Speed merchants Jesse Cockney and Brent McMurtry conquered big climbs and dodged spectacular crashes to kick off the 2013 cross-country Haywood Ski Nationals at Whistler Olympic Park in controversial fashion, Saturday (March 23).
A mere 15 metres to the finish line in the team sprint, Cockney, the future of Canadian sprinting and Widmer, an Olympic veteran and top-ranked domestic racer, were in full flight but on an obvious collision course.
Both powerful finishers appeared to choose the same line en route to the finish line. The ensuing contact flipped Widmer onto his back, skis thrown upright, as Cockney cruised to victory.
“I felt like I had a line. We were both fighting for the same lane. We both probably felt like we had the right to it, but I held the spot,” Cockney said.
He and McMurtry took the victory to defend the national title they also won last year in Val Cartier, Que.
“It’s a good way to start nationals. Brett and I won it last year so it was great to defend the title,” Cockney said. It wasn’t their first collision. Widmer was on the wrong end of a similar collision earlier this year in Duntroon, Ont. in a qualifying race for world championships.
The two discussed the collision afterwards, and Widmer and partner Russell Kennedy filed a protest, which was overruled by race officials.
Two Yukon teams claimed the silver and bronze, as the highly-touted team of David Greer and Knute Johnsgaard finished second, while Colin Abbott and Canadian national team member Graham Nishikawa finished third.
McMurtry takes great pride in the six-by-1.1 kilometre team sprint. He hasn’t won many races this year, so a win at nationals is a sweet victory. The Calgary native said the dispute at the end of the race shows how hard everyone is pushing.
“We’re all competitive. We’re teammates, we’re good friends, but at the end of the day there’s pride on the line. Four out of the past five years I’ve won, so it’s something I take seriously,” McMurtry said.
Cockney said McMurtry was the real reason for the victory.
“Brent skied so strong and gave me a huge lead on the final lap. All the other guys were gassed trying to catch up to me,” Cockney said.
McMurtry tried to win the race a lap early, when he put the hurt on the field at the end of his final lap. A four-time team sprint champ, McMurtry knew pacing would be the key to his win on the day.
“I talked to Jess before the final and asked if he wanted a lead and if I should give it to him. He said he wasn’t feeling super snappy and a little bit of help would be an advantage. From the first climb I tried to go hard and control my speed,” McMurtry said. “In a race like this, pacing is so important. You don’t have long to recover.”
The team sprint has each athlete ski a lap of an undulating one kilometre sprint course before tagging off to their partner in a roller derby-style transition area. The race is only held once a year nationally, but the format also resulted in Canada’s only gold medal at the cross-country World Championships ever.
The Yukon double medal performance was impressive. Nishikawa, 30, said he remembers when the Yukon didn’t have enough skiers for the team relay. Now they’re a force to be reckoned with nationally.
“Now we have a hard time picking which guys will race. Everyone is so fast now.”
