October 2, 2007 – The first year for this event saw 70 riders take to the line for the three starts. The riders were meet with a beautiful day and a UCI caliber course that was set in a mainly flat open grassy area with on paved downhill and one medium run up.

The first start was the cat and M3 men. The winner of the race was Guy Van Krimpen, who rode quite convincingly for the win and hopes to jump up to elite in the coming races. The M3 race was won in a close battle by Jason Mc Arthur over Anthony Whetham.

The 11:30 start saw the M2 and elite/master women take to the line. The M2 had the biggest category and the race was lead at first by Wes Stephenson and he looked good to take the win but a strong second half by Doug Richards, 1st, and a late surge by Marle Pagell, 2nd, bumped Wes to 3rd.

The women had recent UCI point’s gainers Amanda Sin and Lesley Chown on the line. The start had 11 total and after one lap Amanda was in front with Amanda Krolouski in second with the real fight going on for 3rd spot between Holland Gindey, Lesley and Tabitha Ferguson. This group was within 20 secs of each other the whole race and had a sprint for third, taken by Lesley over Holland. Andrea Bacik took 6th overall and the master women’s race.

The last start had the elite men (13) and the M1 (14) on the line. In the M1 race Ed Campbell, current Canadian over 50 champ, took the win over Dave Dermont and Chris Wood, with usually front runner Andrew Croutch having a flat and taking him out of the running.

The elite race was strung out on the first lap by Eric Box and Peter Mogg of Hun cycle. However it still remained intact until Justin Hines got a gap in the technical grassy section. His gap would not last long as Peter and Eric again b put the power down and brought Justin back. Into lap 2 the group in front was Eric, Peter, Mark Batty, Chris Saunders and Nathan Chown (Justin had a chain issue and was not to make it back up).

The next serious gap was made by Mark Batty who was riding very well. He quickly opened up 5 secs in the grassy technical parts and continued to extend this. Seeing the Danger I threw in a big attack on the power section to get up top Mark, with peter and Eric at 10 secs back and Chris S now drifting back. For the rest of the race Mark and I tried to use our strength to shed one another but it would not work. A barrier tangle caused a delay for me with 2 to go and Mark had the gap. I worked hard after remounting and got him to 10 secs only to have him slide out on a turn and we were all together with one to go. On the last lap I put in another attack and finally got a gap and held it to the line, with Mark in 2nd and Eric taking 3rd.

The day went smooth and all I hope had a good time. I would like to thank the sponsors and supporters of the race who made making the event possible

– MacEachern’s Deep Steam – www.deepsteam.com
– Rapid City Cycle – www.rapidcitycycle.ca
– Turkstra Lumber – www.turkstralumber.com
– City of St.Catharines – www.city.stcatharines.on.ca/index.asp
– Ridley Bicycles Canada – www.vellendtech.com
– Vellendtech (Sidi Shoes) – www.vellendtech.com
– Super Feet Insoles (awesome for cross) – www.superfeet.com
– St.Catharines Cycling Club – www.stcatharinescc.com

And special thanks to all the volunteers and members of the St.Catharines Cross Crew who helped with set up tear down and course design, You know who you are.

p.s. The prize distributor Casey Chown chose to sleep off the event and did not make it. His involvement next year is very much in question

Results

Senior Men
1. Nathan Chown (Handlebars C.C., Sr. 1 / 2 Men) 0:59:56
2. Mark Batty (Team R.A.C.E., Sr. 1 / 2 Men) @ 00:15
3. Eric Box (Hub Bicycle Club, Sr. 1 / 2 Men) @ 00:40
4. Peter Mogg (Hub Bicycle Club, Sr. 1 / 2 Men) @ 01:50
5. Marco Li (Cycle Solutions, Sr. 1 / 2 Men) @ 01:50
6. Chris Saunders (Coach Chris, Sr. 1 / 2 Men) @ 02:15
7. John Roden (JW Dundee, Sr. 1 / 2 Men) @ 02:45
8. Justin Hines (Rapid City Cycle, Sr. 1 / 2 Men) @ 03:30
9. William Fu (Pedal Performance, Sr. 1 / 2 Men) @ 04:50
10. Scott Kelly (Independent, Sr. 1 / 2 Men) @ 05:40
11. Jay Menard (Brampton CC, Sr. 1 / 2 Men) @ 08:00
12. Ryan Nye (Preferred Care Cycling, Sr. 1 / 2 Men) – 1 Lap
DNF Kevin Hazzard (Jet Fuel Coffee, Sr. 1 / 2 Men)

