July 17, 2009 (Vancouver, BC) – Here is the latest news from the Cycling BC headquarters in Vancouver, including a BC Cup Cyclocross series call for expression of interest, the Team BC MTB Nationals report, and Provincial TT Championship info. Read on for more details.

Cyclocross is just around the corner!
The 2009 Cyclocross season will be off to a start in early September this year and is looking to be an exciting season!

The season will consist of several races, 6 or which will join forces to form the 2009 BC Cup Series. BC Cup points will be tracked for Men A, Master Men, and Open Women. BAR points will be used for all other categories including the BC Cup categories.

The Maximum entry fee will be set at $30 (same as last year), and BC Cup prize purse formula of 5x the eetrance fee is active (prizes will go 3 or 5 riders deep depending on the number of participants in the category).

If you are interested in Hosting a BC Cup Level Event please submit proposal to Tanya@cyclingbc.net As Soon As Possible!! (Deadline has been extended)

For complete proposal details and BC Cup Event Standards please download 2009 Cyclocross Call for Interest document here.

MTB Nationals 2009, Team BC Report
Team BC was in St. Felicien, QC July 7-12 for the 2009 Canadian National XC Championships on a course last used for a World Cup in 2007.

The course was in great shape and was described by all as extremely fun to ride. The first half of a lap was fairly flat with lots of technical drops, short climbs including a fun and flowy section of man made drops and berms. The second half of the course is where things get tough! Right after the start finish area there was a very technical 3-4 minute climb that flowed into another couple minutes of false flat through some rough and rooty single track. From there the riders switchback back to the base of the hill with a couple tricky little drops thrown in before starting another climb. This one was a little shorter, only a couple minutes but it switchbacks steeply up the face of the ski hill before dropping back down to the start finish area, or the start of another lap.

Team BC hit the course in the first start of the day at 9 AM. A little overnight rain made for near perfect conditions as the cloud cover also kept the temperature in check. First on the course were Junior Men featuring BC’s reigning National Champ Evan Guthrie, last year’s Canada Cup overall champion Tyler Allison and the 2009 BC Provincial Junior Champion Sebastian Sleep. The race started extremely fast, and by the half way point of the first lap things were starting to take shape. Ontario’s Mitchell Bailey held a slim lead over Evan and Tyler. This situation would hold up until mid race where both Tyler and Evan passed Mitchell in the middle of the 3rd of 4 laps. As soon as they did Tyler attacked the climb, dropping Mitchell as he and Evan opened a 15 second gap pretty quickly. Evan then upped the pace again and the 3 leaders started the final lap with 15 second gaps between each of them lead by Evan. By mid lap the gaps had opened slightly and the gaps continued to grow on the last climbs, the order staying the same to the finish where Evan took his second consecutive National Championship, followed in second by Tyler. Sebastian was the victim of an unfortunate mechanical on lap one. As he was moving up through the pack he was cut off by another rider and put his rear derailleur into something that managed to suddenly remove it from his bike and end his race.

In the U-17 Women’s race there was but 1 Team BC entrant, Lauren Rosser, who finished 9th at the 2008 Nationals. U-17 Women raced 2 laps so the race plan was simple, go hard and race from the front as the technical course made passing riders difficult. Lauren was in a back and forth battle for the first lap, but starting the second lap she had begun to gain an advantage which she would not give up. She powered up the hills and used her superb technical abilities to really distance her rivals on the downhills. By the end, she was able to cruise across the line with a comfortable lead on second. Lauren will also represent Team BC at DH National Championships in Massif Du Sud on July 19.

In the U-17 Men’s race Mo Lawrence and Nick Geddes both had great starts and were in the top 5 by the mid way point of lap one. That’s where the race changed for both…..as Mo took the lead, Nick was temporarily delayed by stomach cramps and dropped all the way back to 15th spot at the end of lap 1. However, Nick collected himself and picked off riders for the last 2 laps eventually moving himself back up to a podium placing of 5th. Downhill specialist Max Horner also raced XC in Team BC colors, and he used his superb skills on the downhill to stay close to the leaders. Meanwhile Mo continued to lead by a small margin, only 15 seconds starting the final lap. With gritty determination he extended his lead on the final lap to cross the line in first place.

Team BC’s Bianca Adolf who has been having a great season thus far in the U-23 Women’s category was registered to start, but an unfortunate illness kept her from competing. Bianca should be back on the bike soon and will represent Canada in the upcoming Mt St Anne and Bromont World Cups along side Tyler and Evan who were also picked to race for Canada at these World Cups.

BC riders also won in the Pro Races, Catherine Pendrel won her first National Championship and Geoff Kabush continued to be the dominant male. All in all BC riders won in 5 of the 8 National Championship categories, winning the event in all but 1 where a BC rider was entered.

Team BC Results

U17 Expert Women
1. Lauren Rosser (BC) Cycling BC 54:00.5
2. Andreane Lanthier-Nadeau (QC) Lessard Bicycles @1:22
3. Emily Fisher CLESOLUTION/ANGRYJOHNN ON 2:19

U17 Expert Men
1. Mo Lawrence (QC) Cycling BC 1:05:28.9
2. Nicolas Gagne (QC) CVM Val-David @:40
3. Daniel Varga (ON) Team Ontario/Jet Power 2:34
4. Thomas Neron (QC) CVM Subway-Genetik 3:54
5. Nicholas Geddes (QC) Cycling BC/ Norco Factory Team 4:04
13. Max Horner (BC) 7:42

Junior Expert Men
1. Evan Guthrie (BC) Cycling BC / Rocky Mountain 1:21:49.7
2. Tyler Allison (BC) Cycling BC @:58
3. Mitch Bailey (ON) Team Ontario @ 1:31

Provincial Championship TT Info Posted
Back for another year on Aug 8th, zimichcoaching will be hosting the 2009 Prov TT Championships in Squamish.

Click here to download event poster.