Collingwood skier advances to Canada Winter Games

Three skiers belonging to the Highland Trailblazers ski club out of Highlands Nordic in Duntroon have been named to Team Ontario after the world junior trials earlier this month.

Collingwood resident Heidi Ohrling will be competing at the Canada Winter Games in Prince George, B.C in March.

Alex Stukator and Shelby Dickey were named as alternates.

Ohrling and Stukator are students at Collingwood Collegiate Institute and Dickey is a graduate of the school.

At the Haywood NorAm Buff Sprints and Ontario Cup races held at Highlands Nordic Jan 8-11, Ohrling ended the weekend with ninth, 16th and 14th place finishes in the junior women’s division.

A total of 28 racers representing Highlands Nordic competed in the four-day event. 

Erik Ohrling, Heidi’s brother, earned a spot on the podium with a third place finish on Jan. 8.

Oliver Grocott had the fastest qualifying time for juvenile boys Ontario Cup sprint race and finished first in the B finals or seventh overall. 

Just days before the event race organizers were on conference calls deciding if the series would have to be moved to Quebec or Thunder Bay but in the end they got the snow needed to host more than 400 athletes at Highlands Nordic for the competition.

The top skiers were competing for invitations to represent Canada at the 2015 World Junior and U23 World Championships in Kazakhstan.  Selections were also being made for provincial entries to the Canada Winter Games. 

While no athletes dominated all three events, the Haywood NorAm and Buff sprints, Haywood NorAm 30 km skiathlon, and 15 km skate, look for the following gold medal winners as possible future Olympians: Kevin Sandau and Graeme Killick, Katherine Stewart Jones and Emiley Nishikawa, and from Georgian Bay Nordic in Owen Sound, David Askwith and Julian Smith. 

For full results see www.zone4.ca.