A small group of Academy athletes wrapped up the last set of NorAm races last weekend in Mt. Orford, Quebec last weekend, marking some of the final domestic races before the Canadian National Championships. The two races were both distance races, with Saturday being an individual start classic race, followed by Sunday's skate mass start.

5km/10km Classic Individual

The day started off on a strong note, with Kate Brennan taking her first NorAm victory of the year by a 7 second margin. Rebecca Reid, the only other Academy girl to attend the weekend, finished 11th and 3rd in the Junior Women's category.

The men also had a strong day, with Drew Goldsack finishing 2nd and top Academy skier. Gerard Garnier finished 3rd, marking a personal best for him in a NorAm event. PAte Neumann and Kevin Sandau finished 5th and 6th. Zach Holland took the gold in the Junior Men's field by over 1 minute on the 2nd place finisher.

15km/20km Skate Mass Start

The weather shifted from mild to windy and cold the for the mass start races, with the weather hovering around -17 degrees. The men were the first group to start, skiing 4 times around a 5km loop. After mellow start off the gun, Kevin Sandau attacked to the front at the 3km mark with Pate Neumann responding. The pair skied together until roughly 12km when Kevin finally pulled away to take the win by 31 seconds of Pate Neumann. Gerard Garnier placed 7th, while Zach Holland was 4th in the junior category.

The women's 15km race was tight between most of the field. Kate Brennan was out sprinted at the line, finishing 2nd. Rebecca Reid suffered from a crash just before the final downhill and was 12th, and 3rd junior.

Over in Estonia at the Scandinavia Cup, Phil Widmer finished 25th and Alysson Marshall 7th in the sprint competition.  The following day Alysson placed 15th in the 10km classic race, while Graham Nishikawa finished 25th.

Alysson and Phil are now heading to Poland to race in the upcoming world cups this weekend. 

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