September 4, 2009 (Canberra, Australia) – It is a sunny and cool morning in Canberra with temperatures at Mt. Stromlo hovering around 7 degrees for the XC Women’s XCO. There is no clear favourite for today’s race with 50 starters and the strongest contenders look to be UCI points leader Irina Kalentieva (Russia), Canada’s Catharine Pendrel, 2008 Olympic Champion Sabine Spitz (Germany), and 2008 World Champion Margarita Fullan Riera (Spain) – all in the front row for the start. Joining Pendrel on the Canadian side will be Marie-Helene Premont, Amanda Sin and Mical Dyck. The women will complete 5 laps… they’re off.

Lap 1
Katrin Leumann (Sui) has taken the holeshot at the start with Pendrel and Premont in the top 10.

Cecile Rode Ravanel (Fra) is leading at the top of the climb followed by Eva Lechner (Italy) and Irina Kalentieva (Russia). Just behind them are Lene Byberg (Nor) and Sabina Spitz (Ger).

Lechner took over the lead for a while but now the leaders have been caught and a group of 6 six riders are together – Ravanel, Lechner, Spitz, Byberg, Pendrel, Willow Koerber (USA) with Blaza Klemencic just behind. Mical Dyck is not far behind this group…

Lap 2
The group of leaders now includes Mary McConeloug (USA) and Klemencic coming thru at 20:58. Pendrel is attacking to hit the single track first. About 1 minute back are Kalentieva, Premont, Fullana and Dyck. Amanda Sin came thru at 2 min.

As they head up the climb Byberg and Klemencic are dropping off the back. Spitz has attacked as the leaders are now 5-strong.

At 2/3 of the way thru the lap it’s Spitz in front with Byberg who recovered and rejoined the leaders. Koerber and Ravanel are in 3rd and 4th with Pendrel about 10 seconds behind in 5th. Dyck is still in the top 10 but we haven’t seen Premont.

Lap 3
Spitz is leading as they start lap 3 with a time of 41:22 and Byberg is in second at 5 sec. followed by Koerber in 3rd at 15 sec. and Ravanel in 4th at 18 sec. Canada’s Pendrel is in 5th at 45 sec. with Anna Szafraneic (Poland) in 6th.

Katharine Compton (USA) of cyclocross fame is in 8th – apparently in her first serious season of MTB racing. We have Premont now in 16th at 2:15 with Dyck in 20th at 2:30 and Amanda Sin at 4:30 in the low 30s.

Byberg has taken over the lead and has 20-sec on Spitz and Koerber in 2nd and third. Ravanel is 10s back in 4th and Pendrel is in 5th another 10s behind. Kalentieva is making a move on Szafraneic…

Pendrel is attacking and looks like she’ll catch Ravanel and Kalentieva is on fire and gaining as well to both of them. Whistler. BC readers will know Aussie rider Joanna Harrington who lives in Whistler – we’re trying to find where she is in the pack.

Lap 4
As they start lap 4 it’s Byberg with a time of 1:02:08 followed by Koerber and Spitz at 20 sec. with Ravanel holding on to 4th at 43 sec. while Kalentieva has passed Pendrel and is now in 5th at 50 sec. – Pendrel is 6th at 54 sec. In 14th is Premont at 3min with Fullana in 16 at 3:20 and Dyck in 18th at 3:54. Sin came thru in 29th at 6:26 and Harrington is in 36th at 7:48.

Meanwhile Toronto’s Stuart Dorland, founder of the 24 hours of Adrenalin, is in Canberra deciding between Mount Stromlo and a venue in Queensland for the 24 Hours of Adrenalin World Championships venue next year.

At the 1/2 way point it’s still Byberg ahead by 20 seconds over Koerber and Spitz with Kalentieva now in 4th another 10 sec. back followed by Pendrel in 5th at 20 sec behind the Russian. Szafraneic is in 6th and Ravanel has dropped to 7th.

Lap 5 Final
Norway’s Byberg is looking strong at 1:22:50 as she starts the final lap with the USA’s Koerber in 2nd at 19 sec followed by a still charging Kalentieva in 3rd at 30s with Spitz in tow at 35s in 4th. Szafraneic has taken over 5th at 1-min with Pendrel in 6th at 1:13. Compton is 10th.

Premont is in 14th at 4:04, Dyck is 18th at 5:34 and Sin is 28 at 8:17.

At the top of the climb Kalentieva has passed Koerber and is only 5-sec behind Byberg and closing. With 1/2 a lap to go Kalentieva has caught Byberg and they’re riding wheel to wheel.

Kalentieva has taken the lead and has 5-7 seconds on Byberg while behind them Spitz might catch Koerber.

Mical Dyck crashed on the final lap and we understand she broke her arm – we hope she’s on the mend soon.

Results

1. Irina Kalentieva (Russian Federation) 1:43:20
2. Lene Byberg (Norway) 0:13
3. Willow Koerber (United States Of America) 0:52
4. Sabine Spitz (Germany) 1:30
5. Anna Szafraniec (Poland) 1:37
6. Catharine Pendrel (Canada) 2:36
7. Cécile Rode Ravanel (France) 3:07
8. Esther Süss (Switzerland) 3:40
9. Eva Lechner (Italy) 3:58
10. Heather Irmiger (United States Of America) 4:12
11. Blaza Klemencic (Slovenia) 5:03
12. Marie-Hélène Prémont (Canada) 5:15