After days of delay, the winner of this year’s Val and Ivor Hedman Centaloppet Cup has been announced.
Six-year-old Janae Neufeld was named this year’s winner of the Centaloppet Cup, which was held at the Flin Flon Ski Club on Mar. 4.
The cup is not given to the fastest finisher of the event. Instead, ski club members use a weighted system of time corrections, focusing on age, skill level, final time and others to determine the cup’s ultimate winner.
This year, a malfunction with the event’s scoring system prevented the ski club from naming an official winner until Tuesday.
While the cup winner was undetermined, the ski club honoured the fastest skier around the course during the event – 17-year-old Nathan Whitbread, who made it across the finish line in a blazing 10:27.
Bob Jarvis and Penny Grove were also named runners-up for the event. It took Jarvis 14:16 to finish his run, while Grove made her way around the course in 17:45.
More than 70 people took part in the Centaloppet, the 43rd annual run for the event.
Other awards had already been given out following the event. These included the happiest face, which was won by Yumi Yamaguchi, as well as the best-dressed skier – Laurie Bellisle for her Wonder Woman costume – and the largest family, the Plamondons, who saw seven family members take part.
The youngest participant in this year’s Centaloppet was Luke Unrau, who is just one year old. His older brother, three-year-old Matthew, was the event’s youngest skier. Matthew and his sister Charlotte won the award for “most tearful finish.”
Tony Spooner was the oldest skier in the field.
Greg Bellisle won the award for most sportsmanlike skier, while daughter Ariana won for most spectacular wipeout. The most determined skier was Danielle Rubin, and Mike Spencer earned an award for most spectacular finish.
Brent Neufeld earned the “best dragger” award after completing the full course while towing his young son Nash behind in a ski trailer.
