Emily Dickson's skis didn't arrive until Tuesday morning, but that didn't stop her from blazing a trail to a gold medal at the Haywood Cross-Country Ski championships in Corner Brook, N.L. a few hours later.
It's quite the feat as the 16-year-old from Prince George's Caledonia Nordic Ski Club was coming off a four-medal performance at the Canadian Biathlon championship in Charlo, N.B.
Dickson won gold Tuesday in Corner Brook in the Junior Girls 10-kilometre race, clocking a time of 29:18.9 in the three-lap race.
"Emily didn't arrive here until Monday and her skis didn't arrive until today," said her CNSC coach Andrew Casey from Corner Brook. "She hadn't even skiied the course yet. She was 18th after the first lap, and first after the second lap. Each lap was within 10 seconds of each other and she took the win by 1.9 seconds.
"It's not really surprising, she's getting fitter and progressive in training. It's great to see and a pretty neat result."
Dickson beat out 55 skiiers, including Laura Leclair from Chelsea Nordic Club in Quebec who finished second and Canmore's Lauren Turcot in third.
Dickson wasn't the only CNSC skiier on the podium Tuesday in Newfoundland.
Kaia Andal, 14, won silver in the juvenile girls 5km freestyle, crossing the line in 15:00.7, 10.6 seconds behind Alison Pouw, of Nakkertok, Ont.
Heidi Ohrling of Highland Trailblazers from Duntroon, Ont. grabbed the bronze medal.
"It was a great race," said Casey. "Kaia started strong. They started in 50-second intervals and it's who can go the fastest. She was able to hold onto her position.
All athletes competing at the Blow Me Down Trails in Corner Brook dealt with a typical spring in Atlantic Canada.
"The first few days there was fresh snow and then no precipitation and 100km wind gusts," said Casey. "There's been hail and more wind gusts. It's affecting waxing on the classic skiing for sure, but skate skiing not so much. If anything, it makes the event challenging."
The 1.2km skate sprints are up next today, starting with the qualifiers in the morning.
