Quebec Athletes Enjoy Golden Weekend in Canada Cup Races at Nakkertok Ski Centre Léo Grandbois, Bronwyn Williams and Tory Audet Golden take top spots on podium

GATINEAU, Que.—Leo Grandbois enjoyed a golden sweep of men’s races, while Bronwyn Williams and Tory Audet each grabbed a gold medal of their own at the Eastern Canada Cup at the Nakkertok Ski Centre over the weekend.

Coined the Candy Cane Cup which is part of the domestic Canada Cup race series, nearly 600 athletes hit the start line for Saturday’s classic cross-country-ski sprint races, and Sunday’s 10-kilometre distance race in the free technique.

Weekend Highlights:

• Léo Grandbois (Orford, Que.) skis to double gold in men’s open race;
• Carleton University student-athlete, Bronwyn Williams (Cantley, Que.) captured the gold medal in women’s distance race;;
• Tory Audet (Chelsea, Que.) won her second Canada Cup medal in as may week’s. Just 17- years-old, Audet sprinted to women’s gold. Audet was third in the distance race;
• 18-year-old junior skier, Elie-Anne Tremblay of Quebec City, was third in the sprint;
• Tory Audet was the top U20 women’s athlete in the sprint. Alexandre Bourque was tops in men’s U20 sprint category;
• University of Ottawa’s Emma Archibald (Fall River, N.S.) won the women’s sprint and distance race in the standing Para-Nordic classification;
• Catherine Vaillant (Prevost, Que.) was the top sit-skier;
• Félix Lafond (Saint-Jérôme, Que.) was the winner in the men’s Paranordic standing distance competition
• Léo Grandbois finished just over 10 seconds ahead of Xavier Lefebvre (Sainte-Julie, Que.)
• Last year’s double gold medalist, Julian Smith (Oxenden, Ont.), finished third in the men’s 10-kilometre open category;

Athlete Quotes:

 “It’s always good to win in a sprint and do the distance the next day. I’m happy with the form in general. Sunday was a lot harder than (the sprint race) I thought. It was a course that I had to ski well because there were not many hills, but I am happy with the effort I put in.”

“The volunteers did an excellent job on the trails. I didn’t race strategic at all; I trusted my form and it worked really well.”
…Léo Grandbois (Quebec)

“It was great, it’s so nice and warm here, compared to Sovereign Lake B.C. where I raced last weekend. My skis were fast, big thanks to my wax techs for a great day”.
…Tory Audet (Quebec)

 “Super, super fun race today, I really enjoyed skiing the 6 laps and tracking down the other skiers. I always love racing on my home trails at Nakkertok, there is always lots of people cheering me on.”
…Bronwyn Williams (Quebec)

Bronwyn Williams
Photo: Tim Austen/ ENGNE

Race Results:

Canada Cup – December 10: Classic Sprint

Complete Results:

About ENGNE

Évènements Nordiques Gatineau Nordic Events (ENGNE) was founded by three local ski clubs (Chelsea Nordiq Ski Club, Nakkertok Nordic Ski Association, Club Skinouk) plus the regions premier community ski festival, the Gatineau Loppet, to host the Gatineau stage of Ski Tour Canada 2016, a FIS World Cup Event.  ENGNE also hosted the Nordiq Canada Canadian Ski Championships in 2019 and continues to manage the legacy of these events in partnership with the founding clubs.

The mission of ENGNE is to host, organize, and promote major events and competitions in the field of cross-country skiing aimed at offering an enriching experience for all participants and fans, promoting the practice of amateur and competitive sport and a healthy lifestyle, as well as broadening the reputation of Canada’s Capital Region as a sports and cultural destination of choice.

About Nordic Cup/Canada Cup Race Series:

Canada’s cross-country ski athletes will have equal opportunity to compete in two regional races in either Eastern or Western Canada in December prior to heading west following the holiday break for the Olympic and FIS Nordic Junior/U23 World Ski Championships trials.

The FIS Canada Cup Series provides the country’s high-performance nordic athletes the opportunity to earn FIS points without leaving their region by competing in two regional race series opportunities in Eastern and Western Canada. The FIS sanctioning of an event only affects the elite Open category. All other race categories will be run as Provincial Cups. U20 athletes racing in their respective East-West FIS Canada Cup Series will have the opportunity to qualify for a Nordiq Canada development trip to US SuperTour Period III. Selection criteria will be outlined in the forthcoming NST Trip Selection Criteria.

December Nordic Cup/Canada Cup Calendar:

December 16-18 – Mont Sainte-Anne, Que. East

Nordiq Canada is the governing body of para nordic and cross-country skiing in Canada, which is the nation’s optimal sport and recreational activity with more than one million Canadians participating annually. Its 60,000 members include athletes, coaches, officials and skiers of all ages and abilities. With the support of its valued corporate partners – Swix, Lanctôt Sports, Polar and Pembroke – along with the Government of Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Paralympic Committee, Own the Podium, Nordiq Canada develops Olympic, Paralympic and world champions. For more information on Nordiq Canada, please visit us at https://nordiqcanada.ca.