A blistering sun greeted the over 100 racers at the 2014 Cardiac Classic/BC XC MTB Championships on Burnaby Mountain on Sunday. The 13km, 3-lap course treated riders to a full range of cross country terrain – technical downhills, ladder bridges and ramps, and a gentle switchback before climbing the feared Cardiac Hill with a whopping elevation gain of 1675m and an average grade of 18%.
Hot off his fat-tire crit win at Crankworx, Craig Richey with Trek Red Truck Racking p/b Mosaic Homes, took the Elite men’s top podium spot and the BC Provincial Champion Jersey in a time of 2:27:39.
Prizing for the Elite men went 5 deep with Seth Wells, Kevin Calhoun of Rocky Mountain Bicycles, Thomas Skinner of Oak Bay Bikes – Norco and Sullivan Reed falling in line behind Craig Richey.
The Elite Women’s podium saw Petra Tlamkova with Eleven-Rubena Test Team from the Czech Republic triumph in a time of 3:12:34 with Chloe Cross of Team Whistler in second spot pulling on the BC Champion Jersey. Heidi Mainicke with Giant Vancouver pedaled into third. The U19 Mens victor Mahon Lamont (Cycling BC) churned up the course with lap times that saw him mix it up with the top elite men. Both Mahon and the U19 Women Provincial Champion Jennifer McTavish (Cycling BC/Summit Sport Whistler/WORCA) are members of the Cycling BC High Performance Team for youth development.
Race co-organizers Mighty Riders and Westcoast Cycling were thrilled to see good rider representation from across the province including Vancouver Island and far flung Valemont & Salmon Arm, in addition to a strong contingent of junior competitors.
Barry Lyster, Cycling BC Race Coordinator, is already looking to next year and future plans at Cycling BC. “The event showed first- hand the strength of the cycling community in BC, and how we were able to come together to pull off an amazing event in a compressed time frame. The success of this event is another step towards Cycling BC’s goal of creating top level XC mountain bike races in our province.”
2014 Provincial Champions:
Elite Men: Craig Richey (Trek Red Truck Racking p/b Mosaic Homes)
Elite Women: Petra Tlamkova (Eleven-Rubena Test Team, Czech Republic)
U13 Men: Cody Scott (Devo pb Catalyst Kinetics)
U15 Men: Graham Hamish (KCU)
U17 Men: Nelson Kleer (Skookum Cycle)
30-39 Men: Carsten Ivany (Local Ride Racing)
40-49 Men: Bob Welbourn (Glotman Simpson)
50+ Men: Larry Hindle (Spoke N Motion)
U13 Women: Emily Johnston
U17 Women: Emily Handford (Different Bikes)
30-39 Women: Jeanine Ball (Local Ride Racing)
40+ Women: Kristine Brynjolfson
Complete results can be found on the West Coast Cycling website.