It was T-shirt weather and a couple brave souls raced in shorts under the sun and double-digit warmth that glazed the trails Monday at Otway Nordic Centre for Day 2 of the Canadian biathlon championships.
Trevor Kiers could feel the heat as he made his way out of the shooting range back onto the course in the men’s pursuit, and it had nothing to do with the weather.
After battling the wind and missing three targets in his final standing bout, Kiers was forced to turn into the penalty loop to ski three laps and he watched as Quesnel racer Ryan Elden, the guy who was chasing him, headed up the kill with only a couple of kilometres left in the race.
“He left 100 or 150 metres ahead of me and I had just started my last loop and he just skied right by,” said Kiers. “I was hoping he’d come into the loop and he just passed right by and I was like, ‘oh man, this is going to hurt. So when I came out he was on the top of the climb going around the corner.”
Kiers, 25, the sprint winner on Sunday, started the pursuit just five seconds head of Elden but picked up some ground when he cleaned his first prone shooting bout, while Elden had one miss. Kiers said the snow was slushy in places and he tried to stay in the shade as much as possible to maintain his glide.
“I played it as smart as I could throughout the whole race to conserve energy, just in case, and on the last lap I really was able to push it,” said Kiers.
Kiers caught Elden near the high part of the course with about a kilometre left and held him off in the sprint to the line, winning by two seconds with a time of 38 minutes 29 seconds.
“He’s fast,” said the 22-year-old Elden, a member of the Cariboo Ski Touring Club of Quesnel. “It was a tough day on the range and we both had a good amount of loops but he had a little bit more left in the legs on the last lap.
“I saw him go into the penalty loop and I was like, OK, I’ve got to be clean and fast here and got it done. He caught me kind of the top of the course and we fought it out to the end but he just had a little bit on me.”
Elden started with a clean prone shooting and ended with another 5-for-5 bout in his last crack at the range while standing. He ended up 15-for-20, while Kiers hit just half of his 20 targets.
Now based in Whistler, Elden grew up in Quesnel but lived in Prince George and attended the Engage Sport North sports school in his last year of high school.
“I trained her with the club in Grade 12 and it’s nice to come back to the old stomping grounds,” said Elden. “It’s really cool to be back.”
Andrei Secu of West Coast Nordics (Abbotsford) edged World Cup veteran Aiden Millar for bronze, just as he did in the sprint. Secu finished 2:39 behind Kiers, while Millar was 3:24.7 behind despite just four missed targets.
“I think I picked the wrong skis,” said Millar.
In the women’s pursuit, Megan Bankes was all alone at the finish. The 24-year-old, still feeling in near-prime condition a few weeks after competing for Canada in the Beijing Olympics, posted her second win at nationals. Just as she did Sunday in the sprint, Bankes beat local favourite Sarah Beaudry on her home track. The 27-year-old Caledonia Nordic Ski Club member had to settle for silver after finishing 2:33 behind Bankes.
The wind picked up in the afternoon and added to the challenge in the shooting range. Bankes knocked down one more target than Beaudry did, shooting 14-for-20. She said she didn’t bother trying to adjust for the wind by clicking her rifle sight and just tried to wing it in the range. She missed just twice in two prone shooting bouts and had three misses in her second standing session.
“Because it was kind of inconsistent, I just tried to zero for no wind, and then just sort of shaded when I came in,” said Bankes. “Standing was a little wild, I’m shocked I hit four of my first five, and the second one it was pretty gusty and I was tired.
“On course, it cooled down nicely with the wind. It was a bit softer today but it’s still such a fun course, even with it being a little soft. It’s so nice to be out in T-shirts, enjoying the time.”
Beaudry admitted her fitness level is suffering a bit and she felt tired during her race, especially in the warm conditions.
“This heat was definitely not great for me, the heat and the skiing don’t go together for me and I was feeling that and on one of the loops I got some water,” Beaudry said. “I’m just not in shape right now so I’m not really expecting more than what’s happening. It was just a hard day and I didn’t hit so many targets so that was unfortunate, but it’s fun to be at home. I was happy I cleaned the last shooting.”
Zoe Pekos of Chelsea Nordiq (Que.) won the women’s bronze, 4:25 off the pace.
Moira Green of Caledonia joined Beaudry on the medal podium Monday after a third-place finish in the youth women’s pursuit, won by Anna Marino of Team Trail Sports (Calgary).
Marino clicked her scope for the wind and it certainly paid off when she hit 9-of-10 while prone. She finished 14-for-20 overall on the range.
“Prone went really well and missed one on my first bout an my second one I cleaned and that put me into a good spot for my next two because I’m better with prone than standing,” said the 17-year-old Marino, who won bronze in the sprint. “On my last bout I think I was too focused on where everyone else was and I only hit two and booked it around the penalty lap and then booked it up the hill to secure my spot.”
Silver medalist Ema Chlepkova of Foothills Nordic (Calgary) cleaned her first prone and standing sessions and had just five misses in total. She ended up 1:04.8 behind Marino, while Green was 1:17.4 behind after hitting 12 of her 20 targets.
Chlepkova, 18, survived a crash on her last loop and still managed to stay in second place.
“I crashed on that steep downhill, when my coach told me, “’They’re going to catch you, you have to get fast to keep your second spot,” said Chlepkova. “Luckily the snow is very soft, so I just kind of slid on my butt.”
Green was fourth coming out of her last shooting and passed Anna Perry of Foothills for third spot.
“I had a rough day on the range, but I think everybody did,” said the 17-year-old Green, who went 12-for 20. “It wasn’t in the plan to miss as much as I did but it happens.”
Earlier in the day, Caledonia's Aliah Turner won silver in the seniors girls pursuit. (See other story).
In other Monday afternoon results, Daniel Gilfillan topped the youth men’s podium, winning by 28.8 seconds over his Vancouver Island Biathlon Club teammate Gavin Johnston. Jasper Fleming of Sea To Sky Nordics won bronze. Liam Simons of Caledonia nailed 16 of 20 targets to finish 10th out of 34 in the class.
Reid Lovstrom of Biathlon Alberta Training Team (Canmore) won his second race in two days of competition, crossing the line in Monday’s 10 km junior men’s pursuit in 40:30.0, 28.7 seconds ahead of Vincent Girard of Saguenay-Lac St. Jean (Que.), and 37.5 seconds before William Moreau of Courcelette Ski Club (Que).
Junior women’s gold went to Shilo Rousseau of Chelsea Nordiq, who clocked 37:19.0 on the 7.5 km course, 43 seconds faster than silver medalist Annika Klotz of Foothills and 49 seconds quicker than Janice Grundahl of Saskatchewan Biathlon Club.
After a practice day Tuesday, the IBU classes will return to racing Wednesday with a morning mass start race that gets underway at 10 a.m. The single-mixed relays wrap up the national event on Thursday.
