By John Cowan
There must be something in the water. Muskoka’s para-athletes have spent the past month winning at all levels of high-calibre competition.
Arrowhead Nordic Ski Club member Nathan Perry has come off of winning a double silver medal weekend at the Ontario Para Winter Games. Add that to Collin Cameron, who competed at the World Para Ski Championships winning the title of World Champion in sit skiing and sit skiing biathlon in Ostersund, Sweden in the last two weeks and it’s been a winning start to 2023.
The County of Durham hosted the Ontario Para Winter Games with over nine different sports being held throughout the county. Brimacomb ski resort hosted both the para-alpine and the para-nordic events.
Perry competed in the sit skiing sprints on Saturday in a 600-meter course followed by Kings Court sprint heats. The start of the event was delayed for warmer temperatures of -11C. Perry went on to take the Silver Medal in the Saturday race behind Sudbury’s Konan Blaise.
On Sunday there was a 24 C change in temperature with temperatures hovering at 0 C. Perry was competing in the medium distance event of 2.5 km which is one of his specialties, and he finished with another silver medal in a close finish against Konan Blaise.
Two weekends ago, Arrowhead Nordic Ski Club (ANSC) hosted Canada’s longest-running classic ski loppet, the Muskoka Loppet. The Muskoka Loppet has now included a para category for both para standing and para sit skiing. Perry competed in the 4.5 km race route and won his category.
He will be travelling to Renfrew this coming weekend along with other members of the Arrowhead Nordic Ski Club’s ARC program to compete at the Ontario Winter Games which has integrated para skiing into their program. This multisport game will see Nathan racing against many of the same athletes he competed against last weekend.
In three weeks, Perry will be representing his province at the Canada Winter Games as a member of Team Ontario. The Canada Games will be hosted by the province of Prince Edward Island from February 26 to March 6. This multisport championship brings the best athletes from around the country to compete for points to win the coveted Canada Games Flag. Nathan will be joined by sit skiers Erica Scarff (Mono Nordic, Orangeville), Tanya Quesnel (Kivi Park Nordic, Sudbury), and para standing skiers Logan Lariviere (Kivi Park Nordic, Sudbury) with his guide Laydon Bursey (Laurentian University Nordic) and Madison Mullin (Mono Nordic, Orangeville) with her guide Faith Goudie (Laurentian University Nordic). The ski competition will be taking place at Mark Arnedz Provincial Park at Brookvale. The park is named after multiple paralympic medallist Mark Arendz.
Port Sydney is a hotbed of provincial, national, and international talent of skiers.. Perry had the experience of training with Cameron last November at the national training camp at the Canmore Nordic Center Provincial Park. Cameron is a huge inspiration to Nathan. Both of these athletes are leaders in showcasing the possibilities of adaptive sports.
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