Sarah Beaudry wrapped up a busy month with a silver-medal performance Saturday at the Canadian cross-country ski nationals in Ste. Anne, Quebec.
The 17-year-old member of the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club beat out 56 junior girls in the 10 kilometre mass start classic race, placing second to a skier from Quebec in her final race of a busy week.
"It was a really good race," said Beaudry. "The one girl who ended up winning decided to make a break really early on. I was very pleased that I was able to keep her in my sights and, although, I wasn't able to catch her at the end I was able to stay with her and didn't die."
Beaudry raced in the Biathlon Canada nationals event March 17 and 18 before competing in the cross-country competition Monday to Wednesday and then had a couple of days off before the 10 km event.
"Doing the five races in a row from biathlon to cross country was really hard," said Beaudry. "I had to really focus on the recovery. I was really pleased with how I was able to recover and have good races with all the days of hard work."
In her first cross-country event, the five-kilometre classic race last Monday, Beaudry overcame a minor crash on the downhill portion of the race to finish eighth, making her the first British Columbia skier to complete the race. B.C. skiers earned a record 20 medals surpassing the old record of 17 at a national meet.
Beaudry was ninth in the five-kilometre interval start, free technique race Tuesday, posting the fastest time in her first loop but being overtaken on the subsequent one. In Wednesday's free technique 1.2 km sprint Beaudry had the fastest qualifying time, resulting in a good starting position. The Duchess Park secondary school student took advantage of her position to move through the quarterfinals and semifinals to the A final where she placed fourth.
Beaudry finished third for girls born in 1994 in the overall aggregate points total at the end of the cross-country meet.
With the ski season over Beaudry returns to DPSS to catch up on all the homework she's missed over the past couple months, luckily she has a month off before beginning off-season training in May.
"I'm pretty excited to take some time off, catch up with school and friends in Prince George," she said.
