Five local high school athletes and three senior racers made Revelstoke proud at the 2025 Nordiq Canada Ski Nationals in Canmore, Alta., March 17 to 23.

The athletes included Revelstoke Secondary School's Regan Miller (U14), Ember Smith and Hamish Woodman (U16), and Emilie Paquin and Fiona Woodman (U18), as well as the city's Ruby Serrouya and Maeve MacLeod (U20), and Marlie Molinaro (U23).

After Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club (RNSC) trained all winter for the event, Hamish Woodman came home with the national first-place aggregate for the 2010 boys, the highest accomplishment for a racer his age. Smith and Fiona Woodman were second and third, respectively, in Queen of the Mountain, a fun new category for the nationals.

RNSC had several other top-10 finishes as it helped B.C. win the divisional aggregate for the second consecutive year, a huge accomplishment given that many of the province's Nordic ski clubs pale in size to those of Ontario and Quebec.

The competition started March 17 as the U16s and U18s raced five and 10 kilometres, respectively, in the interval start free technique (skate) on Canmore's gruelling World Cup course. Hamish Woodman rounded out the extended podium in sixth place among 137 athletes, while Smith clinched sixth in the 124-athlete U16 girls' category. Smith and Woodman found themselves running with two of the fastest descents.

March 18, the U16 and U18 race classic sprints saw Hamish Woodman, Smith and Fiona Woodman all make heats. Smith secured a spot in the semifinals but didn't advance, while Hamish and Fiona Woodman both raced hard but wouldn't score the times needed to advance out of their heats.

March 19 was a well-deserved rest day for the high school racers as most went to cheer on their senior teammates during their first event: the 10-km interval start free technique. Serrouya and MacLeod finished seventh and 11th, respectively, in the U20 division, while Molinaro sped into seventh for U23.

March 20 was classic mass start distance day, with the U16s racing 10 km and the U18s racing 15 km on the World Cup course. Hamish Woodman narrowly missed the extended podium, placing seventh, while Smith and Miller raced into fifth and 24th, respectively. Fiona Woodman double-poled past the race leader in the finish corral to come ninth. These events made for some of the largest start chevrons most of the RNSC athletes had experienced, with more than 100 skiers starting races together.

March 21 saw all eight RNSC racers in action at the divisional mixed relays, where four-person teams race two legs of classic and two legs of skate (one woman and one man on each discipline). B.C. took home seven of a possible 18 podiums. Smith, Hamish Woodman, Serrouya, MacLeod and Molinaro, all made the podium or extended podium on this exciting race day.

In the final two days' 1.3-km World Cup sprint loop for the senior athletes on March 22 and 23, Molinaro made finals for the U23s and finished sixth. MacLeod narrowly missed finals by three-tenths of a second, while Serrouya skied into fourth place. At March 23's mass start classic, Molinaro came in seventh after hauling 30 km. For the U20s, Serrouya found herself in fourth, MacLeod came 16th and Fiona made the top 20 for the 20 km.

RNSC landed fourth place out of all B.C. clubs, behind only the Black Jack, Hollyburn and Strathcona clubs. Athletes express gratitude to their coaches, the wax techs and more than a half-dozen Revelstoke businesses that sponsored this year's nationals.

Many U18 skiers are now off to Sovereign Lake Nordic Club for the Sovereign 2 SilverStar Ski Marathon in Vernon next weekend, April 5 and 6, which marks a fun and final hurrah to end the season.