April 12, 2018 (Gold Coast, Australia) – Team Canada’s Haley Smith raced to a bronze medal in the women’s MTB XC event held on the Nerang Mountain Bike trails at her Commonwealth Games debut for the biggest result of her young career. It was Canada’s third medal at these prestigious Games held every four years. Emily Batty finished fourth and Leandre Bouchard was sixth in the men’s race.

The Nerang Trails, just west of Gold Coast, featured a fast and flowy 4.6km course that’s not as technical as World Cup circuits taking riders on two long out-and-back loops from the start-finish.

The women’s 6-lap 27.6 km race saw Smith challenge at the front with England’s Annie Last and Evie Richards taking the lead, followed closely by Canada’s Emily Batty. A mistake on one the steep climbs forced Smith to lose ground and she had to work her way back from seventh.

Through the second lap Batty was in third at 45 seconds behind Last and Richards as Smith moved up steadily into fourth joining Batty on Lap 4. A small miscue saw Batty touch down on a climb allowing Smith to pass and take over third.

On the next lap Smith dropped her teammate but the leaders were out of reach as Last took the gold ahead of Richards with Smith claiming the bronze. Batty, the silver medalist in 2014, settled for 4th followed by Scotland’s Isla Short in 5th.

“I didn’t have a lot of expectations for a specific performance when I came here,” said Smith. “I struggled this week with believing that I deserved to be here, so my Games experience was about feeling the atmosphere and being confident in myself and my preparation.

“When I got to the start line, all I wanted to do was race and it worked out. The first climb has three technical up sections and I think everybody had problems at least once during the race, but unfortunately mine was on the first lap. Annie and Evie got a gap there and I fell back to about seventh. From that point on, I was just chasing. I kept my head down and kept at it, and it played out,” added Smith.

“This is a very different event [from world championships]; this is a major Games, but it is a smaller field. There are some top international performers here, and I didn’t really know what to expect of myself, and I don’t know I can compare it to a world championships. But I’m really happy, and this is something I will have for the rest of my life. I feel very proud and humbled, and fulfilled,” she concluded.

Dan Proulx, National Mountain Bike Coach, commented, “It was a strong race for our women; the start was pretty challenging with lots of traffic and a tight climb. If you missed it, it was a game changer. I’m proud of the girls for fighting back and they rode the last quarter of the race strongly. It is early, early season for us, and we have a lot of work to do as the World Cups start.”

In the men’s 7-lap, 32.2km race, the New Zealand duo of Anton Cooper and Sam Gaze quickly opened a gap on the field with Alan Hatherly of South Africa joining them. Bouchard got caught up in traffic, missing the front group but managing to bridge up to the chasers. He tried to attack a few times but could not open a gap on English rider Frazer Clacherty, finishing sixth in a sprint just behind Clacherty.

“My start was so-so,” said Bouchard, “I was stuck behind some other riders on the first climb, so I lost contact with the front group. I kept charging and was able to make contact with the chase group. I tried to attack on the third lap, but there wasn’t enough space to pass and I crashed. I kept pushing to try and get in medal contention, but the gap was too big.

I attacked on the last lap, but it wasn’t enough to get rid of the English guy and he won the sprint for fifth. It was a great experience to be here with the national team and represent Canada.”

Results

Women

1. Annie Last (England) 1:18:02
2. Evie Richards (England) 0:48
3. Haley Smith (Canada) 2:24
4. Emily Batty (Canada) 3:00
5. Isla Short (Scotland) 3:32
6. Rebecca McConnell (Australia) 4:30
7. Mariske Strauss (South Africa) 4:48
8. Michelle Vorster (Namibia) 5:35
9. Samara Sheppard (New Zealand) 5:44
10. Antri Christoforou (Cyprus) – 1 lap
11. Cherie Redecker (South Africa)
12. Likeleli Masitise (Lesotho) – 4 laps
DNS Flora Duffy (Bermuda)

Men

1. Samuel Gaze (New Zealand) 1:17:36
2. Anton Cooper (New Zealand)
3. Alan Hatherly (South Africa) 0:20
4. Ben Oliver (New Zealand) 1:05
5. Frazer Clacherty (England) 1:38
6. Leandre Bouchard (Canada) 1:39
7. Daniel McConnell (Australia) 2:23
8. Cameron Orr (Northern Ireland) 2:30
9. Grant Ferguson (Scotland) 4:53
10. Nicholas Corlett (Isle of Man) 8:44
11. Dylan Kerfoot-Robson (Wales) 9:01
12. Tristan de Lange (Namibia) 9:23
13. James Roe (Guernsey) 9:30
14. Rhys Hidrio (Jersey) 0:16
15. Andreas Miltiadis (Cyprus) 0:10:42
16. Michael Serafin Guernsey – 1 lap
17. Marc Potts (Northern Ireland)
18. Phetetso Monese (Lesotho) – 2 laps
19. Tumelo Makae (Lesotho)
20. Oliver Lowthorpe (Jersey) – 3 laps
21. Andrew Colver (Guernsey)