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(Photo: Feisty)
Feisty was on the ground for the first-ever pro women’s soccer game in Canada ⚽ ⚽⚽ between Vancouver Rise FC and Calgary Wild FC of the Northern Super League.
What is the Northern Super League?
This is Canada’s first-ever pro women’s soccer league, with six teams across the country:
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Vancouver Rise FC
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Calgary Wild FC
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AFC Toronto
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Ottawa Rapid FC
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Roses de Montréal
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Halifax Tides FC
The league is made up of players from all over the world, including those who have come from the NWSL, European leagues, USPORTS, NCAA, and the national team programs. The Northern Super League aims to be at the same level as the NWSL, WSL, and Liga F — with what it calls "competitive salaries."
Why does Canada need its own pro league?
Before now, Canadian players had to leave Canada for the best opportunities to grow their game and skills. That's why Canadian Olympic soccer player Diana Matheson created the NSL: to give Canadians (and international players) a home-grown avenue to play pro soccer.
On Wednesday, the league’s first ever game sold over 14,000 tickets — a milestone that was then broken by a sell-out game in Toronto between AFC Toronto and the Roses de Montréal. 🙌
The first goal? Scored on a penalty by Vancouver Rise FC’s Quinn, the first openly non-binary trans athlete to compete in the Olympics.
3. UTMB stones v. Western States golden tickets
This weekend, Canyons 100K is the last "golden ticket" race for Western States. It's a big deal, but what does that even mean...??
Western States golden tickets
There are many ways to get into the famous Western States 100-mile race. Most athletes enter the lottery — where your number of lottery tickets increases every year that you miss out. That resulted in 68,724 lottery tickets this past year! (Yes, it's wild!)
Instead of entering the lottery, golden tickets are automatic entries into Western States for the fastest athletes, which can be earned by winning at high-profile competitive designated races.
UTMB stones
As part of the expansion of the UTMB brand around the world in recent years, the UTMB World Series is its own series of over 50 races around the world — where you can earn "stones" (or the fancy name for lottery tickets) into the iconic races in Chamonix the last week of August.
- World Series Races: The ultra trail races around the world in which you can collect lottery stones and entries into the finals
- World Series Majors: Four regionals events that offer automatic qualification to the finals & double the lottery stones
- World Series Finals: These are the iconic Super Bowl of trail running races in Chamonix: The OCC (50K), the CCC (100K), and the UTMB (~100 mile)
Canyons 100K by UTMB
This weekend is Canyons 100K — the final "golden ticket" race for this June's Western States. (Plus, as UTMB series race, Canyons also has UTMB "stones" up for grabs. Tickets & stones!) The race also covers much of the same course as Western States, making it a popular event for athletes looking to come back later in the summer.
Last year, Katie Schide won Canyons as an early season opener to then winning Western States *and* UTMB in the same summer! This year, she's focusing on Hardrock 100 — so the race is open: There are 10 previous golden ticket winners lined up now, so watch out 🏃♀️ 🏃♀️ 🏃♀️
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