After a tough start in his first race of the season, Graham Nishikawa was able to ski his way to a silver lining this past weekend at a Noram competition in B.C.

The Yukon cross-country skier benefitted from around 10 cm of fresh snow and a longer 15-km distance race, finishing second on Sunday.

Nishikawa's time was just 25 seconds behind top seeded B.C. skier George Grey.

The silver medal came just one day after Nishikawa was eliminated in the first quarter final of the sprint heats that were held last Saturday.

"That's what I was looking for," Nishikawa said about the silver medal. "I was really close to the leader for most of the race and then he pulled away at the end, but I am definitely happy to start the season this way."

As a result of a marginal amount of snow, organizers had to make a last minute switch from a classic track race to the skate technique on Saturday.

The competition was held at the Sovereign Lakes ski trails, near Vernon, B.C.

Nishikawa, who is training out of the Callahan Valley in Alberta, said despite feeling good, a tactical error with his positioning was the result in being eliminated early on in the sprint race.

"Things just happened so fast in the sprint and I just didn't put myself in the right position and I got beat out at the line by less than a second," he said. "That is kind of a part of sprint racing, but my focus is more on the distance races."

Sunday's race played to Nishikawa's strengths and amongst a tough field of American as well as Canadian skiers, he said he managed to redeem himself from the previous day.

"I was pretty strong and the guy who beat me was one of the best in the Canada and the world," Nishikawa said. "So it was a good day for me."

Nishikawa is hoping to earn a spot on the 2010 Canadian Olympic team and said consistency will be crucial in being able to achieve his goal.

"You have to be consistent every weekend and be up there, whether it's winning or on the podium, but that's kind of the goal every weekend."

Claude Chabot, a spokesman for Cross-Country Yukon, said Nishikawa had a really good race on Sunday.

"He needs to do well at all of these races," Chabot said. "It's good for his confidence, but it's also important that he does well so that he can make sure he has a spot on the Canadian contingent competing in the World Cup in Callahan in January."

The Noram race series will make a second appearance at Sovereign Lakes for a competition that begins on Thursday.The series was supposed to be held at Whistler Olympic Park, but had to be relocated because of a lack of snow.

Nishikawa, along with a team of around 15 Yukoners, will compete in the three races, including one sprint and two distances.

"There will be a lot of Yukoners in the field and it will be fun," Nishikawa said.

"There is two distance races and those will be the ones I will focus on most and just try to keep my form from Sunday and see what happens."

Some of the other Yukon skiers to join Nishikawa include his sister Emily, Sam Lindsey, David Greer, Bryn Knight and Colin Abbott.

"It will be a great opportunity for all of the skiers to find out where they stand," said Yukon cross-country ski coach Alain Masson. "That's kind of our expectations just to find see where we are at with the rest of the nation."

He said training has been going really well thanks to the early snow in the territory.

"It's one of our best starts in terms of the quality of snow, so we are looking forward to the races and the rest of the season."