In her final tune-up before she tackles World Cup competition in Ski Tour Canada, Dariah Beatty completed a two-race weekend sweep on the cross-country slopes of Prince George.
The 21-year-old from Whitehorse, Yukon, was content to tailgate behind Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt for most of Saturday's open women sprint final at the Haywood NorAm/Buff Sprints Western Canadian championships at Otway Nordic Centre. But once that finish line was in sight, Beatty kicked into passing gear and beat the clock ahead of Bouffard-Nesbitt.
"I was really happy to get another win, it was a fun course and having Olivia right in there the whole time it was a really competitive race and I was able to have a strong finish and outsprint her to the finish," said Beatty. "Coming down the last chute I was still behind her and I just pounced when I had the chance."
Overnight rain Saturday made for tricky wax conditions for the classic race and Beatty and her wax team had to re-wax her grip zone before she tackled the steep, hilly course.
"Warming up for the heats I wasn't getting any kick and my coaches completely redid my skis right before my race," said Beatty, who qualified second-quickest behind Bouffard-Nesbitt of Fondeurs-Laurentides (Morin Heights, Que). "I was able to stride everything, I didn't have to herringbone at all, which really made a difference."
Beatty came to Prince George trailing NorAm points leader Cendrine Browne of St. Jerome, Que., but after winning the sprint event and Friday's 7.5-kilometre freestyle race, Beatty is back in the driver's seat.
"I'm real happy to get that lead back I had before Christmas and I'm looking forward to Tour Canada," said Beatty, who raced two individual and two team World Cups in Slovenia and Czech Republic in January. "I like to race as much as I can to get myself into race mode and this was a perfect two days of racing. It couldn't have gone better."
The Tour consists of eight days of racing in 12 days (March 1-12) when Ski Tour Canada brings the World Cup tour to Gatineau, Que., Quebec City, Montreal and Canmore. Fourteen males and 12 females will make the Canadian team. The three-day Western Canadian event in Prince George was the last chance for skiers to qualify for the tour.
"I've never done that much racing close together so it will be a real test of fitness and an amazing experience," said Beatty. "There's three sprints and five distance races. The last four races are in Canmore. I've been training there for three-and-a-half years so I'll have a bit of home course advantage, for sure."
Beatty will finish her season in her hometown. Whitehorse is hosting the Canadian championships, March 18-28.
In the open men's final, Bob Thompson of Thunder Bay, Ont., made a last-second lunge to hold off fellow Ontarian Patrick Stewart-Jones of Nakkertok Ski Club to win the 1.4km race. With that win, Thompson locked up his spot on Ski Tour Canada.
"It was real close, I knew it was going to come right down to Patrick and I, I guess I had a bit more at the finish," said Thompson. "He was just behind me when I was leading at the start and he had a bit more in the main climb and I just made sure I stayed right on him so we would have a good finish.
"Winning this, it will be a confirmed spot (in the Tour) and that will be my first World Cup and I just hope to make a bit of a jump to really show myself. Hopefully we'll have a bit of an advantage over those (European) guys being on home turf."
Stewart-Jones was upset after the race and claimed Thompson interfered with him in the final straightaway.
"I went out of the track and came up beside him and we might have touched poles a bit and he felt he missed a few poles with that," said Thompson, who was unsure if Stewart-Jones would lodge a protest.
Thompson, who turns 25 on Feb. 27, just missed the age cutoff to compete in the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George. This was his first time racing at Otway and he was impressed with the sprint course layout.
"The course really suits me, a lot of double-poling and there was a bit of ice on the corners this morning and that got a few guys," said Thompson, who also won the NorAm classic sprint in Canmore. "Classic sprinting is kind of my specialty. I started to be more of a sprinter last year and I'm still trying to maintain the all-around and I'm still having a few good distance results."
Thompson, who was eighth in Friday's 15km freestyle race, came to Prince George ranked fourth in the Canadian NorAm standings and was fifth in the Buff Sprint points.
Other sprint winners and their club affiliations were: Junior girls – Ingvild Hoymork, Edmonton Nordic; Junior men – Gareth Williams, Telemark (West Kelowna); Juvenile girls – Alana Brittin, Revelstoke; Rachel May, Larch Hills (Salmon Arm); Juvenile boys – Remi Drolet, Black Jack (Rossland); Junior boys – Reed Godfrey, Canmore Nordic.
Caledonia Nordic Ski Club results were as follows, Junior girls – Kaia Andal was ninth, Danika Fiala was 22nd, Ariadne Douglas was 23rd and Mackenzie Connon was 26th; Juvenile boys – Jordan Bax was 18th, Bhavish Parshotam was 27th; Junior boys – Christian Jensen-Leblanc was 26th.
