Seven days of exertion and exhilaration came to an end July 4 in Whistler for the approximately 400 riders who took on the challenge of the 2009 BC Bike Race.
At the end of the seven stages filled with spectacular singletrack, Team Jamis-Santa Cruz's Seamus McGrath and Chris Sheppard stood alone at the head of the pack as the winners of the tightly fought team of two open men's division and the fastest riders of the week.
McGrath and Sheppard, who maintained the overall lead throughout the seven days of racing between North Vancouver and Whistler, finished the 375 kilometres of riding - about 75 per cent of which was on singletrack trails - with a time of 18 hours, 27 minutes and 31 seconds.
The duo held off last year's winners, Team Kona's Kris Sneddon and Barry Wicks, who posted a final time of 18:44:50 after staging a heated battle throughout the week.
"It was hard. Basically from (stage one) you've got the pressure of having the lead, so you put a bit of stress on yourself and it's seven days of hard mountain biking," McGrath said.
They maintained a lead of mere seconds while Sneddon and Wicks picked up stage wins on Sneddon's home turf on the Sunshine Coast, and then they opened up the gap in Squamish and Whistler when Team Kona battled flat tires and tough climbs.
"Today was tough," McGrath said, sitting next to Sheppard outside the refreshment tent to take a well-deserved breather at the Creekside finish line. "The last day, you think they might give you an easy course, but it was brutal, climbing 1,500 vertical feet right off the start -wow, that was hard."
Sneddon said the final days of the race were challenging for Team Kona, as they were hoping to make up time but instead lost ground as they dealt with flat tires in Squamish and Whistler. Sneddon and Wicks thrived in the singletrack sections, but Sneddon said McGrath and Sheppard were perhaps stronger in climbing and they threw down hard in Whistler.
"I think Seamus and Shep were riding a little bit stronger than we were, so even if we didn't mechanical, we probably would have lost a little bit of time," Sneddon said.
"I think the race was starting to get to us a bit."
In the team of two open women's division, this year's Squamish Test of Metal female winner Catharine Pendrel and her Czech teammate Katerina Nash also closed out their win in Whistler after leading all week long. The Luna Chix defeated Team Rocky Mountain, world champion and Olympic medalist Alison Sydor and partner Lea Davison, with their cumulative time of 21:49:42.
Lisa Ludwig and Dawn Anderson of Oak Bay Bikes finished third overall in the category.
Colin Kerr, now a Lions Bay resident who has spent a lot of time riding the Whistler, Squamish and North Vancouver trails, delivered a convincing overall win in the Solo Men's division after speeding over the familiar singletrack.
After his first stage race, he said, "This is a new thing, and it's a lot of fun I didn't expect to win, but I'm glad I did."
Gibsons Ruedi Schnyder and Tony Hogg finished second and third overall, followed by Kevin Calhoun. In the solo women's category, North Vancouver's Megan Rose captured the overall win after leading all week long, followed by Tori Fahey and Claire Garcia-Webb.
The top three cumulative finishers in the other solo men 40-plus division were Roger Bartlels, Mark Sevenoff and Ted Russo, and the top three solo women 40-plus were Lisa McBain, Sarah Heine and Lori Halwa.
In the remaining categories, the top overall teams were: Ryan Trebone and Georgia Gould, team of two open mixed; Norman Thibault and Peter Stevenson, team of two veterans 80-plus; Francois Amyot and Daniel Auclair, team of two veterans 100-plus; and Peter Gowthorpe, George Sciberras and Greg Shikaze, team of three or more.
For full results, check out bcbikerace.com.
