September 15, 2008 — Saturday morning started off with overcast skies and rain was a certainty at some point. The course had held up reasonably well from all the overnight rain but there was still some really muddy sections that developed over the day with one area forcing some riders to get off and run through the section. The rain did come at 2:30pm just as the races finished perfect timing.

The early race saw a 7-rider contest then U17 race with St.Catharines CC taking the top three overall spots, bunch of sandbaggers, Ben Perry took the win over the Brandon’s . The senior 3/4 men had one of the best races of the day with Scott Luscombe taking the win over Denis Thang. The M3 category had a big field of 17 and saw former St.Catharines CC member JP Stickle taking the win on his nice red Fuji cross bike.

The next start saw tougher course conditions as ruts had now been put in and the mud was coming out. The start was fast in the M2/junior race and saw the Junior winner Sam RyKhoff take the hole shot and basically blister the M2/junior field. M2 winner and local tough guy Cam Severin had a okay start but after a lap steadily put time into the M2 field and was a convincing winner. The women had a combined field of seven riders with Aly Armstrong and Anita Lager taking the masters and Elite women’s race wins. Aly also won the cinderella Sidi shoe prize as she fit the perfectly into the Sidi dominator shoes that was up for the women.

The last race of the day had the M1 and elites line up and start at the same time. This was actually pretty fun as it added to the excitement for the fans as the field was now 30 strong. Tim Lefebvre showed his true talents as he lead for 100 meters of the start, about the amount he will show his face to the wind in a crit, but slowly faded to finish a solid seventh in the M1 in his cross debut. Also of note was he wanted to ride with 80 psi in the tires but was talked out of this.

Over the barriers on lap one Justin Hines (Handle Bars CC), an aspiring bathing suit model, had a slim lead over team mate, and 80’s hair band lover, Nathan Chown with the comic team of Peter Mogg and Eric Box closely in tow. Hines held his lead for most of the race but was eventually joined by Mogg. Mogg decided to keep the pressure on and took the M1 win and was the first overall rider in the race. Justin held off Box for the win with myself coming in third after decided to roll my tubular on the first lap (yeah that’s it I willed it off the rim) and test running/0 psi riding skills.

Overall the day went off really well. The course consisted of ~400 stakes, 4 kilometers of course tape and a lot of hammering. thanks to all the volunteers, racers and their families who came to cheer. Casey Chown did make a guest appearance but was reprimanded by his management team (good old mom) for excessive puddle jumping, dad had no comment.

I would like to thanks the following organizations for their support Rapid City Cycle (www.rapidcitycycle.ca), Handle Bars CC, Super Feet insoles, Vellendtech, Turkstra Limber and the City of St. Catharines. See everyone next year – we may even run the course in reverse.

And remember cyclocross is the only thing that can make Chuck Norris sweat, yeah it is that hard.

Results

Under 17 Men
1. Ben Perry (St. Catharines C.C.)
2. Brandon Etzl (St. Catharines C.C.)
3. Brandon Klassen (St. Catharines C.C.) -1 lap
4. Logan Earhart (Cycle Solutions / Angry Johnny’s ) -1 lap
5. Michael Flatman (Cycle Solutions / Angry Johnny’s ) -1 lap
6. Zachary Kasprzyk (Independent) -2 laps
7. Devon Newman (Independent) -2 laps

Senior 3 /4 Men
1. Scott Luscombe (Independent)
2. Denis Thang (Independent)
3. Andrew Maemura (Cycle Solutions / Angry Johnny’s )
4. Jamie Davies (Bikesports Racing Team)
5. Joseph Miller (D’Ornellas Racing Team)
6. Jeff Moote (St. Catharines C.C.)
7. Michael Clark (Independent)

