Arrowhead Nordic Ski Club’s youth race crew, more commonly known as ARC, has been very busy over the past two weeks with the culmination of what has been a very successful ski season, and it’s not over yet.
Although the athletes have been training two to three times per week since mid-September, the competitive season started off rather slowly with a late snowfall and many events being postponed or cancelled due to the pandemic. However, as restrictions have eased more and more events have been added to the schedule resulting in an almost “normal” ski race season.
Two weekends ago the team travelled to Lakefield where Lakefield College hosted an Ontario Cup race for the first time ever. The race brought together more than 160 athletes for two days of competition. All of the athletes completed in both the interval start classic event on Saturday and the mass-start skate event on Sunday. Many set personal bests, and all of them finished their races with no broken equipment and lots of good vibes.
“Because of COVID many of our athletes had not competed in a mass-start event,” said coach Jon Strickland. “Although there was a lot of nervous energy from all clubs, our athletes relied on and encouraged each other for support and ultimately met the challenge head on.”
Corbin Wendell, the most senior boy on the team, just missed the podium on Sunday with a personal best performance. James Laughton, Claire Parsons, and Braunwyn Strickland also dug deep and had incredible races. But it was the experience of travelling to their first-ever, whole-team O-Cup that was the highlight.
Last weekend, seven of the crew made the six hour drive to Sault Ste. Marie where The Soo Finish Ski Club hosted the Ontario Youth Championships (OYC). The event brought together over 200 athletes all under the age of 14. As has become habit, the Arrowhead Race Crew’s team spirit shone.
“It was an incredible event!” said Coach Jon Strickland, “The organizing committee pulled the whole event together in less than five weeks and it was so well organized!”
“A full weekend event can be exhausting,” said Braunwyn Strickland, “but not when you have this crew to hang out with. We like to be around each other. We love cheering and being the loudest team on site. We choose to show up for the first of our racers and leave only after our last teammate is done. Because we only have two girls this year, Claire and I totally support each other and the boys are great too, they just see us as one of them.”
All seven athletes participated in both Saturday’s individual skate races and Sunday’s mass-start classic event. Having experienced the mass-start race at the O-Cup the week previous, the athletes were much more confident. Jayden Brake, who also is a NASCAR super-fan, used his auto-racing knowledge to his advantage in the mass-start two-lap ski race. He drafted, cut to the inside of corners, and passed with incredible precision. What’s more, his two teammates, Sam Parsons and Emmett Shalla, were right there with him. The trio finished 17th, 18th and 19th respectively in their division. Emmett Shalla also won the U14 Division technique award for classic technique, an honour for both him and his coaches.
Matthew Shalla, who has aged out of the event, travelled with the team and was on site each morning with the coaches helping to test wax, wax skis and was on the sidelines of every race ready with extra poles in case of an equipment malfunction. He was also a key player in getting another club’s athlete his ski, after it fell off during the mass-start classic race.
“Our parents and athletes really believe in the race program and in the ski community and are always supporting us. We consider ourselves incredibly lucky as coaches,” said Coach Jon Strickland.
As the snow melts and the season winds down, the crew will attend one last fun spring-skiing event called the King’s Cross Sprints, hosted by neighbouring club, Georgian Nordic.
Ontario Cup results
Interval start classic
U18 boys:
Corbin Wendell 8th
U16 boys:
Matthew Shalla 20th
U14 boys:
James Laughton 4th
Sam Parsons 9th
Jayden Brake 11th
Emmett Shalla 13th
Ryker Harris 15th
U14 girls
Braunwyn Strickland 5th
Claire Parsons 6th
Mass-start skate
U18 boys:
Corbin Wendell 5th
U16 boys:
Matthew Shalla 21st
U14 boys:
James Laughton 5th
Jayden Brake 10th
Sam Parsons 12th
Emmett Shalla 13th
Ryker Harris 18th
U14 girls:
Braunwyn Strickland 3rd
Claire Parsons 4th
Ontario Youth Championship results
Interval start skate
2008 girls:
Claire Parsons 13th
2009 girls:
Braunwyn Strickland 3rd
2008 boys:
Sam Parsons 11th
Jayden Brake 12th
Austin Dumont 21st
2009 boys:
Emmett Shalla 6th
Theo Briand 14th
Mass-start classic
2008 girls:
Claire Parsons 10th
2009 girls:
Braunwyn Strickland 3rd
2008 boys:
Jayden Brake 12th
Sam Parsons 13th
Austin Dumont 20th
2009 boys:
Emmett Shalla 6th
Theo Briand 12th
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