Master 1 Men
1. Ed Campbell (D’Ornellas, M1 Men) 1:01:56
2. David Dermont (True North Cycles, M1 Men) @ 01:35
3. Chris Wood (Sound Solutions, M1 Men) @ 02:05
4. Andrew Nicholas (Hub Bicycle Club, M1 Men) @ 02:50
5. Brian Haum (Pieriks / Elite Health, M1 Men) @ 02:50
6. Paule Stanojevic (Jamis Racing, M1 Men) @ 03:05
7. Oscar Retamal (Independent, M1 Men) @ 04:00
8. James Barker (Hub Bicycle Club, M1 Men) @ 04:25
9. John McCormick (Hub Bicycle Club, M1 Men) @ 05:30
10. Rod Olliver (Open Access, M1 Men) – 1 Lap
11. Cliff Van Clief (Hub Bicycle Club, M1 Men) – 1 Lap
12. Phil Robinson (HUP United, M1 Men) – 1 Lap
DNF Andrew Croutch (True North Cycles, M1 Men)
DNF Jonathan Wilby (Independent, M1 Men)

Senior & Master Women
1. Amanda Sin (3 Rox Racing, Sr. Women) 0:50:43
2. Amanda Krolouski (Independent, Sr. Women) @ 02:25
3. Lesley Chown (St. Catharines C.C., Sr. Women) @ 04:05
4. Holland Gidney (Independent, Sr. Women) @ 04:05
5. Tabitha Ferguson (Waterloo C.C., Sr. Women) @ 04:15
6. Andrea Bacik (Coach Chris, M Women) @ 07:00
7. Janel Bedard (Queen City Cyclists, Sr. Women) @ 08:40
8. Briana Illingworth (Midweek, Sr. Women) @ 09:00
9. Prisca Natterer (True North Cycles, M Women) – 1 Lap
10. Eva Grabinski (True North Cycles, Sr. Women) – 1 Lap
11. Pamela Baker-Sanders (Aquilla Racing, M Women) – 2 Laps

Master 2 Men
1. Doug Richards (Pieriks / Elite Health, M2 Men) 0:48:28
2. Marle Pagell (Independent, M2 Men) @ 00:45
3. Wes Stephenson (Rapid City Cycle, M2 Men) @ 00:50
4. Greg Palmer (Coach Chris, M2 Men) @ 01:15
5. Donald Smith (Pieriks / Elite Health, M2 Men) @ 01:15
6. Paul Dean (Westhaven Homes, M2 Men) @ 01:15
7. Hugh Hill (HB Cycling, M2 Men) @ 02:10
8. Joel Rose (Hub Bicycle Club, M2 Men) @ 02:10
9. Terry Rice (Team H&R Block, M2 Men) @ 02:15
10. Alex Sanna (Hub Bicycle Club, M2 Men) @ 02:20
11. Rory McDonogh (Pieriks / Elite Health, M2 Men) @ 02:30
12. Stuart Green (Rapid City Cycle, M2 Men) @ 02:40
13. Roy Andrigo (Team H&R Block, M2 Men) @ 02:50
14. Dave Scott (SpeedRiver.com, M2 Men) @ 03:30
15. Kees Louws (London Centennial Wheelers, M2 Men) @ 04:25
16. Jayson Baillie (Independent, M2 Men) @ 04:30
17. Steve Copeland (London Centennial Wheelers, M2 Men) @ 04:45
18. Kirby Klassen (Rapid City Cycle, M2 Men) @ 05:05
19. Scott Roberts (London Centennial Wheelers, M2 Men) @ 05:25
20. Eric Sanders (Aquila Racing, M2 Men) @ 05:50
21. Tim Dixon (London Centennial Wheelers, M2 Men) @ 06:40
DNF Darko Antic (Open Access, M2 Men)
DNF Philip Robinson (HUP United, M2 Men)

Senior 3 / 4 Men
1. Guy Van Krimpen (St. Catharines C.C., Sr. 3 / 4 Men) 0:32:40
2. Michael mc Caughey (Pieriks / Elite Health, Sr. 3 / 4 Men) @ 01:48
3. Kaesy Gladwin (Independent, Sr. 3 / 4 Men) @ 02:17

Master 3 Men
1. Jason Mc Arthur (Bomb Squad Racing, M3 Men) 0:36:40
2. Anthony Whetham (Impala Bicycles, M3 Men) @ 00:00
3. Francis Morrow (Independent, M3 Men) @ 01:05
4. Phil Harper (Newmarket Eagles, M3 Men) @ 02:35
5. Norman Young (St. Catharines C.C., M3 Men) @ 04:09
6. Jeff Kelly (Independent, M3 Men) @ 04:45