Fennell, McRae win national luge titles; Walker, Snith win sixth straight doubles crown

WHISTLER, B.C. – John Fennell and Kim McRae won national singles titles while Tristan Walker and Justin Snith won their sixth straight doubles crown Saturday at the Canadian Luge Championships.

Racing for the final men’s spot on the World Cup squad, Fennell put down two of his best runs of the pre-season to claim his first Canadian men’s title. Fennell clocked a two-run time of one minute 41.662 seconds.

“It was quite exciting today,” said the 20-year-old from Calgary. “It was a very, very close race. I’m happy to come out on top. There are things to improve on. I hope to take what I learned today and put that into my training as we continue to prepare for the first international races of the season.”

Calgary’s Mitch Malyk took silver for the second-straight season with a time of 1:41.702. and Whistler’s Reid Watts claimed bronze in 1:42.218.

Calgary native McRae won her first national women’s title in a two-run time of 1:18.774.

“It feels good to get my first win,” said McRae. “I had two solid starts, and two good runs so it feels pretty good. Regardless of what race you are in, to hear the Canadian anthem is always a nice way to end the day.”

Calgary’s Arianne Jones won silver in 1:19.127 and 16-year-old Brooke Apshkrum, also from Calgary, won bronze in 1:19:149.

Walker and Snith, slid to their sixth straight doubles victory at the national championships. The Alberta duo posted start records (3.297 and 3.291) in each of their two runs en route to run times of 38.937 and 39.242.

“It feels good,” said Walker. “This is the first year in a long time that we’ve had the opportunity to compete against other doubles sleds and have a full podium at Canadian Championships. It was exciting to see the younger guys coming up out there today, and pushing us a bit.”

Nicky Klimchuk-Brown and Adam Shippit, of Pemberton, B.C., clocked times of 33.417 and 34.136 to win the silver medal. Whistler duo Watts and Matt Riddle took bronze in times of 33.421 and 33.526.