November 17, 2012 (Surrey, BC) – The cold rain and strong cold wind made for some challenging and interesting races Saturday at the 2012 Daryl-Evans Canadian Cyclo-Cross Championships held in Surrey, British Columbia, as eighth new Canadian Champions were crowned in a spectacular and exciting day of cyclo-cross racing at its purest form.

In the elite races, many high profile Canadian athletes were in attendance. Olympians Emily Batty of Brooklin, ON (Team Subaru-Trek), Catharine Pendrel of Kamloops, BC (Team Luna Pro) and Geoff Kabush of Courtenay, BC (SCOTT-3-Rox-Racing) all were on the start lines for the Men and Women Elite races.

Mical Dyck Edges out Olympians and Former Champions
In the women’s race, Batty, the defending Canadian Champion lined up against some strong competition, which included Pepper Harlton of Edmonton, AB (Juventus Cycling Club), which is current the leading Canadian in the international cyclo-cross rankings, and Pendrel, and two-time UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Champion.

A group of three riders –Mical Dyck of Victoria, BC (Stan’s No Tube), Wendy Simms of Nanaimo, BC and Harlton Pepper – took off early in the first lap to create a lead group, and exchanged their lead with the race. With strong riders such as Batty and Pendrel leading the chase for most of the race, it is only in the last lap that things truly changed. With Harlton dropping off to the chase group, only Dyck and Simms remained ahead.

In the last lap, while Simms dismounted to tackle a muddy off-camber section, Dyck made her move — an attack that was unanswered by Simms who could only watch Dyck ride away in the front.

Dyck increased her lead in the last kilometer, and rode away to a solid victory – her first Canadian title.

“It feels really good (to wear the National Jersey). I tried to stay positive coming here. I was praying for rain, and we got it,” said Dyck after the awards ceremony. “I blew off my start, so I had some catching up to do. The muddy course was awesome. I had great tires on, tires I had never tried before and they are responded great in the mud, with really good grip. Now I wish for some sun!”

Kabush Wins 4th Cyclo-cross Title
In the Men’s race, Chris Sheppard of Bend, Oregon (Rocky Mountain Bicycles) entered the race as the two-time defending Champion. Sheppard faced off against his main rival, Olympian and seven-time Canadian Mountain Bike Champion Geoff Kabush (SCOTT-3 Rox Racing).

Kabush took advantage of a great start to stay away from trouble usually arising from large peloton, and took the lead in the first lap, with Derrick St-John’s of Gatineau, QC (Stevens p/b The Cyclery), Aaron Schooler of Edmonton, AB (Norco Bicycles – SRI Importing) and Sheppard in the chase group.

Kabush was able to gain some significant advantage throughout the rest of the course, and rode solo to his fourth Canadian Cyclo-Cross Championships title, and eleventh Canadian title including his seven Mountain Bike titles.

“I was looking forward to today. I knew that if my leg showed up, it wasn’t a course that would have a lot of “micky mouse” group rides. It’s a pretty tough technical course. The first few laps, people were going really hard. I put on some pressure, and decided it was the time to push it home. Every lap, there were a couple of section where you could really lay down the power, and put in some hard accelerations,” said Kabush. “I felt really comfortable on my Scott Addict. It was pretty efficient throughout the muddy corners, and I was able to stretch out the lead.”

“The Worlds are on definitely on my schedule. The Worlds in Louisville will definitely be fun to go back there, and hopefully with good weather. I’ve been there three or four times and it has always been fast and dry. I am looking forward to race the Worlds for the first time. It’s a good opportunity to get the Euros on our side of the water.”

Evan McNeely Takes Third Straight U23 Men’s Title
Evan McNeely of Ottawa, ON (Team Specialized Canada) raced to his third straight title, racing in the competitive U23 group. McNeely, who rides mountain bike, took an early lead from the sound of the starting whistle and steadily increased his lead over the race.

The U23 race was the last race of the day, along with the Elite Men race, both enjoying a break in the rainy weather. The absence of rain, with the muddy course, was beneficial to McNeely. “That’s the way I like it. It was actually perfect. We were all looking at the radar all morning long, and nobody could tell with certainty if it would rain or not! When we woke up in the morning, it was actually quite dry.”

