The Sofie Manarin Nickel Loppet was held this past Sunday at Laurentian University. The Sofie Loppet is the 1st event in the 2012 Sudbury Fitness Challenge. Hopefully many of the skiers will continue to participate in all the events of the Fitness Challenge. With 7 events in the Fitness Challenge, there are plenty of opportunities to try out a whole range of great sports – skiing, running, swimming, paddling, mountain biking and a quadrathlon.

Just over 70 skiers took part in this year’s longstanding event. With rain earlier in the week, and an icy mess left behind, I’m sure that everyone was preparing for a tough ski. The weather never seems to cooperate for the Sofie, and we have skied in everything from rain to ice to incredibly cold temps. I’m sure that everyone was cheering when Saturday brought new snow to the trails! Jody did an amazing job grooming, the trails were in incredible shape. The weather Sunday was great, -7 and slightly overcast. The snow was a bit abrasive, making waxing a bit tricky for us longer distance racers.

With skis finally all waxed and racers ready to go, we first cheered on the para nordic and young racers before our event started. It was great to see the really young skiers participating in their first ski race, some as young as 2! Following the kids races, skiers lined up at the start line, and held a moment of silence in honour of Sofie. This is always a very emotional moment, seeing all the ski poles raised in the air to celebrate Sofie’s life. At exactly 10:30 we raced out of the start line in a mad dash to reach the 2 tracks that would carry us around the course. Thankfully there were no wipeouts this time! Skiers raced either 7k, 14k or 30k (1,2 or 4 laps of the course).

The day was a great success for Kate and Neil and I. Kate took 18 minutes off her 7k time from last year, and has decided to try the 14k next year. Neil was quite a bit faster in the 14k, and I took 13 minutes off my 2011 time in the 30k. The trails held up beautifully throughout all 4 laps, and my wax stayed a perfect ‘5’ for grip the entire race! Thanks Patti for taking the time to wax my skis for me!

Race prizes were handed out the minute us 30k’rs finished racing. Sudbury Fitness Challenge medals were awarded, and the huge spread of great draw prizes from the Outside Store meant almost every skier won something. One lucky racer even won an entire ski package!

I encourage all Sofie skiers to continue participating in all Sudbury Fitness Challenge events. And those who didn’t ski, it isn’t too late to take part in the Challenge and try out one or all of the other 6 events. The next Fitness Challenge event is the Sudbury Rocks!! race May 13th.

All Results Here