A contingent of Yukoners spent the weekend burning up the trails at a pair of season opener NorAM races held at the Sovereign Lakes Nordic Centre, just outside of Vernon, B.C.

Showing super early season form, Dahria Beatty and Knute Johnsgaard each hit the podium steps on both days of their races.

First up was a classic technique sprint race; 1.2 km for the women and 1.4 km for the men.

Both Beatty and Johnsgaard demonstrated their prowess, each winning silver medals for

their efforts in the Junior category. Meanwhile, teammate Janelle Greer narrowly missed the podium with a fourth place finish.

On the senior side, Emily Nishikawa made it to the A final, but was outsprinted by U.S.

skier Jessie Diggins, ultimately finishing in 5th position.

In the senior men's category, top finisher on the Yukon side was Colin Abbott, who was

eliminated in the quarter finals, ultimately finishing 13th.

Sunday had the skiers switch gears to a classic technique distance race.

This time, Beatty was golden as she took top honours in the junior women's 10 km race

with a time of 34:38.

Johnsgaard, meanwhile, doubled his medal count for the weekend with another second place finish in the junior men's 15 km race.

And once again, Janelle Greer narrowly missed the podium, finishing in 4th place.

Back on the senior side, the women's race was dominated by the strong U.S. contingent,

who picked off the top six positions. Emily Nishikawa managed to eke out a 9th placing, the 2nd Canadian in the field.

In the senior men's category, top Yukoner for the day was David Greer, in 10th position in

the strong field.

While his teammates were competing in the first of this season's NORAM events at home,

Graham Nishikawa, the overall NORAM series winner last season, was having a good race in a world cup race in Davos, Switzerland.

Skiing a tough 30 km skate race against the fastest skiers in the world, Nishikawa finished in 34th position, just over 3 minutes out of first position, which was won by Norwegian Peter Northug.

Top Canadian for the day was Ivan Babikov, who crossed the line in 7th place.