Coast mountain bikers took to the road last weekend, attending races in Squamish and Merritt. The 2008 high school provincial championships were held in Squamish Saturday. Young racers came from all over the province to compete on the fast, dry course that started and finished on the high school field at Don Ross Secondary School.
The Chatelech team took top podium spots in senior girls (Katherine Short), bantam boys (Louis Dillon) and juvenile men heavy bike (Dominic Acciaroli) and a close second in juvenile girls (Jessica Marquis). Elphinstone's Devon Newman took first place in senior boys heavy bike. Katherine was also awarded a $300 scholarship as the top graduating girl. Following the high school race, many Sunshine Coast Cycling (SCC) members loaded up and headed for Merritt for the first race in the B.C. Cup cross country series - Race the Ranch.
Organizers added an extra four kilometres to the course this year and the racers were eager to pre-ride the course. The team arrived late, but early enough for a quick pre-ride of the course - or so they thought. The 20-kilometre ranch course proved a challenge and longer than expected. Dark came early and some of the riders ended finishing the last five kilometres or so in total darkness. Pre-riding must have paid off in the end. The only SCC member who didn't get a chance to pre-ride was Louis who was well in the lead of the U15s in the race on Sunday when he took a wrong turn and ended up off course. By the time he found his way back, he had been passed by another competitor and ended up second. That was the start of a string of bad luck for SCC at this race. Katherine double flatted and then ended up with a bent rim and had to pull out. The dust and heat got the best of Jesse Horn who had to pull out at the end of the first 20-kilometre lap. Christine Lynch was recovering from a broken toe and ended up missing the cutoff time to start the second 20-kilometre lap; however, she was well enough into the race that she finished in second place.
In the U23 women's division, Sarah Fedor (junior women) completed the big lap and so did Sue Duxbury (master women).
Holly Feniak ripped it up on her first serious cross country race and took second place in women's U15. Jen Brown made this race her first off-road ride of the season, and despite all the challenges of the dusty course, she managed to pull off a good finish and a great start to her return to racing. Soon-to-be SCC member Eric Lalonde completed two laps of the course in just under three hours.
