April 6, 2006 – Stage 16 of the RWR/ Peak Winter Series played out much the same as the past few weeks with Derrick St.John taking his 5th win of the series thanks to a strong ride on a long course accented by very steep climbs and false flats. Derrick capitalized on a metal war that was waging between between Marc Boudreau and Warren MacDonald who were locked in a race for top GC honors. Both Mark and Warren pushed themselves hard and watched each other’s moves while Derrick powered away leaving no doubt who the strongest rider on the day was. Derrick’s time of 58:31.2 took first while Warren and Marc finished 2nd and 3rd with times of 59:35.1 and 1:01:29.1. After 16 races, the battle for the championship had extra drama when it was decided by bonus points that were awarded for posting a personnel best time in a time trial stage. After the best 13 of 16 races were calculated, Warren’s PB bonus from Stage 10 turned out to be the winning margin that pushed him 5pts ahead of Marc who finished with 190pts. Derrick St.John took third in the series with a points total of 183.

Going into the final race of the series, Cynthia Clark had the series title
wrapped up but had something to prove with series strong rider Natasha
Elliot lining up in the same heat. To this point, Natasha Elliott had won
every stage she had entered so both riders attacked the steep climbs in an
attempt to win the final stage. When the dust had settled, Cynthia time of
1:11:33.6 vs. Natasha’s 1:12:28.5 left no doubt that her overall win was
the result of hard work. Cathy Bodnoff climbed onto the podium to take 3rd
on the stage (1:13:11.2). After all the GC calculations were done, Cynthia
Clark finished with 220pts ,second place overall went to Diane Dupuis with
153pts and Natasha Elliot climbed into 3rd spot with 137pts.

The other category that was contesting GC rankings in the RWR/ Peak Winter
Series was the men’s B category. Riders from Vancouver were well represented
by Mike McIvor (259pts) and Brian Griffin (161pts) who took the overall
title and third spot. Ottawa’s Serge Tongoc (181pts) split the pairing and
took second with his consistent riding throughout the stages. The win might
be bitter sweat for Mike as he will now be moved up to the A category in
next years series.


RWR/ Peak Winter Series Final GC *
Men’s A
1. Warren MacDonald 190pts
2. Marc Boudreau 185pts
3. Derrick St.John 83pts

Men’s B
1. Mike McIvor 259pts
2. Serge Tongoc 181pts
3. Brian Griffin 161pts

Women’s
1. Cynthia Clark 220pts
2. Diane Dupuis 153pts
3. Natasha Elliot 137pts

* More indepth GC and Stage results can be seen at www.ridewithrendall.com

In the end, 165 riders took part in the 16 race series that saw riders in
Vancouver, Montreal and Ottawa go head to head in 8 rider heats at the Peak
Centre for Human Performance. A special thanks goes out to all those who
helped out and to all who took part. The series would be nowhere without the
inspiration and respect shown to one another throughout the series. Good
luck with the outdoor season.

Many thanks,
Glen Rendall