Haywoods Ski Nationals start today in Whitehorse

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Skiers from across Canada have descended on Whitehorse as the city plays host to one of the biggest Nordic events of the year.

The Haywood Ski Nationals start today and run through to next weekend.

Skiers like Noah Taylor from St. John's, N.L., were getting familiar with thecourse at Mount McIntyre on Friday.

"It's the last race of the year, it's probably the most important one," he said.

"It's always a lot of fun and some hard, fast racing and everyone is at their best."

Fresh snow today Friday morning made for some slightly slower conditions, but will alsohelpto cover up some thinnerareas of the course.

Annika Ackermann from Kimberly, B.C. is one of the 500 skiers hoping for a strong result.

"It's fun to ski against everybody in the whole country, because most of our competitions are just provincial or half of Canada," she said.

The official opening of theHaywoodSki Nationals is Saturday morning at 9:45 a.m. at theski stadium adjacent to the Canada Games Centre parking lot.