This past weekend the Cycling BC Mountain Bike XC Team competed at the 4th XCO Canada Cup in Baie St.Paul in the Charlevoix region of Quebec. It’s a very short track packed with tons of technical riding–some of the most technical riding outside of BC.
It was definitely a proper mountain bike track as it was very technical and required lots of skill to ride it well. I really enjoyed riding and racing the track and I felt that my bike choice also helped me to have a good result – Kona Hei Hei Supreme. The race went well for me, I rode the first climb in 4th and then half way down the first descent I made a move that put me into 3rd. I never looked back after that and tried to close the gap to the top too but I just didn’t have the legs to do it that day. All in all it was a good weekend and I am happy with my result.
– Rhys Verner
This race was used as gauge for athletes to see how their training over the last 4 weeks (since the Ontario Canada Cups) has prepared them, and also for athletes to try a few more strategies out before Nationals in St. Felicien next weekend.
This track was the closest we’ve seen to west coast since the past four Canada Cups out here in Ontario and Quebec – it was full of roots and rocks. At the start of the race I managed to dodge some of start line mayhem getting into the single track in an okay position, which left me to lay down some power sooner than I’d planned, to play catch up for the rest of the race. Unfortunately, I ended up in no-man’s land trying to chase up to the 3rd wheel, finishing in 4th.
– Sean Fincham
The weekend also included an XC Crit (XCC – imagine a dirt crit) which was a ton of fun to race and watch and a great taste of what next weekends XCE (XC Eliminator) will have in store for the team. The Cadet men had a great race with Holden Jones leading 6 of the 8 laps before a few attacks were launched and he was ultimately passed. Lesson learnt: don’t do all the work. The Junior men had an exciting race with the Elite Men, Luke Di Marzo and Rhys Verner were in the main Junior bunch taking pulls and trying to force some of the other riders to do more than their fair share of work to tire them out for the last lap. Unfortunately, the rest of the pack caught on to their tactics and shortened their pulls, the last lap was an all-out sprint to the line with Luke throwing his bike across and by .1 second to take the bronze, with Rhys Verner not far behind in 5th. Emily Handford spent the race in the main bunch with the Elite Women and dropping many into the last lap where Emily dug deep for a sprint finish to the line narrowly missing out on the gold, but taking the silver!
Racing the XC Crit at Baie St Paul was a great experience, especilly after racing a few road crits, it was fun to do one on the dirt. I started off around the middle of the group but kept working my way up until I was holding first place for the Jr. Women and riding with the main group of pro elites, including Jean-Ann Berkenpas who is one of my mentors. Unfortunately I missed the top step of the podium by 0.1 seconds, but silver felt awesome and was a great redemption for the XCO on Saturday.
– Emily Handford
XCO Cadet Men BC Results
7. Holden Jones
8. Nick Kleban
16. Hunter Verner
17. Shane Patterson
XCO Junior Men BC Results
3. Rhys Verner
4. Sean Fincham
7. Luke Di Marzo
19. Max McCulloch
20. Seth Van Varseveld
XCO Junior Women BC Results
7. Emily Handford
XCC Cadet Men BC Results
10. Holden Jones
13. Nick Kleban
14. Shane Patterson
18. Hunter Verner
XCC Junior Men BC Results
3. Luke Di Marzo
5. Rhys Verner
16. Max McCulloch
18. Seth Van Varseveld
XCC Junior Women BC Results
2. Emily Handford
