Story:
When the announcer refers to you as "the most successful youth race team in B.C." you know you have something to be proud of as Sunshine Coast Cycling's (SCC) race team continued to dominate the mountain biking scene with strong finishes in both cross country and downhill categories last weekend at Sunpeaks.
The weekend started off with a dry and dusty cross country course that involved steep grassy climbs and long technical descents. The Saturday race was the final event in the seven-race B.C. Cup points series.
Sunshine Coast riders embraced the 5.1km lap that was made even more challenging by the smoke from local forest fires that lingered in the air throughout the weekend.
SCC's youth development team showed their strength as Grace Stanhope was first in the single lap U15 women's race. It was two full laps in the heat for the U15 men and Eric Dillon finished on the podium in third with Liam Hafey in fourth. U17 men Louis Dillon, coming back from a nagging knee injury, pulled off a strong third place finish with Matthew Cough close behind in sixth.
Jonas Lomax suffered a crash early in the three-lap race and ended up in hospital with a broken finger. Jessica Marquis racing two laps in the junior women's category pulled off a second and Sebastian Sleep dominated the four-lap junior men's race finishing a full 25 minutes ahead of second place.
Denys Jones raced master men 50-plus and completed the three-lap race in sixth place with Sue Duxbury taking on the citizen women 30-plus category to finish second after two laps.
Elite riders Christine Lynch (four laps) and Reudi Schnyder (five laps) both finished in third. A highlight of the day was when youth development race coach Bob Stanhope entered the 40-plus master men category along with SCC parent/racer Glenn Hafey. The two of them battled for position over the three-lap race with coach Bob "hanging on for dear life," eventually attacking in the final 200 metres of the race catching Hafey at the last second. In a finish that almost appeared to be planned, the two men crossed the finish line at the same moment.
Sunday brought out the downhillers who tackled an extremely fast course. The downhill race was the final in both the B.C. Cup series, and the Canada Cup Series as well as the provincial championship and was easily one of the longest descents of the season. The top section of the race was steep and loose with the most technical sections near the bottom, with a lightening fast final section that was the favourite of the spectators.
SCC members Harrison Duxbury-Sleep (second U17 men) and Holly Feniak (first U15 women) took the provincial championships in their category with Holly taking the B.C. Cup series U15 win and Linden Feniak (fourth U17 men) taking the B.C. Cup in U17 men.
Citizen woman 30-plus Jessica Huntington, finished her second race of the season in third, as did SCC's Kelsey Begg (junior women). Jason Tietge finished seventh in U15 men and Simon Young had an excellent race finishing 25th in junior men.
