October 09, 2014 (Canmore, AB) – This past Saturday evening, October 4th saw the 7th running of Alberta’s largest ‘cross race,  The Dark Knight ‘Cross.  Held under a beautiful night sky in the bowl of the bobsled and luge track at Winsport’s Canada Olympic Park the Dark Knight delivered on it’s reputation as one of Alberta racing’s finest evenings out.

Started seven years ago, The Dark Knight has grown in size every year with this edition seeing record numbers of 245 racers in our categorized races and over 80 ‘racers’ in our new ARKHAM race. ARKHAM was introduced this year to respond to our racer’s desire to dress in outrageous costumes and ride their bikes around a ‘cross course in the dark.  Billed as a ‘no results, no rules’ race, ARKHAM did not disappoint and saw some pretty incredible efforts in the costume and heckling departments.

Other highlights of the night saw the introduction of Alberta’s first fire barriers … yup, fire barriers.  The creative minds at the Cyclemeisters rightly thought that racing at night could only be made better with fire and by the reaction of the racers we were correct.  The fire barriers were complemented nicely by the introduction of fire jumps and the always popular laser light smoke tent, logs of chain ring death run up, and the always popular mystery shortcut.

The Dark Knight is not only about dressing up and acting crazy though.  The racing in our categorized races was fast, furious, and extremely competitive.  Dustin Andrews from Trek Red Truck Racing p/b Mosaic Homes took top honours in the ‘A’ race with Shawn Bunin, Deadgoat Racing and Mark McConnel, Synergy Racing rounding out the podium.

Both the ‘B’ and ‘C’ categories had sold out fields of 70 racers a piece and were won by Sam Poon and Sidney McGill from Edmonton’s Juventus Club.  Our Newbies category had a brilliant turnout of 40 racers eager to give ‘cross a try.  Djordje Petrovic from Team Cyclemeisters/ Bow Cycle took the win and will now be rewarded with an upgrade to a faster group.  One of the highlights of the Newbies race was the participation of 6 year old Breaux Wilson from Sherwood Park.  The Dark Knight was his surprise birthday present from his parents and to add to his evening we had Kris Dahl from Team SmartStop Pro Cycling act as his riding coach for the night.

Of course events like this don’t happen without some incredible support.  Team Cyclemeisters/ Bow Cycle would like to thank all the volunteers and officials as well as our dedicated sponsors Bow Cycle,  Curious Communications, and Wild Rose Brewery.  A more comprehensive look at the evening can be had on our Facebook page here.

Results here.