Country Ski Championship and US Super Tour Final in Whistler, BC.

Sunday’s competition rounded out the event with longer distances races.



byron.hackett@reddeeradvocate.com

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Owen Pimm, who was raised in Red Deer, took gold in two events at the Western Canadian Cross Country Ski Championships at River Bend Golf and Recreation Area. (Photo contributed)
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Byron Hackett

About the Author: Byron Hackett

Byron has been the sports reporter at the advocate since December of 2016. He likes to spend his time in cold hockey arenas accompanied by luke warm, watered down coffee.
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