Master 3 Men
1. J.P. Stickle (Barrie Cycling Club)
2. Dmytro Lyeypi (Independent)
3. Alex Kelly (Independent)
4. Philip Robinson (The Hub Bicycle Club)
5. Mark Gray (Barrie Cycling Club)
6. Shawn Conlon (St. Catharines C.C.)
7. Anthony Whetham (Implala Bicycles)
8. Berry Earhart (Cycle Solutions / Angry Johnny’s )
9. Neil ‘Niels’ Armstrong (St. Catharines C.C.)
10. David Flatman (Cycle Solutions / Angry Johnny’s )
11. Brett Liersch (Independent)
12. Martin Davis (Midweek Cycling Club)
13. Michael MacMurray (Gears Bike Shop)
14. Martin Franchi (Independent) -1 lap
15. Phil Harper (New Market Eagles) -1 lap
16. Phil Renaud (Hamilton C.C.) -1 lap
17. Roland Chalupka (Independent) DNF

Junior Men
1. Sam RyKhoff (Team Spoke O’Motion)
2. Jeff Tompkins (The Hub Bicycle Club)

Master 2 Men
1. Cam Severin (St. Catharines C.C.)
2. Scott Sexsmith (Peterborough C.C.)
3. David Tuttle (Paris 1880)
4. Jason McAthur (Independent)
5. Peter Hennessy (Independent)
6. Rick Meloff (LaBicicletta)
7. John Crumlish (Independent)
8. Paul Dean (London Honda – Westhaven Homes)
9. Jason May (Speedriver.com)
10. Tomasz Kaspryk (The Hub Bicycle Club)
11. Fred Brewer (TVC / Village Cycle London)
12. Ron Spencer (Velocity Bike & Multisprt)
13. Rudy Ziegler (Randonneurs)
14. Josh Spicer (Independent)
15. Chris Veates (Cycle Solutions / Angry Johnny’s )
16. Alex Sanna (The Hub Bicycle Club)
17. David Tompkins (The Hub Bicycle Club)
18. Stuart Green (Rapid City Cycle) DNF
19. Mike Vontil (Pieriks – Elite Health) DNF
20. Rory McDonagh (Pieriks – Elite Health) DNF

Master Women
1. Aly Armstrong (St. Catharines C.C.)
2. Colleen Golding (Fly Gurlz)
3. Eva Grabinski (True North Cycles)
4. Tecla Jenniskens (Independent)

Senior Women
1. Anita Lagler (Independent)
2. Christina Bouchard (Independent)
3. Briana Ilingwoth (Swwet Peet’s )

Master 1 Men
1. Peter Mogg (The Hub – Devinci CX)
2. Andrew Croutch (True North Cycles)
3. Ted Ingram (Cycle Solutions)
4. Doug Hinan (Peterborough C.C.)
5. Jonathan Wilby (Independent)
6. Christopher Tirone (French Meadow Bakery)
7. Tim Lefebvre (Team R.A.C.E.)
8. John Kalinowski (Independent)
9. Richard Strong (King Street Cycles) -1 lap
10. Mark Pogell (Cyclocrossontario.com) -1 lap
11. Dan J Staffo (Handlebars C.C.) -1 lap
12. William Fu (Pedal Performance) -1 lap
13. Clifford Van Clief (The Hub – Devinci CX) -1 lap
14. Jason Cormack (Independent) -1 lap
15. John McCormick (Cycle Cambridge GRG) -1 lap
16. Roderick Olliver (Cyclocrossontario.com) -1 lap
17. Scott Dorfman (Handlebars C.C.) -1 lap

Senior Men
1. Justin Hines (Handlebars C.C.)
2. Erik Box (The Hub – Devinci CX)
3. Nathan Chown (Handlebars C.C.)
4. Michael Loranty (AG Edwards C.C.)
5. Guy Van Krimpen (Rapid City Cycle)
6. Andrew Hickson (Independent)
7. Stephane Morcotte (Cycle Solutions)
8. Ryan T Nye (Preferred Care Elite Cycling)
9. Andrew Cummings (AG Edwards C.C.)
10. Michael McCoughey (Pieriks – Elite Health)
11. Matt Knight (Cycle Solutions) -1 lap
12. Wes Hodgson (Cycle Solutions) -1 lap