May 28, 2005 — Report at 8 am – With about 20mm of rain last night, the courses should prove to be very interesting for both the XC and downhill riders. The XC descent will be decisive or dangerous for those who haven’t changed their tires from yesterday’s dry conditions. And you also can’t rule out the difficult rock and roots single-track climb for making the selection. With the rain finally stopped, the course may dry out enough to change the conditions considerably during the course of the race.

Report at 5 pm – The sun came out and it was time to play in the mud at Tremblant. The overnight rain had stopped but that meant the quick drying soil changed to thick mud that was almost impossible to ride for most of the single track climb and was a mixture of riding and running on the traverse sections. The descent was really interesting sending people exploring to find new lines through the deep mud. Those that could clean the descent had a definite advantage today, getting a few seconds of extra rest.

Men

The men did six laps today which would prove to be an epic race. The winner, Mathieu Toulouse of Team Maxxis finished in a winning time of 2:51:23! The conditions meant that the men’s race slowly whittled down to the strongest with locals doing extremely well. Both Benoit Simard.(Equipe Perigny) and Guido Visser.(Cycles Lambert) stayed in contention making three Quebec riders in the top five.

Women

The woman’s race proved equally difficult and exciting! An early group formed with Catharine Pendrel.(The Bike Barn), Mical Dyck.(Terrascape Racing) and Melanie McQuaid (Indépendant). A huge surge in the fourth lap saw Brazils Jaqueline Mourad (Independent) fly past this group to take the win by over a minute. Rounding out the top five were Jean Ann McKirdy (Rocky Mountain/Business Objects) and Melanie Mcquaid.


Elite Men
1. Mathieu Toulouse (Maxxis) 2:45:40
2. Benoît Simard (Équipe Perigny) at 1:01
3. Kris Sneddon (Kona LesGets Factory Team) 2:13
4. Guido Visser (Sportif Bromont) 2:55
5. Ricky Federau (Gears Racing) 3:51
6. Martin Lazarski (Rocky Mountain) 6:06
7. Frederic Bussieres (Mountain/Business Objects) 7:04
8. Jamie Lamb (CyclesSmith) 8:31
9. Peter Wedge (Kona) 9:35
10. Brendan MacIntosh (Rider’s Cycle, LX Polarized) 9:48

Elite Women
1. Jaqueline Mourad (Scott/Redbull/Exceed) 2:51:23
2. Mical Dyck (Terrascape Racing) at 0:52
3. Catharine Pendrel (The Bike Barn) 3:18
4. Jean-Ann McKirdy (Rocky Mountain) 7:03
5. Melanie McQuaid (Indépendant) 10:17
6. Emily Batty (Gears Racing) 17:40
7. Amanda Sin (3 Rox Racing) 18:05
8. Danielle Kabush (Timex) 19:11
9. Julie Sanders (Équipe Xprezo) 20:12
10. Sue Trimble (Gears Racing) 26:56