.: U23 Trials

Here’s a quick recap of my World U23 Trials races in Callaghan Valley, BC these past couple days:

-Thursday was a 30km pursuit race (the first 15km are classic, then you switch to skate for the remaining 15km). The race started off good for me. I was with the lead group for the first 5km or so until I got dropped on one of the group’s accelerations. So I skied alone for quite a while trying to catch back on until I was caught by Fred Touchette, who I ended up skiing with until the finish. I managed to edge Fred out at the finish line to finish 6th overall (2nd U23 behind Graeme Killick of Canmore). It was a good race for me, I felt like I could still do a little better but it was good start to the races for me, I was happy.

-Saturday was a skate sprint. Maybe I hadn’t done a long/hard enough warm up or maybe my head just wasn’t in the game (probably a bit of both) but my qualifier didn’t go so well. I qualified 29th overall (17th U23), and decided not to start the heats, to save myself for the next day.

-Sunday was a 15km individual classic race. I’d been looking forward to this race for some time since it’s normally my best event. I started off my race pretty fast, and was getting splits that I was in 2nd place after the first lap. I started to fade a little bit near the end of the race but still managed to keep it together. I ended up finishing 3rd overall (1st U23). This is by far my best race this season...I knew I had it in me so it felt pretty good to finally prove it!

By winning the last race that should seal the deal for my spot for the U23 World Championships, which are in Turkey this February.

Next up for races are the Western Canadian Championships in Canmore, Alberta this coming weekend.

Below are a couple pictures from the races taken by Angus Cockney.