Race Report: Sprinting in Canmore

The CVTC team took the trails for the second day of sprinting in Canmore's selection extravaganza.  While Wednesday's sprints were not used as a qualifying race for World Junior and U23 Championships, they were a good tune-up and a major event for the Olympic hopefuls.  This morning, the sprints were "full-on" for all athletes involved, and the CVTC team enjoyed the challenge.

The morning qualifier provided a strong showing for CVTC athletes, with Sebastian Dandurand qualifying 5th (3rd U23) and Martin Schrama (14th, 12th U23) and Geoffrey Richards (18th, 15th U23) not far behind.  The depth of the U23 field was evident as very few non-U23 racers cracked the top 20.  Paul Dupuis (34th), struggling with illness, and Benjamin Osorio (36th) had a more difficult morning.  In the junior category, all CVTC athletes qualified as follows:  Colin Foley (7th), Sam Morris (10th), Andrew Avis (15th), and Liam Patterson (18th).

The heats came out a bit differently with no CVTC athletes qualifying past the quarterfinal in the open men event.  Martin Schrama and Sebastien Dandurand both finished 3rd in their heat, narrowly missing a lucky loser slot.  Geoffrey Richards finished 5th in his heat.  Dandurand's heat was the slowest quarterfinal, showing the tactics that were in play on the difficult course.  Many heats chose not to race hard for the entire course, letting the finishing straight determine the winner; a dangerous tactic for people hoping to qualify for lucky loser, or stay on their feet!

In the Junior Men, event, Sam Morris had one of his best events of the season, finishing 5th overall.  Colin Foley got narrowly edged out in his semi-final and ended the day 9th overall, by placing 3rd in the B-final.  Andrew Avis and Liam Patterson did not qualify past the quarterfinals.

The team suits up again tomorrow to compete in the final selection race, a skiathlon.  Follow results live at www.zone4.ca

Qualifier Results: http://zone4.ca/results.asp?ID=6307&cat=all

Heat Brackets: http://new.zone4.ca/l/race/6308/bracket