The second annual Sigge's P'ayakentsut is in the books and race chair Dirk Rohde said it was a solid sophomore showing for the event.
The race saw 450 cross-country ski racers hit the trails, 100 more than last year. Despite somewhat icy conditions on the course, the event ran smoothly. Neal Kindree, the champion local mountain bike racer, provided some 麻豆社国产flavour by placing second in the 50-kilometre men's race - his first Nordic ski race ever.
"I thought it was a very successful second year for us," Rohde said. "There were very few problems with how the race was organized and we were happy that our adult numbers were up."
Rohde said he still hopes to see more adults take part in the event and admitted that the kids' portion of the race saw a drop in numbers.
"The problem we had this year was that our race happened to fall on the same weekend as the B.C. Winter Games," he said. "So as a result we saw a bit of a drop for the kids. I've been told it was an anomaly that the Games were this weekend and they only happen every two years, so we're not that worried about the slight drop."
He added that the race attracted entrants from as far away as Virginia, but that next year there will be a push for more international entrants.
"I thought it was another excellent race," said Anders Bjorklund, owner of Sigge's, the Vancouver Nordic ski shop. "As the title sponsor, I think moving forward this event has a lot of potential to get even bigger and better. Regardless of age or skill, there's a race distance for everyone and that's what makes the event so good."
Bjorklund pointed to organizers bringing in the well-known Steve King for announcing, the new heated tents and the timing chips as three important improvements from last year.
"I think one thing organizers could do is promote and market the race a little bit more," he said. "If we could reach out to skiers across other provinces or in North America, it could be a huge boost for the race. But we couldn't be happier to be on board with this race and our brand was represented well."
As for the race, Colin Abbott of the Callaghan Valley Training Centre took first place in the 50 km race with a time of two hours, 30 minutes, 47 seconds. Kindree finished second, 1:13 behind Abbott, and said it was an interesting experience.
"The P'ayak was a swift kick in the ass," Kindree said. "It seems to have come as a surprise to many people that I was able to place so well at the P'ayak and I can understand why. I have no background as a Nordic ski racer and indeed, it was my first ski race."
Kindree pointed to the cardio he's developed from years of mountain biking, rock climbing and slacklining as main reasons for his strong racing debut.
"I was hoping to win the P'ayak, but I skied poorly on the first lap and was unable to make up lost time," Kindree said. "I know of several things I can do to better my performance for next year and I see no reason why I shouldn't shave minutes off my race time. I would like to continue participating in the sport and I think it could be a very good fit for me to ski in the winter and bike in the summer."
Other winners included Kelly Geisheimer (50 km female), Colin Ferrie (30 km male), Carolyn Daubeny (30 km female), Grant Wilburn (15 km male), Adriene Underhill (15 km female), Kalum Utley (youth 15 km male) and Nicki Murdoch (youth 15 km female).
Other 麻豆社国产athletes who fared well included Max Saenger (fifth in men's 50K after leading at the halfway point), Rua Reed (11th in women's 50K), Chris Bishop (ninth in men's 30K) and Laura O'Neill (seventh in women's 15K).
Rohde said the organizing group is looking at ways to build the event up and will be gathering information from feedback surveys distributed to the participants.
He added that registration for the 2013 P'ayak will open in the next few weeks with early bird prizes of season's passes to WOP up for grabs.
For more information and full results from the race, visit www.payak.ca.
