Crowds could almost hear the wedding bells tolling at the second annual Woppet race on Saturday (April 3) as high performance coach iLmar Heinicke scooped up Olympian Megan Tandy in the Callaghan Valley home stretch.
The Squamish-based elite biathlete and her coach were going off to get hitched that afternoon.
A laughing Tandy, Squamish's 2010 Olympian and World Cup racer, said the couple wanted to race on the day of their wedding because sport is a "big passion in life" for both of them.
"[Sport is] how we met, it's what brought us together. And we kind of thought, with the Pole and Pedal, we could have our last single race before the wedding, and then the next day our first man-and-wife race. So we said, 'Yeah, let's do it!'" she said.
The Woppet, hosted by the Callaghan Winter Sports Club, essentially signals the end of the cross country ski season, as well as the end of bachelorhood for Tandy and Heinicke.
Even though she was given a romantic lift across the finish line by her veil-wearing fianc茅, Tandy won the women's category in the 30-kilometre race.
Heinicke wound up in seventh place in the men's 30-kilometre event as he waited to ski the last lap with his bride-to-be. He finished about seven and a half seconds behind victorious Max Saenger - a race organizer and the manager of biathlon for the Whistler Olympic Park.
The following day, the newly-weds launched their married life in a similar fashion by entering yet another race.
SORCA's Super Toonie Sunday (April 4) allowed Woppet competitors to combine their skiing time with their cycling time for an overall standing in the first annual Pole and Pedal standings.
Tandy hopped on a mountain bike to join the Pole and Pedal race, winning the event with her combined time of two hours, 50 minutes and 16 seconds, putting her ahead of Emma Lunder and Julia Ransom.
Saenger held off Wesley Savill, the national-team Nordic combined athlete, to top the men's category in the overall Pole and Pedal standings.
Savill finished the tough 30-kilometre Woppet about 11 seconds behind Saenger, and wound up with a total time of 2:23:59 to Saenger's 2:22:02.
Heinicke beat both of their bike times and wound up third in the men's Pole and Pedal rankings with his time of 2:28:31.
Whistler's Munro Duncan, who crashed across the Woppet finish line neck-and-neck with Kevin Hodder for a joyful finish to the 30-kilometre race, wound up seventh in the Pole and Pedal men's standings with his total time of 2:40:37.
Hodder posted a DNF in the bike portion.
"It's the end of the ski season and the start of the bike season, so finish it off and start the next one," Saenger said.
The second annual Woppet had a strong turnout, with about 110 skiers taking on the 30 and 7.5-kilometre events for a last hurrah in the cross-country ski race season.
"This is a super end-of-the-year event. Tons of people come out and have fun," Saenger said. "We've got a ton of food today, nice decorations, the weather co-operated - I hope this turns into a long-lasting end-of-year celebration where people just come out and have a great time."
After racing the 7.5-kilometre course and winning the Open Men category, Paul Beswetherick of the Whistler Nordics commended those who whipped the courses into shape after an earlier dumping of snow, and admired the turnout and evidence of the sport's growth in the corridor.
"It's always fantastic to see people out here enjoying this facility, which is just the most incredible legacy of the Games here. We're so lucky to have this place, and it's great to see all the interest from clubs like the Callaghan Winter Sports Club," he said.
In the Pole and Pedal final standings, William Letham won the Men 45-plus category, followed by Nordic ski jumping organizers Jon Servold and John Heilig. Rua Reed led the Women 40-plus division, followed by Kate Drew.
