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Kimberley cross-country skiers add two more medals

Team BC scores four medals in cross-country skiing; Kimberley athletes contribute to three of them
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Mollly Miller racing at the Canada Games.

How about those Kimberley cross-country skiers? When a town as small as Kimberley sends only two athletes to the Canada Games and they come home with three medals, that’s something to be very proud of.

On Saturday, Team BC picked up a silver in the Women’s Relay and a bronze in the Men’s. Molly Miller of Kimberley, only 13 and in her first Canada Games, had a big contribution to BC’s silver medal.

In the first transition, Team BC was sitting in sixth place when Miller started out on the course.

“I caught the first two athletes pretty quickly and stayed with them until about one kilometer in and then I passed the Ontario skier.  I was happy to know we were in medal contention,” said Miller.

Team BC continued to gain through the relay and took second place. The BC team consisted of Katherine Weaver (North Vancouver), Molly Miller (Kimberley), Hannah Mehain (Vernon) and Eliza-Jane Kitchen (North Vancouver).

The men’s relay team obviously fed off the energy of the women’s silver. Julien Locke (Nelson), Colin Ferrie (Kimberley), David Palmer (Revelstoke) and Geoffrey Richards (Rossland) had a similar start to the women and were chasing the pack after the first two legs.  When Palmer began the third leg he was in a dead head for third position.  “Everyone was going really hard off the start and I managed to get in front for a bit but then I crashed and broke a pole.”  In the 15km race earlier in the week, Palmer also broke a pole but, once again he was given a replacement pole by another team on the course.

On the final leg Richards started off in fourth position. “I felt good heading out and saw potential to move up.  I was just working and fighting hard to catch the leaders.”

Ferrie had previously won a gold in the sprint last week. Team BC took four medals in cross-country skiing with Kimberley athletes contributing to three of them.

 



Carolyn Grant

About the Author: Carolyn Grant

I have been with the Kimberley Bulletin since 2001 and have enjoyed every moment of it.
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