By Dan Plouffe
Like the Nordiq Canada Ski Nationals themselves, Evelyn Davies stumbled at the start but came on strong to capture the under-16 women’s sprint title on Monday afternoon at her home Nakkertok Nordic Ski Club.
Rain wiped out the planned first day of competition Sunday, and the challenging conditions nearly knocked Davies out when she got her ski caught in deep, loose snow and wiped out during qualifying.
“I had to decide whether it was worth it to keep going or not, but it’s always better to keep going,” smiled Davies, who wound up sneaking into the final qualification position for the knockout heats with the 30th fastest time of 125 entries.
“I didn’t really expect to make it to the final,” added the Grade 10 Immaculata Catholic High School student. “It’s really stressful being right on the edge.”
But from there, it was all smooth skiing for Davies, who’s generally become accustomed to training and racing in sloppy conditions with the rise in winter temperatures.
She dominated her quarterfinal heat to win by over five seconds, comfortably won her semi by 2.75 and then posted the best time of the meet (2:48.09) to cruise to gold by over three. Davies loved seeing fans all around the course while she led from start to finish.
“In the races I’ve done in the past here, [taking the lead] has always worked for me. You always get caught on the big hill because it’s pretty narrow and hard to pass, so I’d rather stay safe,” highlighted the Ontario Winter Games gold medallist in back-to-back years. “I’m very surprised (to win), but happy though.”
Thrilled to see Davies cross the line first was Nakkertok teammate Addison Frank, who’d emptied the tank minutes earlier to place fifth in the U18 women’s event.
“I watched her come down the finishing straight and I started crying,” recounted Frank, who’s become great friends with her younger teammate since they raced together at the Canadian Youth Winter Olympic Games trials. “There’s a picture where I’m just ahead of her and she’s right on my skis, mirroring everything that I did. That was really cool.”
Frank, like Davies, had a rough start to her day, but a solid finish. When she upped the intensity while warming up, Frank felt like she had to throw up, which she eventually did three times after her qualification run.
“I think it was nerves,” reflected the Grade 12 Nepean High School student. “When I went to start, none of my coordination was there. My technique was falling apart.”
Another possible contributing factor was that Frank had only returned to Ottawa a little over a week before the nationals. The Ottawa Bicycle Club athlete had been in Arizona for a two-week cycling camp where she rode an average of 130 kilometres per day.
“It took me like a week to get used to” cooler temperatures back in town, she noted. “I went outside when it was 5°C and everyone here’s like, ‘Oh my God, it’s so warm,’ and I was like, ‘What are you guys talking about? I’m freezing.'”
Frank said her preparations for nordic nationals weren’t optimal, but she’s leaning towards shifting her primary sports pursuit to cycling after encouraging performances in her rookie season.
If these are indeed her last ski nationals, she said they’ll provide an excellent final memory.
“It’s so much fun. I love being able to race in front of a bunch of people I know,” indicated Frank, who felt motivated to perform for the home crowd. “I said to myself, ‘I need to pull it together for the quarters. I’ll just go have fun. I’m not sure how I’m going to do.’ But I kept showing up to the start line with a positive attitude. And I was really happy with how things ended up.”
Nakkertok U16 boys take 3rd & 5th
A pair of Nakkertok teammates reached the final of the U16 men’s sprint event, with Owen Siderius and Evan Rebane going toe-to-toe – literally. Both were involved in a blanket finish as the skiers in second through fifth place all finished within .55 seconds of one another.
“I went all-in, gave it my all and lunged as far as I could,” Siderius said of the furious finish, which netted him a bronze medal. “I’m so happy. I had some more difficult quarterfinals and semifinals, so I’m really happy with my effort overall, and especially in the second half of the final.
“It was really tough to get ahead of these guys in some tough conditions with really warm, slow snow.”
After sneaking into the final with the last qualification position, Siderius was only fifth climbing the hill at the midway point before he made up ground at the end.
Rebane was better positioned for most of the race but “picked the wrong lane” for the final sprint and couldn’t get past a racer in front of him.
“It was definitely a close one,” underlined Rebane. “All four of us were there at the line. I wanted to stick my foot out, but the guy fell in front of me, which is a little bit unlucky. We had a little tumble at the finish line, but that’s alright.”
Nonetheless, finishing within a toe of the podium was a big leap ahead for Rebane, who’d endured a lot of “growing pains” last season after shooting up from from 5’7″ to 6′ tall.
“This season, I had a nice year of training and it really worked out for me,” indicated the Grade 10 Louis-Riel high school student who now stands 6’2″. “I was really happy to make the final with Owen.
“I definitely love racing with him. We trained together all year, we always push each other, and it’s really fun to go head to head in the final event.”
“Evan’s been working really hard all year, so I’m really, really happy for him to be in the final with me,” echoed Siderius, a Grade 10 Colonel By student who’s won multiple OFSAA cross-country running medals with his school.
“We’ve been training here all year, so we know the course pretty well,” he added. “It’s really something special racing at home. Growing up racing on these trails, and you get to wake up in your own bed, your family’s here, which is really nice.”
Skiers ‘really grateful’ for massive effort to get course in shape
With hardly a speck of snow left on most land in the region, there was certainly some concern that the country’s best skiers may not get the chance to race at the March Break event in Cantley, QC.
Heavy rains forced the postponement of the opening-day interval start pursuit races, and organizers condensed the schedule to finish Thursday out of fear that much of the remaining snow could be gone come the weekend with more warm temperatures in the forecast.
Senior sprints stay on Tuesday’s daytime schedule, youth 5 km intervals and para events move to Tuesday evening, Wednesday’s off-day is now the seniors’ 15 km classic mass starts (down from 50 km), team relays are scrapped, and youth/senior 7.5/10 km interval starts will wrap up the championships Thursday.
Volunteers from the ENGNE host committee of local clubs have fuelled a spectacular transformation of the Nakkertok course, which was downsized even farther following Saturday’s rain. But it got just cold enough Sunday night to fire up the snow-making cannons and get the course white for Monday racing.
Days before that, the venue already looked like “soup,” as described by four-time Canadian Olympic team member Sue Holloway, who was busy passing out coffee to nationals volunteers as the event’s chief spreader of goodwill and cheer (perhaps not her official title).
Read More: Ottawa Sport History Highlight: Times change & stay the same for Hall of Famer Sue Holloway
“It was definitely a bit nerve-wracking. Even a week out, looking at the snow, it wasn’t looking great,” recalled Rebane, whose father is a coach with Nakkertok. “We definitely had a bunch of the parents shoveling snow while we were doing practice.
“It’s unfortunate that yesterday got canceled because the rain, but honestly, they did a really good job at clearing it and giving us enough course for today. We’re really grateful.”
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