Mixed weather conditions greeted skiers for the Victorian Junior Championship at Falls Creek this weekend. Visibility was limited for the classic races on Saturday, while rain and wet snow slowed everyone down in the freestyle events on Sunday. Simon Flower from Mt Beauty and Georgia Merritt from Ivanhoe were the overall open junior champions, Flower a clear winner in the men's 10km event on both days while Merritt had some tough competition particularly in the women's 5km freestyle. The races were organised by the Wangaratta Ski Club (WSC), with around 50 athletes contesting the competitions each day.

Runner-up to Flower in the 10km classic was Robert Jones from Ivanhoe, however the next day Jones had problems with an injured shoulder and withdrew from the 10km freestyle event in the first kilometre. Paul Kovacs from Bright was clear in second place after the first 2.5km lap in the freestyle, then was caught by Phillip Bellingham of Mt Beauty after 5km.

Bellingham went on to take second place, while Kovacs dropped back to 4th behind Colby Rook of NSW before sprinting back into third in the final straight. In the women's 5km classic Emily Bews from Anglesea sprinted to the lead at the start then dropped back several places after a big fall coming down onto the Hoppet start. Merritt skied a solo race in front, slowly pulling away to win by over a minute ahead of Imogen Blanche from Wangaratta and Ashleigh Spittle from Ivanhoe. In the 5km classic Merritt quickly established a solo lead again, however Blanche kept within striking distance for most of the race and made a last ditch attempt to bridge the gap in the final 500m. Merritt just hung on the finish straight, winning by just 1 second. Spittle - the 2008 British Pursuit Champion (see Feb 6 report) - took third place overall once again, and was also runner-up in the U16 class behind Blanche.

Mark Pollock from Albury and WSC was the run-away winner in both 5km classic and freestyle races in the junior men's U16 class, leaving Dyllan Harmer of Wodonga and Alasdair Tutt of Wangaratta to duel it out for the other podium places. Tutt took second place ahead of Harmer in the classic race, then in the freestyle event Harmer came from behind to claim second place, just 6 seconds ahead of Tutt.

Anna Trnka from Mt Beauty made a very impressive win in the U14 2.5km classic, nearly two minutes ahead of Casey Wright. Trnka backed up to win the 2.5km freestyle, this time only one minute ahead of Megan Pollock from WSC. Misa Trnka won a close race ahead of Giles Richardson in the U14 boys classic event, while Risden Weatherall was too fast in the 2.5km freestyle the next day, winning comfortably. In the U12 2.5km events local Birkebeiner Nordic Ski Club skiers Sarah Hodge and Riley Mathews won on both days.

Results and reports are available on the Nordic Ways website. Other Australian cross country skiing news is available from :
www.hoppet.com.au/xc

Courtesy XC Files