October 04, 2011 (Vancouver, BC) – The 2011 edition of the Vanier Park Cyclocross was another successful chapter in the longest running ‘cross race in British Columbia.  Presented by WestCoastRacing and TREK-RedTruckRacing this second round of the BC CX Cup series took place once again in the prime location overlooking the Vancouver skyline and the North Shore mountains.

The course was a variation of the previous year; a fast, grassy course including the usual man-made interruptions like barriers and stairs.  The only thing out of the organizer’s control was the weather (and we are talking about Vancouver, BC) and – hocus pocus – there was sunshine and a mild breeze.  How you do that – we don’t know … but everybody loved it.

Thanks to the weather people were coming and coming.  All categories were stacked and by the end of the day there were 195 official racers and nearly 40 kids registered for the kids’ events.  Not quite like races in Belgium or in the US cross hotspots the Vanier Park Cyclocross is now one of the biggest events in Canada.

The first start was at 10:30 and the citizen classes and Cat 3/4 Men race were on the line.  Grass roots racing at its best and we saw some pretty amazing efforts.  Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the results so there are some uncertainties and the officials are still working on that.

In the second start at noon the Cat 3/4 Master Men were racing together with the Open & Master Women and the bookkeeping improved.  Solid fields provided a great spectacle and some intense racing, especially in both  women categories, where a few new faces mixed up the event.

In the Open Women category Jean-Ann Berkenpas (Local Ride Racing) managed to repeat her win in Vanier Park from last year after she broke clear of her teammate Sandra Walters.  Hard chasing Leah Guloien (Team Missing Link Coaching/Specialized) couldn’t make it past the cross specialist Kelly Jones (Sugoi) while Jenny Lehmann (Mighty Riders) took the last spot on the podium.  In the Master Women category multi-sport athletes dominated the field where Kelly Wilcox distanced team mate and marathoner Heather King (both Active Life Multisport) for the top spot on the podium with Barb Zimich finishing third.

The Men’s Elite category was yet again a pretty fast affair.  Lining up were Tyler Trace (TREK RedTruckRacing) who hasn’t been seen on a cross bike since his winning ride at the provincial championships in November 2010.  His competition, like last year, was mountain bike standout Evan Guthrie (Rocky Mountain Bicycles), cross specialist Kevin Noiles (Sportique) and not-yet-retired road pro Andrew Pinfold (United Health Care), as well as fast man Kevin Calhoun (Rock Mountain Bicycles).

Taking the hole shot was Guthrie closely followed by a duo of Trace and Pinfold and behind them the two Kevins.  But the fast course took its toll and the years on the road paid off for the tandem Trace-Pinfold who managed to break clear from Guthrie on lap 2.  The two rode together for the better part of the race.  The same was true for Noiles-Calhoun who put in a solid effort to get rid of Guthrie in the last quarter of the race and to end up 3rd (Noiles) and 4th (Calhoun).  Recent winner of the Giro to Whister Zack Garland (H&R Block) tested the robustness of barriers on the first lap and was left with a cut on his knee and race director Sven Sturm (TREK RedTruckRacing) on his tail.  After trading pulls Garland would ride clear to settle for 6th.

And just like in the previous four editions of Vanier Park Cyclocross Tyler Trace wanted to take something home for coming all the way from Vancouver Island, and that was nothing less than the win.  So he used his legs and experience on the cross bike to break clear of Pinfold and solo the last few laps home alone.

As always the race – no matter how small or big – would not happen without a team of dedicated and hard working volunteers, supportive staff of the City of Vancouver, and generous sponsors like John Henry Bikes as a Title Sponsor, Ryder Eyewear, Sharkies, Honey Stinger, Active Life Physio, Schwalbe Tires, Island Farms, TREK Bicyles, Sugoi, Uprising Breads, Steeds Cycles for the Kids’ event and Vancouver Bike Gallery for neutral support.  Thanks to everybody who came and contributed, on and off the bike.  Hope to see you next year at the 2012 edition of Vanier Park Cyclocross.

Results

3 / 4 Men  
1. Trevor Pearson
2. Brett Wakefield
3. Nigel Kinney
4. Jonathan Braunstein
5. Matt Hornland
6. Paul McCloskey
7. David Morrissey
8. Ross Greenwood
9. Van Shih
10. Ted Martin
11. Bart Ludbrook
12. Sherwood Plant
13. Douglas Ritchie
14. Robert Warren
15. Richard  Costello
16. Ben Jackson
17. Keegan Rowe
18. Louis Dillon
19. Kurt Withers
20. Thomas Playfair
21. Jason Prinster
22. Geoff Agnew
23. Nathan Schnarr
25. Ashley Stotts
26. Barry Brennan -1 lap
Brandon Thomson -1 lap
Brian Postlethwaite -1 lap
David Burshtynski -1 lap
Robert De Rot -1 lap
down 2 laps Michael McGahey -1 lap
Brett Brack

Citizen Women  
1. Paula Dagnon
2. Talita Almeida
3. Allison  Harriman
4. Terrie Dlugon
5. Amy Saari-Roth
6. carmen  christensen
7. Rachel Kiers
Cindy Tsang no result

