October 25, 2014 (Winnipeg, MB) – Catharine Pendrel (Luna Pro Team) defended her Elite women’s title while Mike Garrigan (Van Dessel-POC) took home the maple leaf jersey in the Elite men’s race on Saturday at the 2014 Shimano Canadian Cyclocross Championships in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Fans were stoked to see local riders Danick Vandale and Oliver Evans take the men’s U23 Men’s and Junior Men’s titles respectively while Team Alberta’s Anna Gabrielle Traxler won the Junior women’s title.

Under as blue skies and cool and windy conditions the championships were held at the “The Forks”, the historic site at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Large crowds converged to the popular venue to cheer on Canada’s top cyclocross racers.

Racers were treated to fantastic fall weather and race conditions at the venue in the heart of downtown Winnipeg. The fast course featured many obstacles, both natural and man-made, including sand pits, cobblestones, steep climbs, side hills, elevated platforms and steps just to name a few.

In the Elite races, Mike Garrigan from Ontario residing in Brooklyn, NY (Van Dessel/POC/Shimano) and Catharine Pendrel of Kamloops, BC (Team LUNA Pro) both raced to the top of the podium in their respective competitions.

In the women’s race, Pendrel took no time to make her move moving up from fourth to catch early race leader Mical Dyck of Victoria, BC. as Pendrel’s teammate Maghalie Rochette of St-Jérome, QC fell back to fourth place after getting the holeshot.

An unfortunate crash followed by a mechanical took Dyck out of the lead group, leaving Pendrel alone with a very comfortable lead for the remaining the race. Meanwhile Rochette battled back to challenge Sandra Walter of Coquitlam, BC, the reigning Canada MTB Cup series winner, to claim the silver with Walter claiming the bronze as both landed their first national cyclocross podiums.

The victory capped off an exceptional season for Pendrel who won the Elite Women’s XC title at the UCI World Championships as well as Commonwealth Games gold. Earlier in July, she also won the Canadian mountain bike cross–country crown.

“It’s really nice to be able to do it two years in a row on totally different courses. It capped off a really amazing year for me,” said Pendrel, who will be racing in Cincinnati for the first ever UCI Pan-American Cyclocross Championships. “The season was really great for me. I couldn’t be happier with how it went for sure. There is not much more I could have done this season. I have a couple more seasons ahead of me, so I’ll do as much as I can with those.”

“It’s really unfortunate for Mical,” continued Pendrel. “This is the Canadian Championships and I know she wanted to have a good race here. That’s why we call tomorrow the Nationals Revenge. “Tomorrow, with couple of the US girls and Mical not having any problems should make for a good race.”

Of the event in Winnipeg, Pendrel had only positive things to say, “The organizers here have done such an amazing job. I think they have set the bar for what a Canadian Championships should look like in any discipline. The energy, the level of organization, the quality of the course was really fantastic. I’ll be happy to be back here next year.”

In the Elite men’s race Garrigan went hard right from the start, and took a solid early lead, and managed to maintain his gap at around 15 seconds throughout most of the race. Some solid cyclocross racers chased hard, including defending champ, Geoff Kabush of Courtenay, BC (SCOTT-3Rox Racing), and first-year elite rider Michel Van den Ham of Winnipeg, MB (Trek Red Truck p/b Mosaic Homes).

The two chase riders managed to get within five seconds of Garrigan, but ultimately ran out of real estate. Kabush launched an attack on Van den Ham with about two kilometres to go, but could not close the gap on Garrigan, who won the title back in 2007.

Garrigan came first, two seconds ahead of Kabush, followed by the 2013 Canadian U23 champion, and local sensation, Van den Ham at 7s.

“I couldn’t be happier,” said Garrigan. “First off, I just came here for a good result. I came here because I knew it would be a good event. These guys in Manitoba have been saying they would put a good event. They’ve been preparing a lot, doing lots of stuff, and they pulled it off.”

“To see the guys close the gap back down with 2.5km to go, I told myself it would be a very tight finish. I knew I had to work hard for that gap, and that it took a bit of time early on. I thought they would need to work pretty hard to bring it back. I saved enough in the tank in case it came down to a sprint. Luckily for me, it didn’t come down to that.”

Garrigan, the 2007 Canadian Cyclocross champion, spent time in the United States to build his form for this weekend. “I’ve been preparing by doing some racing in New England, and getting lots of races and getting stronger each week.

Garrigan stepped back from coaching with the Ontario Cycling Association this season to focus on racing, and he feels good about that decision. “This results solidifies my decision to take a step back from coaching for a year, and do a bit of training, to re-evaluate what my life goals are moving forward. It means that maybe I made the right decision at least for a year.”

In the men’s U23 and junior races, the top of the podium was overtaken by local Winnipeg riders to the great pleasure of the crowd.

Danick Vandale, wearing the Team Manitoba outfit, went shoulder to shoulder in a passionate and exciting sprint to the finish with William Elliot of Barrie, ON (Team NCCH-DEC Express). On Elliot’s wheel for most of the last lap, Vandale launched his sprint with about 100m to go from the finish line, and Elliot simply couldn’t respond.

In the junior race, Oliver Evans, also of Winnipeg, easily controlled the race, and cruised solo to the finish line, showing an impressive lead over his closest competitor. Anna-Gabrielle Traxler of Calgary, AB won the junior women’s race.

Masters Champions Crowned
In the Master races, Alana Heise of Calgary, AB took the women’s title for a second straight year. Douglas Van Den Ham of Ottawa, ON took the title in the Men 30-39 race. Bob Welbourn of North Vancouver, BC won the Master 40-49 race with a 13-second gap. Peter Lawrence of Calgary, AB defended his title from 2013, winning the 50+ Canadian title.

Cyclocross Enjoys Significant Growth
Cyclocross traces its origins back to the early 1900s as a way for road racers to squeeze in off-season training. Cyclists race on a closed circuit, usually about 3km long, often through mud, sand, and grass. Each lap racers must dismount and carry bikes over man-made or natural barriers.

The sport of cyclocross has seen unprecedented growth over the past five years. It is currently the fastest growing form of bike racing in North America. Cyclocross is a marriage between road racing and mountain biking, two completely different bike cultures.

The highly successful event was organized by Manitoba Cycling, with an army of approximately 200 volunteers led by chief organizers Chris Huebner and Ian Hall, two avid cyclocross participants.

The 2015 edition of this event is slated to make a return to Winnipeg.

Specialized Donates $15,000 to Canadian Forces Program Solider On
During the afternoon break, a special ceremony took place. Bike manufacturer Specialized made a $15,000 donation to the Canadian Forces program Solider On. The cheque was presented to the Canadian Forces by Forces veteran, cyclo-cross enthusiast and Café Roubaix Bicyces owner Dan Richters. The money will be allocated to cycling-specific initiatives through the SoliderOn program. (www.soldieron.ca)

Elite Men’s results here.
Elite Women’s results here.
U23 Men’s results here.
Junior men’s results here.
Junior Women’s results here.