Taking full advantage of competing in their own backyard (Kivi Park, to be precise), the Sudbury Nordic ski contingent making their presence felt in in a big way in both the High-School and Open Divisions of the 2025 OFSAA Nordic Ski Championships last week.

The local junior high-school boys event would see the Lockerby Vikings grabbing the spotlight, sweeping all three podium placements on Thursday in the 5km individual race (Gord Farrell – gold; Ewan Duncan – silver; Cameron Young – bronze), then adding Eden Abols (16th – JB Open) to the mix to earn silver in the relays on Friday.

“Mr (Kerry) Abols (Lockerby head coach and OFSAA chair) is pretty serious about our training – and he’s pretty good at it, considering three of us had never skied before last year,” noted 15 year-old grade 10 talent Gord Farrell.

“We focused a lot on gliding; that’s kind of Mister Abol’s thing. It’s not really about how fast you can go but how much land you can cover in the fastest amount of time. We worked at least four days a week on that and it looks like it paid off.”

It should be noted that the relays on Friday are worth the price of admission alone (no, there was no admission fee necessary – just a figure of speech), given the craziness than ensues when six quartets of skiers are responsible for covering one kilometre each before tagging as they loop back into the main field where the spectators can enjoy the spectacle.

“There’s not much information given on contact; they just kind of send us out there,” said Farrell. “The handoff here as compared to track is way more chaotic. You’re obviously taking up more space with poles and skis and it’s a pretty condensed track – so it’s hard to control that.”

“I like the relays more than the distances races, just because I like the sprints with more speed instead of the 7km race,” noted senior high-school boys champion Corey Lacroix from Lo-Ellen. “I am always more excited for those to happen instead of the long ones.”

Competing at OFSAA Nordic for the third straight year and set to graduate and move on to either Laurentian or Ottawa in the fall, the former competitive hockey and soccer star acknowledged a different feeling that he experienced, this time around.

“I was just going out there and skiing as hard as I could because I knew it was my last chance at getting a medal at OFSAA,” said Lacroix, part of the Lo-Ellen team that finished fourth in the relays.

The two remaining locals who cracked the top three were Lo-Ellen junior girl Megan Pineau in the high-school division while Julian Luoma (Lo-Ellen) was third among the entire field of junior boys, also placing third in the open category and just 14 seconds back of race winner Jasper Tchir from Korah in Sault Ste Marie.

Though he did not secure a medal, Lo-Ellen senior Callum Wiss was outstanding in the Open SB race, placing fourth among the very best skiers in the province and finishing just four seconds back of bronze medal winner Ewan Pengra of Parry Sound High School.

Following are the top five in each of the four individual race categories, as well as Sudbury athletes who placed in the top half of the field in their grouping:

Junior Girls High-School (5 km)
1st - Emily Parry (Huntsville HS) - 17:53.8
2nd - Isla Kittmer (Mackenzie Community School - Deep River) - 18:40.7
3rd - Megan Pineau (Lo-Ellen Park) - 19:06.4
4th - Julia Lehman (Collingwood C.I.) - 19:26.5
5th - Tyne Walker (Huntsville HS) - 19:27.5
12th - Ewa Breckon (Lo-Ellen Park) - 20:06.4
22nd - Alex Hann (Lo-Ellen Park) - 21:28.9
36th - Alessandra Melo (Lo-Ellen Park) - 22:42.0

Junior Boys High-School (5 km)
1st - Gord Farrell (Lockerby) - 14:43.2
2nd - Ewan Duncan (Lockerby) - 15:53.7
3rd - Cameron Young (Lockerby) - 16:22.3
4th - Nic Britnell (St Mary's DCVI - St Marys) - 17:00.9
5th - Theo Briand (Huntsville HS) - 17:33.3
10th - Ben Lamarche (Lo-Ellen Park) - 17:53.3
11th - Luke Thomas (Lo-Ellen Park) - 18:07.7
22nd - Lucas Graham (Lo-Ellen Park) - 19:06.5
26th - Jack Mahaffy (Lo-Ellen Park) - 19:20.3
32nd - Maxime Belzile (ESMC - Sudbury) - 19:35.3
48th - Miguel Gauthier (ESMC - Sudbury) - 20:25.6

Junior Girls Open (5 km)
1st - Sofia Smith (Parry Sound) - 15:18.4
2nd - Anna Liisa Vurma (Twin Lakes SS - Orillia) - 15:32.0
3rd - Ella Chernoff (Lisgar C.I. - Ottawa) - 16:29.4
4th - Ella Semeniuk (St Pius X - Ottawa) - 16:42.5
5th - Sofia Yurack (St Mark - Manotick) - 16:44.7

Junior Boys Open (5 km)
1st - Jasper Tchir (Korah - SSM) - 13.59.8
2nd - Erich Schreiner (Glebe Collegiate - Ottawa) - 14.10.3
3rd - Julian Luoma (Lo-Ellen Park) - 14:13.7
4th - Jean-Jacques Michener (Collingwood C.I.) - 14:40.6
5th - Liam Pengra (Parry Sound) - 14:46.1
16th - Eden Abols (Lockerby Composite) - 16:09.1
21st - Chesley Godwin (Lo-Ellen Park) - 16:48.5

Senior Girls High-School (7 km)
1st - Kiana Charest (Thériault - Timmins) - 23:37.2
2nd - Maea Knights (Our Lady of the Bay - Collingwood) - 24:14.9
3rd - Ailsa Bogan (Orangeville DSS) - 25:35.9
4th - Madeleine Beauregard (Glebe Collegiate - Ottawa) - 25:49.2
5th - Gracie Dale (Lo-Ellen Park) - 26:18.0
12th - Misaki Diavolitsis (Lockerby Composite) - 27:04.1
22nd - Tyla MacLeod (Bishop Carter) - 28:49.6
24th - Lea Maki (Lo-Ellen Park) - 29:27.2
37th - Lea Lemieux (Lockerby Composite) - 30:54.5

Senior Boys High-School (7 km)
1st - Corey Lacroix (Lo-Ellen Park) - 22:18.7
2nd - Duncan Gray (Parry Sound) - 22:19.6
3rd - Daniel Meisenheimer (West Carleton SS - Dunrobin) - 22:52.9
4th - Adam Vanderzon (West Carleton SS - Dunrobin) - 23:07.5
5th - Nate Schiedel (St Mary's DCVI - St Marys) - 23:11.0
7th - Raphael Belzile (ESMC - Sudbury) - 23:28.5
21st - Austin Conroy (Lo-Ellen Park) - 24:23.8
38th - Isaac Longston (Lockerby Composite) - 25:46.2

Senior Girls Open (7 km)
1st - Chantal Kukulka (Thériault - Timmins) - 21:48.8
2nd - Jillian Daguerre (Thériault - Timmins) - 22:56.9
3rd - Elly Moore (Collingwood C.I.) - 22:57.7
4th - Bronwyn Parker (Nepean HS) - 23:03.6
5th - Kate de Beer (Superior Heights - SSM) - 23:07.3
17th - Maija Nener (Lo-Ellen Park) - 26:56.1

Senior Boys Open (7 km)
1st - Evan Rebane (Louis-Riel - Gloucester) - 18:40.8
2nd - Evan Moore (Collingwood C.I.) - 19:30.4
3rd - Ewan Pengra (Parry Sound) - 19:32.1
4th - Callum Wiss (Lo-Ellen Park) - 19:36.6
5th - Lluc Bou (Glebe Collegiate - Ottawa) - 19:41.9