Citizen Men  
1. Dylan Doubt
2. Troy Neale
3. Scott Wheeler
4. David Smith
5. Chad Yurich

IN NO PARTICULAR FINISH ORDER(SORRY FOR THE RESULTS CHALLENGE)
Adrian  Bell
Andrew Pickell
Andrew Appleton
Armand Hurford
Audey Korpus
Bob McLaren
Brent Fahl
Brian Regaly
Crail Carter
David Stringer
David Matthews
David Enns
Drew Rickard
Duncan Coo
Edwin  Beange
eric case
Gary Bone
Gerald Joe
Geza Baranyi
Glen Reitsma
Harry Henderson
James Ingham
Jamie Johnson
John Denniston
Jurogen Watts
Keith Lennig
Mathew Smith
Matt McQueen
Michael Hughes
Mike Tunnah
Nigel Page
Paul Chaytors
Piers Cunnington
Ramsey Ezzat
Raphael Fang
Rush Dhillon
Stephen Ptucha

U17 Men  
1. Cartsen Lapointe
2. Peter Whalen

U17 Women  
1. Maggie Coles-Lyster

Open Women   
1. Jean Ann Berkenpas
2. Sandra Walter
3. Kelly Jones
4. Leah Guloien
5. Jenny Lehmann
6. Ann Yew
7. Nicola Mann
8. Stacey Hutton
9. Kristine Brynjolfson
10. Alison Beamish
11. Hannah Neubeck
12. Julia Garnet
Haley Mousseau -1 lap

Master 30+ Women   
1. Kelly Wilcox
2. Heather King
3. Barbara Zimich
4. Lesley Trivett

Master 30+ Men 3/4  
1. Simon Pulfrey
2. John Irvine
3. Joshua Weiss
4. Ryan Newsome
5. Brian Dagnon
6. Jussi Jaakkola
7. Tony Bachler
8. Vincent Marcotte
9. Shawn Petterson
10. Bob Chew
11. Alex Cojocaru
12. Mark Oldenburg
13. Sheldon Orr
14. Jason Rhodes
15. John Stamp
16. Kalle Karu
17. James Beiler
18. Robert Church
19. Brian Willock
20. Sam Lupton
21. Scott Sportsman
22. Ray Lachance
23. Niels Steiner
24. Gerald Sawatzky
25. Jeremy Wilson
26. Jeff Hanninen
27. Jeff Van Mulligen
28. Matt Kennedy
29. Sean Berry
30. Michael Dolling
31. Tobin Copley
32. Chris Wilberg
33. Brian Wong
34. John Tani
35. Deneil Thomas
36. Johnathan Osland
37. Conrad Winters
38. Brian Greening
40. Steph CorK
41. John Forstrom
42. Brian Gunn
43. Paul Craig

Master 30+ Men 3/4  
44. Robert Airey
45. Andrew George
dnf Michael McArthur
dnf Keith Nicoll
Kevin Woods -1 lap
Chris Britten -1 lap
John Wong -1 lap
Nick Berry -1 lap
Ted Matson
Mike Murphey
David Neubeck
Ian Hoffman
Chirou Kantakis
Andrew Kerr
Sean Howie
Jay Murray
Tom Wojcik

Elite Men  
1. Tyler Trace
2. Andrew Pinfold
3. Kevin Noiles
4. Kevin Calhoun
5. Evan Guthrie
6. Zack Garland
7. Sven Sturm
8. Mike  Berkenpas
John Perkins -1 lap
Steve Devantier -1 lap
Wai-Ben Wong -1 lap
Mike  Sidic -1 lap
Pascal Wehr -1 lap

Master 30+ Men 1
1. Bob Welbourn
2. Kim Steed
3. Brad Collins
4. David  Kvick
5. Jeff Cummings
6. Derek Shiers
7. Dale Plant
8. Colin Campbell
9. Jason Fluckiger
10. Chris Sayers
11. Martin Bojesen
12. Manuel Zuppiger
13. Matthew Drown
14. Joe Wessel
15. Basse Clement
16. Dale Ewanchook
17. Trevor Hopkins
18. Clayton Sansbury
19. Greg Johnson
20. Brent Hambleton
dnf Scott McGregor
dnf Allan Prazsky

Kids Cross 10  
Graydon Andrews
Aiden Anoregs
Malcolm Appleton
Elodie Athanasopoulos
Sebastian Beeler
Joshua Church
Timo Clement
Myka Clement
Ben Coope
Tilda Cressman
Nola Cressman
Eric Flibotte
Alexia Greening
Jeff Joseph
Lukas Kelly-Sandell
Jack Kennedy
Matthias Korpus
Kai McGregor
Zac McGregor
Kallym Nicoll
Avery Nielsen
Oskar Purcell
Stefan Purcell
Eloise Ramslie
Sabina Rossikllo
Garratt Sayrpo
Rowan Sayrpo
Sophie Sinclair
Linus Stotts
Jessica Tarasoff
Gray Tunnah
Taylor Verhoeven
Josie Welbourn
Kaia Wong

Kids Cross 11- 15  
Kaelen Coles-Lyster
Fergus Horrobih
Aidan Perkins