With two weeks of racing under their belts, riders from Chatelech and Elphinstone look to be solid contenders once again in the North Shore high school mountain bike racing series.
The latest race was held on Wednesday, April 20, at Sprockids Park and was the lone home race for Coast riders. The home course knowledge was certainly an advantage, as Chat and Elphi riders had some excellent results.
Senior Chat rider Jessica Marquis finished first for the second race in a row (she also finished first in the season-opening race on April 13), while Matthew Clough from Elphi finished first in senior boys. Matthew was also first across the line in the opening race on April 13.
In junior girls, Chat's Emily Duncan-Hansen finished first for the second straight race, while Chat riders Eric Dillon and Grace Stanhope both finished third in juvenile boys and juvenile girls respectively. (See the sports ticker on page 50 for all the results from the first two weeks of racing).
Elphi coach Mark Goerzen said the home race was fantastic and went off without a hitch, thanks to Steve Sleep and Bob Stanhope who set up the course and all the volunteer marshalls.
"It is wonderful to have a place like Sprockids to host this kind of event, and the biking community support makes it easy to pull off," Goerzen said. "I'm very excited about this year's team at Elphi. We have a lot of good, young riders and so far, after the first two weeks, we're getting some excellent results."
Chat coach Jennifer Marquis is equally as enthusiastic about her team this year, which is the biggest in Chat's history with 12 members (seven returning riders and five new riders).
"Jessica is in her last year with the team, having been on the team since Grade 8," Jennifer said. "We have a strong female contingent again this year with five female riders. We are looking forward to another strong finish this year as we did last year. Already we have Jessica and Emily in first place in their categories and Eric in third place in his category."
