Will Routley takes GranFondo Whistler
Leah Guloien earns third title on 122km course
Reposted from Pique News Magazine – article by Andrew Mitchell
http://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/whistler/will-routley-takes-granfondo-whistler/Content?oid=2476566
2013 WHISTLER GRAN FONDO RESULTS
Men’s Results
Place Rider Residence Category Time
1 William Routley Whistler, BC Male 30-39 3:21:11
2 Cameron Evans Vancouver, BC Male 19-29 3:21:22
3 Nigel Kinney TBA, BC Male 19-29 3:23:42
4 Geoff Kabush Courtenay, BC Male 30-39 3:23:48
5 Tim Sherstobitoff Vancouver, BC Male 19-29 3:24:17
Women’s Results
Place Rider Residence Category Time
1 Leah Guloien Port Moody, BC Female 30-39 3:24:20
2 Morgan Cabot Vancouver, BC Female 19-29 3:35:36
3 Jenny Lehmann Victoria, BC Female 19-29 3:37:47
4 Tessa Pinckston S Surrey, BC Female -18 3:38:58
5 Stacy Spencer Squamish, BC Female 40-49 3:38:58
GranFondo Results Link: http://www.rbcgranfondowhistler.com/news/results
FULL ARTICLE FROM PIQUE NEWS MAGAZINE by Andrew Mitchell
After a season of racing 200km-plus events in Europe for a pro continental team, Whistler’s Will Routley had other riders shaking their heads in the fourth annual RBC GranFondo Whistler on Saturday, Sept. 7.
Routley spent time riding with his father Tony, exploded out of the pack for the Squamish Sprint and King/Queen of the Mountain sections, connected with some former pro teammates along the way, dropped back to take in the size of the event, led the chase pack when things got a little more serious and then controlled the challenging second half of the ride from Squamish to Whistler.
While Routley said the emphasis was fun and participation, any event with a timer and some prizes on the line becomes a race. And this is one event the former national road champion simply had to win.
“I am kind of sand-bagging, but it’s a home event and I’d never done it before, and I wanted to come across the finish line first in Whistler,” he said.
As predicted, Routley said the event was a ride until Squamish.
“We started in the rain and it was virtually still dark because it was so early in the morning, and so we just sort of cruised out at the beginning for a while — just a few guys rode away,” he said. “Actually, Richard Wooles, the head coach who runs Cycling BC, was one of them, and he led for the first half of the race which was pretty cool.”
“But nobody was riding super hard and nobody really raced until they were racing each other for the King of the Mountain and Squamish Sprint and those prizes about halfway through. Coming out of Squamish we picked up the pace a little bit but we still weren’t going that fast. And I was like, man, I’m going to have to push the pace little bit more or those three up front are going to win.”
“So I started to ride a little harder and before I knew it, it was just Cam (Evans) and another guy. Just the three of us rode away and we caught the other guys up front. I was expecting the group to stay together for a little while longer, but then I pushed a little more coming into the Cheakamus Canyon, and Cam stayed with me and we just stayed together from there.”
Routley’s time was three hours, 21 minutes and 11 seconds, with an exhausted Evans crossing the line 11 seconds later. The next chase group of four riders came in 3:23:32, led by Nigel Kinney. Geoff Kabush, one of Canada’s top cross-country racers was fourth by eight seconds.
The top female racer was Leah Guloien, who won the GranFondo Whistler title the first and second years, placed second last year, and then won again this year with a time of 3:23:48. She crossed the line with the peleton, setting a fast pace in some difficult racing conditions.
“It got kind of sketchy in the beginning, there was a lot of rain and a few crashes,” she said. “I tried to stay up near the front for when the climbs came, but I just didn’t have very good legs today. My time was faster, but that’s just because there were some stronger guys in the field and they had a higher pace going. The rain really changed things up for me, it’s hard to push it with the wet painted lines on the road and slippery conditions.”
The second female racer was Morgan Cabot over 10 minutes later in 3:35:29, followed by Jenny Lehmann, last year’s winner, in 3:37:15.
There were 3,085 men on the start line, plus 813 women for the 2013 edition of the RBC GranFondo Whistler, with another 125 racers doing the shorter Medio Fondo distance from Squamish.
Results are available online at www.rbcgranfondowhistler.com