It was a chilly day at the cross-country ski venue, and this caused a three hour delay in the start of the first day of competition for the 2019 Canada Games.
The officials had to wait for the thermometer to climb above the -20 C limit for racing, before the events got underway.
Read more: Gold for Team BC in cross country
The first lap was a close contest, with Canmore, Alberta’s Reed Godfrey holding a .2 second lead over Rossland, B.C.’s Rémi Drolet on the first of three, 3.3 kilometre loops. Lap two was a different story as Drolet seventh in the 2019 World Junior Championships 30 km race) built up a 28 second gap on Godfrey. He added more time to the lead on the third lap, to finish the race with a commanding 52.3 second margin.
“The snow wasn’t super fast today because of the cold, but our wax techs did a great job and it was a lot fun," said Drolet.
Chelsea, Quebec skier Laura Leclair, led from start to finish in the classic technique 7.5 km race, to win by a large 28.9 second margin. Second place went to Whistler, B.C.’s Benita Peiffer, who held off a strong challenge on the final lap from Canmore’s Isobel Hendry. Hendry finished 1.8 seconds back, in the bronze medal position.
Day 2 of the competitions are on Tuesday with the exciting sprint races, and the first Para-Nordic action of the games.