August 20, 2007 — The UCI World Masters MTB Championships took place in Pra Loup, France on the weekend. Several Canadians competed, including Mike Chan (Can), second place in the Men’s 55-59 DH, Bryon Enns (Can), fourth place in the Men’s 40-44 DH, Nathalie Godbout (Can) fifth place in the Women’ s 40-44 XC, Robert Anderson (Can), third place in the Men’s 50-54 XC, Peter Lawrence (Can) and Barry Rempel (Can), 13th and 40th in the Men’s 45-49 XC and Jason Everaert (Can) Coachchris.ca, 27th in the Men’s 30-34 XC.

Also competing, was adopted Canadian, B.C.-based Mad March Racing’s Shaums March (USA), who won the Men’s 30-24 DH World Championships title for the second year in a row. Below is a press release from Mad March Racing, followed by brief results.

Defending World Champion Shaums March is, once again, the World’s fastest dinosaur!

On Saturday August 18th, Shaums won the World Masters Champion (Age 30-34) title for the second year in a row, this time in Pra Loup France. With 101 competitors in his class, Shaums finished his qualifier 7 seconds off the top time seeding him in 3rd position.

“I was happy to see that I was at least in there. I knew there were some sections that I hadn’t pedalled so could use them to make some time up in the actual race.”

He did, indeed, make up the time — in fact, not only was he .36 seconds ahead of 2nd place Glyn O’Brien of Ireland, but also he was the fastest competitor on the mountain. His result at Sun Peaks in 2006, where he was also fastest on the hill, was impressive, but this time he felt the win was really hard earned. The terrain was less familiar and the range of competition in Europe, where downhill is not a sport taken lightly, was more of an unknown.

“It was so cool coming here. In Europe you always feel that you are at a major event — a world class competition. When we arrived here there were rows and rows of support trailers and a pit area, it was a true World Cup race and they’re so serious over here about the sport, the opening ceremonies felt like the Olympics.”

After a long journey, Shaums managed to squeeze in seven training runs. The competition was weighted with riders who have the opportunity to ride the course regularly so he needed to try to familiarize himself with the course quickly. Part of the trouble was the enormous number of competitors waiting to ride. The line ups were so long that he was only able to get a couple of runs per day.

“It was kind of confusing because the course was super dusty and looked the same in so many sections” He decided, therefore, to practice what he preaches and, just as he instructs his MMR team of young racers, he drew the course out on a piece of paper and studied it every night. Take note, all those who scoff at visualization, the method obviously works!

After the race, Shaums gave away his gloves and goggles to young fans and signed autographs for over an hour. In the middle of the melee, he noticed a boy propped on crutches watching with excitement. After learning that this young man had been fighting and winning a battle with cancer, Shaums quickly arranged with the announcer that following the podium and awards he would give the boy the only thing he had left – his MMR jersey.

This quick thinking and natural generosity led to conversation around the table about the importance of not losing touch with reality and the importance of gestures of this nature. Kim Styles commented : “There is so much to be said for an athlete like Shaums doing something like that which will effect that kid for years to come – he’ll probably wear that jersey to bed.”

A nice dollop of icing was added to the cake with a 3rd place finish, in the Masters 35-39 Category, for the latest addition to the Mad March Racing coaching staff and Shaums’ travel companion, Lars Tribus. “When you coach, it is really great,” commented March, “to be able to still pull in a few medals — it reminds you what it’s all about. Why we all do this with such passion and excitement and then when everything comes together … now that’s sweet!”
Shaums arrives back in Squamish on Tuesday, World Masters Champion title in hand, to help Miranda Miller prepare for her World Championship race in Scotland before the team departure date of August 30th.


Results (brief)

XC

Men

30-34

1. Massimo Folcarelli (Ita) 2h06:11.33
2. Stéphan Underthurwer (Ita) 2h07:56.97
3. Marco Pellizzaro (Ita) 2h10:28.12

35-39

1. Riccardo Milesi (Ita) 1h43:37.26
2. Pascal Cattin (Sui) 1h44:37.97
3. Eric Achard (Fra) 1h45:00.46

27. Jason Everaert (Can) Coachchris.ca) 1h59:19.71

40-44

1. Ulf Johansson (Swe) 1h46:29.54
2. Jean Paul Stephan (Fra) 1h46:32.14
3. Daniele Bruschi (Ita) 1h47:57.10

45-49

1. Patrick Meersschaert (Bel) 1h45:17.38
2. Giuseppe Zamparini (Ita) 1h46:43.04
3. Benny Heylen (Bel) 1h47:11.17

13. Peter Lawrence (Can) Team H&R Block 1h54:28.97
40. Barry Rempel (Can)
50-54

1. Georges Luthi (Sui) 1h28:43.77
2. Roberto Viviani (Ita) 1h30:00.21
3. Robert Anderson (Can) 1h33:12.08

55-59

1. Jacques Desportes (Fra) 1h37:11.33
2. Jean François Pinoncelly (Fra) 1h42:36.00
3. Bernard Marchal (Sui) 1h43:41.62

60+

1. Christian Jupillat (Fra) 1h44:37.24
2. Gianalberto Del Zotto (Ita) 1h49:52.04
3. Victor Barnett (GBr) 1h52:28.04

Women

30-39

1. Renate Pilcher (Ita) 1h16:41.52
2. Anouk Kesseleer-Haarsma (Ned) 1h18:08.17
3. Eva Carrer-Enz (Sui) 1h21:50.25

40-44

1. Belinda Tarling (GBr) 1h20:45.38
2. Julia Violich (USA) 1h22:01.25
3. Alexandria Fabbro (USA) 1h28:01.28

5. Nathalie Godbout (Can) 1h30:41.24

45-59

1. Guertrud Boe (Nor) 1h26:43.80
2. Emmanuelle Meissner (Fra) 1h27:40.26
3. Jane Finsterwald (USA) 1h28:07.55

DH

Men

30-34

1. Shaums March (USA) Team Marin/Red Bull/Madmarchracing.com 3:55.28
2. Glyn O’Brien (Irl) 3:55.64
3. Alex Balaud (Fra) 3:56.27

35-39

1. Nigel Page (GBr) 3:55.36
2. Christian Taillefer (Fra) 4:01.14
3. Lars Tribus (USA) 4:01.33

40-44

1. Marcel Waldmann (Sui) 4:05.33
2. Paul French (GBr) 4:09.66
3. Michael Stammbach (Sui) 4:11.17

4. Bryon Enns (Can) 4:13.50

45-49

1. Fabrizio Cozzi (Ita) 4:10.23
2. Gian Paolo Mazzoni (Ita) 4:16.43
3. Eric Delsouiller (Fra) 4:18.03

50-54

1. Sam Hunziker (Sui) 4:32.64
2. John Walker (GBr) 4:36.24
3. Jean-Michel Tyssandier (Fra) 4:43.89

55-59

1. Francesco Cotta (Ita) 4:44.27
2. Mike Chan (Can) 4:46.20
3. Gerard Piret (Fra) 5:07.56

60+

1. Yves Mavilla (Fra) 5:01.81
2. Christian Tabart (Fra) 5:21.26
3. Reinhard Bock (Sui) 5:22.47

Women

30-39

1. Petra Wiltshire (GBr) 4:56.65
2. Maria Federica Zanotto (Ita) 4:58.30
3. Jules Coventry (GBr) 5:07.34

40-49

1. Lynda Davies (GBr) 5:03.92
2. Elli Lehmann 5:26.33
3. Marilyne Bisson (Fra) 6:21.52