The 2019 BC Cup p/b Cobotix XCO Series is off to a great start after two races this past weekend at Bear Mountain Resort in Victoria, BC. In its third year and hosted in partnership with the City of Langford and Tourism Victoria, the 2019 Bear Mountain Bike Festival has become the traditional kick-off to the mountain bike race season. With blue skies and temperatures reaching up to the mid-teens by midday on both Saturday and Sunday, it was a perfect weather weekend for bike racing.
The first race of the weekend, Saturday, March 30, was not only the first BC Cup XCO race of the year but also the first Canada Cup XCO, which attracted some of the country’s top riders including BC’s Catharine Pendrel, Sandra Walter, Carter Woods, and Emilly Johnston.
The Norco Factory Team came out strong to start the season with first-place finishes for Peter Disera in the Elite Men’s category and Haley Smith in the Elite Women’s group. Cumberland, BC’s Carter Woods (Rocky Mountain Factory Team) topped the Junior Expert Men’s category; Emilly Johnston (Pendrel Racing) of Comox, BC won the Junior Expert Women’s category, while fellow Comox rider, Erik Ashton (Trail Bicycles Cycling Team), won the U17 Expert Men’s. Nicole Bradbury (NCCH Elite p/b MGCC) came in first in U17 Expert Women’s. View Full Results of the Canada Cup XCO.
The following day’s races included the Rocky Mountain Enduro p/b Marty’s Mountain Cycle, the kick-off for the Island Cup Enduro Mountain Bike Series, as well as the Russ Hay’s XC Short Track which would count as the second race in the BC Cup XCO race series p/b Cobotix. Combined Junior and Elite categories meant that the best athletes aged 17 and 18 years old were able to compete against the pros. Junior phenom Carter Woods took first place in the Short Track race on Sunday ahead of elite racer Marc-Andre Fortier and both took the overall lead in the BC Cup series standings in combination with their results from the Canada Cup race on Saturday. Marianne Theberge leads all Elite Women in the BC Cup series after posting a win on the Short Track course and a top ten in the Canada Cup long course. View Full Results of the Russ Hay’s XC Short Track.
With two races completed in the 2019 BC Cup XCO series and three more to go, it will be exciting to track the series standings throughout the course of the season. The next BC Cup XCO race takes place at the Coaster 50 (Short Course) on May 4 in Sechelt on BC’s Sunshine Coast.
The 2019 BC Cup p/b Cobotix consists of a series of races in which riders can accumulate points based on their results from each race. The riders are then ranked in the series standings and the highest placed rider at the conclusion of the final race will be named the overall series winner and awarded the BC Cup series winner’s jersey.
View the 2019 BC Cup p/b Cobotix XCO Series Schedule & Current Standings