“It was a really fun race today. It’s actually the funnest Canadian Championships that I have done so far, with the conditions. I actually contemplated doing the Elite race because I won the last two years in the U23 categroy. I got the jersey again this year and maybe I’ll make it four next year.”

Peter Disera Captures Junior Men’s Jersey after Eyeing It
The Men’s Junior race was as exciting as every race held on Saturday. A small group of three riders took off early, comprised of Trevor Pearson of Delta, BC (DEVO), Peter Disera of Barrie, ON (Cycle Solutions/Angry Johnnys CC) and Willem Boersma of Portage La Prairie, MB (Team Manitoba). The three riders exchanged their leads throughout the race, and in the last lap, Boersma was dropped by Disera and Pearson.

In the last technical section with perhaps 500m to go in the race, Pearson fell off his bike sporting a decent lead, and Disera took advantage of the situation by attacking and passing Pearson. Within the last 500m to the finish line, Disera was now solo on his way to the Canadian Championships title.

“I didn’t know what the outcome would be from the start. It was a bit of a gong-show at the start. Today, it was about who would be the smoothest and protect the inside in technical turns. I took full advantage of that when others would ride the outside. I was sixth or seven at the start. The real characters started to show, and moved up spots until I was leading,” said Disera. “Pre-riding yesterday, I thought this would be a sick race, with lots of off-camber. I thought it would be cool. Then I woke up today and realized it had rained last night. I came to realized that some of the technical areas would be extremely difficult. I had to run a few sections to stay competitive, and just took those as they came.

“I have been on the podium at Canadian Mountain Bike Championships the last few years, and I had been wanting this jersey. I am excited I got it in cyclo-cross.”

Masters Racing at its Best at the CX Championships
In the morning Masters races prior to the Elite races, a large group of riders took to the course with the hopes of winning the coveted jersey. Aroussene Laflamme of St-Augustin-De-Desmaures took the title in the 30-39 Men category, starting from the gun with an upbeat tempo and rode to the finish line to take the title.

In the 40-49 category, British Columbia’s Bob Welbourn rode to the Canadian title, winning his very first National title after immigrating from Zimbabwe 15 years ago. Welbourn’s victory did not come easy, as he struggle with equipment issue throughout the race, with flat tires, and had to constantly chase the very large peloton of 59 entries to take and keep the lead.

In the 50+ race, Peter Lawrence of Calgary, AB (Soul Sportif) was the fastest of the group of 24 to take the Canadian title. Lawrence and Robert Orange of Chelsea, Québec (Ride With Rendall) rode together, exchanging leads at the front, before Lawrence made his move in the last lap.

Janna Gillick of Nanaimo, BC (Mid Island Velo Association) rode away to the victory in the Women’s Masters race. Gillick took a comfortable lead with about two laps to go, crossing the finish line first of the group of 14 women.

Cycling Canada takes this opportunity to thank the organizing committee and host Provincial Sport Association, Cycling BC, for hosting the event, as well as all the sponsors and partners for their contribution.

CX Championships notes by Pedal correspondent Adam Trotter:
– MTB head coach Dan Proux (also Pendrel’s coach) was in attendance, as were many of Vancouver’s cycling luminaries such as Rocky’s Andreas Hestler and Kona’s Dik Cox.

– Rocky Mountain, 3 Rox Racing, Norco and Kona all had factory support in place. There were some impressive parking lot set ups as well.

– Slightly confusing layout for spectators as they were often mistakenly on course.

– Not many spectators during the morning races but descent crowds were on hand for the Elite races. Weather was likely a factor. The venue is about an hour’s drive from Vancouver and was great for amenities (parking, showers, bike wash etc) and the course was challenging with off-camber grass, tight turns, a trip through some BMX jumps, and MTB-style singletrack. Not quite as wild as some of the other local BC races I’ve been to this year.

– Evan Guthrie was very surprised on his 2nd place. He has been at home “chillin'” after the MTB World Championships. He is unsure about attending Worlds in Kentucky, perhaps putting that money towards his 2013 MTB season.

– Results were posted in the registration area, about a 5-minute walk from the start finish so we spent a lot of time chasing those down. Start lists were posted on a trailer even further away in the complete opposite direction.

– It was pitch black moments after the final podium presentation. That made pit pack-up difficult for a number of teams.

Masters results HERE.
Junior Men’s results HERE.
U23 Men’s results HERE.
Elite Women’s results HERE.
Elite Men’s results HERE.