Alex Harvey, only 17 years old, stunned the Canadian ski community today by winning the men's 10km classic race at the Canadian Championships in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The son of Canadian ski hero Pierre Harvey skied with maturity beyond his years, starting conservatively and gradually increasing his temp throughout the race to win by 1.5 seconds.

Although Harvey is a junior boy, he is racing as a junior man at the National Championships and so will win the junior gold medal with his performance. Second place in open men went to top senior man Stephen Hart, with national team skier Graham Nishikawa in third. Adam Kates of the Exel Racing Team will claim senior men's bronze with his 4th place finish in open men.

Quebec also celebrated gold in the women's event, as Dasha Gaiazova dominated the 5km classic event to win by 38.2 seconds over Olympian Milaine Theriault. Tasha Betcherman of the home club Lappe showed her increasing late season form by taking 3rd, just 5.2 seconds out of second.

After Harvey, the top junior men were hometown favourite Chris Butler in the silver medal position, who recorded 29:56.40 for ninth overall, and Calgary's Brett McMurtry, who finished with 30:31.20 for 13th overall and the junior bronze medal.

Brittany Webster, a member of Ontario's Highland Trailblazers Club, was the top junior woman on the day after posting a time of 17:22.30. Junior women's silver went to Mallory Deyne with Cathy Jaques in third.

In other results from Tuesday, Sarah Hewitt, Hannah Perry and Natasha Kullas took the top three podium spots, respectively, in the junior girls category, while Heidi Widmer, Flurina Keller and Kara Jaspers were the top-three contestants in juvenile girls competition. In the standing disabled category, the top three finishers were Tyler Mosher, Jerry King and Mikhail Gorbounob.

Haakon Lenes was the top finisher in junior boys competition, followed by Frederic Touchette and Michael Somppi. The top-three finalists in juvenile boys competition were Evan Bruce, Martin Lenes and Anthony Laroche.

Nationals action continues tomorrow in Thunder Bay with the mass start skating events.

Complete results are available at www.zone4.ca.

With contribution from Cross Country Canada