North Bay Nordic Athletes come home with a medal and strong finishes

Madi Fraser and Aaron Birosh, two North Bay Nordic Junior Race Team and Ontario Ski Team athletes returned home from British Columbia in the wee hours of Tuesday morning (December 11).

They had been training at altitude just outside of Kelowna, BC since November 30.

The athletes capped off their intense seven days of training with two days of racing against athletes from British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and beyond in the Teck BC Cup and Haywood NorAm ski races.

And what great races they were.

A first year Junior girl, 16 year old Madi skied a grueling course to proudly bring home a bronze medal in the 7.5 km classic race, while placing first in her age group.

First year Junior boy Aaron Birosh raced in a tough, competitive category placing 13th in the 10 km classic race and 5th in his age group.

In the 7.5 km skate race, Madi placed 6th overall and 3rd in her age group, while Aaron duked it out for 13th overall and 6th in his age group.

Both athletes, Chippewa Secondary School students, arrived back in North Bay proud of their success, having trained all spring, summer and fall to get to this season opener.

Madi and Aaron were appointed to the Ontario Ski Team (top three athletes in the province in their age group) earlier this year.

They spent 10 days in Oberhof, Germany this August with their North Bay Coach Dr. Toivo Koivukoski and Ontario Coach Pavlina Sudrich, training in a snow tunnel and getting ready for the 2012-2013 race season.

They will compete next, along with the rest of their team-mates (including the Nipissing Lakers Varsity Nordic Ski Team), in Thunder Bay in early January.

They will also participate in three other provincial races before heading to the National Nordic races in Whistler, BC in March of 2013.

The North Bay Nordic Junior Race Team is coached by Dr. Toivo Koivukoski with the assistance of Sera Tempio. The team is financially supported by the North Bay Nordic Ski Club, Rahnmet, Cementation, Investors Group, and Condor Airlines.

Submitted to BayToday.ca