Sun Valley cross-country ski racers Mike Sinnott and Morgan Arritola placed among the top skiers last weekend in NorAm Cup races staged in wintry Canadian weather within the British Columbia interior.
The city of Vernon, B.C., Canada west of Glacier National Park hosted two days of races for 131 of the most promising Canadian and U.S. racers at Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre in the Silver Star Provincial Recreation Area near Vernon's Okanagan Lake.
In a steady snowfall, last year's Dartmouth College Nordic captain Sinnott made the finals out of 60 men and placed fourth in Sunday's Teck Cominco Sprint Heat Classic on a 1.1-kilometer course.
Sun Valley Olympic Development racer and former Middlebury College skier Colin Rodgers was third in the same race, Reid Pletcher ninth and Benjamin True 23rd. Other Sun Valley results in Sunday's classic sprints:
Senior Women's 1.1k: 8—Nicole DeYong (finalist). 16—Mali Noyes (quarterfinalist). 20—Kate Underwood (quarterfinalist). Junior Men's 1.1k: 8—Noah Hoffman (finalist). 14—Taylor Sundali (quarterfinalist). 29—Ben Page (quarterfinalist).
Fairfield resident and U.S. Nordic Ski Team racer Arritola was the top American and fourth overall in Saturday's Haywood NorAm Interval Start Freestyle races. Arritola (31:56) was just 39 seconds off the winning pace of Canadian National Ski Team racer Dasha Gaiazova (31:16).
Kate Underwood finished 10th of 41 racers in 33:19 and Nicole DeYong of Fischer was 14th in 33:52. Winning her class and placing 16th was Mali Noyes (34:21) while Kate Whitcomb of Fischer/Craft ended up 17th overall in 34:26.
Canada's Ivan Babikov (38:18) captured Saturday's men's 15k freestyle event in a 91-racer field. Winning his class and placing 11th overall was Sun Valley's Noah Hoffman in 40:16, just under two minutes behind the winning racer on a cold day with temperatures of 10 degrees.
Other Sun Valley men were Benjamin True 21st in 41:35, Factory Team racer Mike Sinnott 24th in 41:59, Fischer/Craft racer Colin Rodgers 29th in 42:25, Taylor Sundali 56th in 45:25 (20th class), Scott Krankkala 61st in 45:57 (22nd class) and Ben Page 78th in 48:28.
