2010 Ontario Winter Games, Jan. 16-17,Huntsville, ON

By Graham Longford

A group of 8 Team Hardwood athletes traveled to Huntsville this past weekend to compete at the Ontario Winter Games, along with 90 other Juvenile and Junior-aged nordic skiers from across the province. Held at Arrowhead Provincial Park, the competition featured free technique sprints on Saturday and Classic distance races on Sunday. The sprint races took place on a fast, narrow and twisting course, in which tactics played a major role in the outcome. Sunday¹s icy and mostly flat distance courses favoured strong double-polers.

Team Hardwood was well-represented on the podium, with medals won in 5 of the 8 races held. Congratulations to double-medal winners Natalia  Hawthorn and Nick Monette! Natalia won silver in both Juvenile Girls races and tied for first place in the sprint qualification round. Nick Monette  captured double gold medals in the Junior Boys races. Emma Spelt won bronze in the Jr Girls distance race and fought hard for 4th place in the Jr Girls sprint final. Scott Hill put in a valiant effort to finish less than 3 seconds behind a lead group of 4 in the Juvenile Boys distance race. Also skiing well for Hardwood were Terry Korzeniewski, Norah Bonsteel, Erica Cazzola and Jordan Kay. For complete results please see: http://zone4.ca

Race photos can be viewed in the Team Hardwood Photo Gallery on this site.

Congratulations to all of the athletes on an exciting weekend of racing, and many thanks to team parents for helping in the wax room and supporting our athletes on the trail.