June 23, 2011 -- Canadian National Championships

His efforts earned him an opportunity to compete on the Canadian Circuit for the summer and continue to gather national caliber racing experience.

The senior extended his already long season another month into late June to make his debut at the Canadian Nationals in Calgary. Travel to the meet turned out to be less than smooth (several airport delays and lost luggage) and very windy conditions at the meet forced him to modify his intended tactics. The plan was to make a fast time-trial out of his preliminary heat – an approach that tends to work better than sit-and-kick races for Winkler. With 20-30 mph winds, anyone who was bold enough to take an early lead would likely be swallowed up by the field in the end. As a result, the first section ran cautiously and was won in a pedestrian 1:56. The second section, therefore, felt no pressure to go fast and Winkler chose to stay in the pack, coming through the end of the first lap at around 56-57 seconds. Knowing his best remaining shot would be to extend the final kick as long as possible, he made his move just before the final turn and took the lead early on the bend. That lead held until the home stretch where the first of his competitors got around him. He held on to 3^rd until 50m to go before slipping back to 5^th (1:54.87) and 11^th place over all.