The qualifying for Canada’s World Championships team may be over, but racing continued Sunday at Lappe Nordic, in Thunder Bay, ON.
In the men’s 15 k skate, George Grey (Black Jack/NST) snagged the men’s victory, crossing the line in 39:21.9 and beating Graham Nishikawa (Whitehorse) by just over five seconds. Michael Somppi (Lappe Nordic/Thunder Bay, Ontario) came in another seven seconds behind, clocking in at 39:34.6 for third place. Saturday’s sprint winner Brent McMurtry (Foothills) was fourth, more than 45 seconds behind Somppi (40:16.9).
“My race form is coming up, and there were a lot of close finishes here as many were peaked for the trials. It made for exciting racing…and it was nice to have tight competition,” said Grey, who was content to win two out of the three races this weekend.
But Grey also knows that the merits are just for posterity. Now starts the real work preparing for Worlds, and he knows there are still gains to be made before he reaches his own peak fitness.
“I need to do some more good training before I get to my top race form,” Grey told FasterSkier in an e-mail after Sunday’s race. “My plans are to train hard, long, and smart until the departure date. I will also compete in the [mini-tour] in Kelowna, B.C [in early February] as a small preparation.”
While nailing a ticket to Oslo was the focus of the weekend for Grey, he is also optimistic about his country’s potential internationally.
“The obvious highlight for me was qualifying for the championship team, and taking two wins in two distance races. Many of the men’s positions were filled in Europe on the World Cup, and two spots were left up for grabs to be filled in Canadian races. Stefan [Kuhn] took the sprint spot and I nipped the distance spot. Both qualifying races were very tight, showing the depth of our Canadian squad. Canada is rising in its skiing ability across the board,” Grey said.
