July 22, 2018 (Canmore, AB) – The 2018 Canadian XCO Championships concluded on Sunday with the Team Relay at the Nordic Centre in Canmore, Alberta. Team B.C. #1 took the title, a slim four seconds ahead of defending champions Norco Factory Racing.
The Team Relay consists of teams of four riders from different categories each racing a lap of the cross-country circuit before handing off to the next rider on the team. Each team must include at least one woman and no more than one Elite man.
The race quickly came down to three teams – B.C. #1, Norco and Pivot-OTE. Pivot-OTE (Raphael Auclair) took the lead on the first lap, followed by Norco (Quinton Disera) and B.C. #1 (Carter Woods), and continued to hold after two laps. However, B.C. #1’s Holden Jones rocketed through the field on the third lap to put his team in the lead by a few seconds as he handed off to the final rider – national men’s Under-23 champion Sean Fincham, who was up against Elite national champion Peter Disera of Norco.
Fincham started the lap only five seconds ahead of Disera, and the pair battled all lap. Disera would close to within a few metres of Fincham only to have to back off, allowing the gap to open again. At the finish, the gap remained four seconds. Pivot-OTE completed the podium.
Results
Championship
1. Cycling BC #1 (Carter Woods, Sandra Walter, Holden Jones, Sean Fincham) 52:23.6
2. Norco Factory Team (Quinton Disera, Haley Smith, Dylan Kerr, Peter Disera) 52:28.1
3. Team Pivot Cycle – OTE (Raphael Auclair, Felix Belhumeur, Rebecca Beaumont, Marc-Andre Fortier) 53:53.9
4. Quebec Force 1 (Felix Burke, Charles-Antoine St. Onge, Cindy Montambault, Felix Longpre) 54:27.7
5. Quebeceurs Too (William Cote, Jeremie Lagrenade, Roxane Vermette, Philippe Truchon) 56:01.5
6. Team Ontario #1 (Colton Woods , Gunnar Holmgren, Kelly Lawson, Tyler Clark) 57:08.3
7. Cycling BC #2 (Elliot Jamieson, Cody Scott, Julia Long, Evan Guthrie) 57:39.9
8. Team Alberta #1 (Logan Sadesky, Sidney McGill, Ryan MacLean, Sean Germaine) 58:14.8
9. Team Alberta #2 (Luke Bristow, Darwin Orsler, Eva Poidevin, Mike Verveda) 00:24.2
10. Cycling BC #3 (Nicholas Knight, Lief Rodgers, Ana Large, Adam Walker) 05:54.8
11. Team Alberta #3 (Ryder Knoll, Ben Damant, Jacob Baggott, Julia Hill) 08:33.1
Challenge
1. Sigma Alpha (Philip St-Laurent, Sophianne Samsone, Vincent Thiboutot) 55:19.3
2. Kona (Emily Johnston, Jake Yells, Cory Wallace) 56:31.7
3. AWI Racing p/b The Crank & Sprocket (Brayden Hudson, Jenn Jackson, Andrew Watson) 57:01.2
4. Rocky Mountain (Jack Menzies, Juliette Tetreault, Kieran Nilsen) 58:10.1
5. Quebec Challengers (Julianne Sarrazin, Amelie Simard, Aroussen Laflamme) 01:57.7
6. Don’t Get Coached K74,K75,K76,K77 (Brittany Webster, Tracey Shearer, Ken Germaine) 03:26.8
7. Hardwood Nextwave (Ava Holmgren, Bella Holmgren, Ian Ackett) 04:21.2
8. Sigma Beta (Juliette Larose-Gingras, Marianne Auclair, Alice Langlais) 05:43.0
9. Cyclone Eagle (Laurence Levesque, Noemie Tremblay, William Verrault) 06:52.7
10. Sigma Teta (Samuelle Baillargeon, Erika Baillargeon, Lea Drouin) 07:13.6
Les Aigles Cyclone (Catherine Fleury, William Maltais-Pilote, Victor Verrault)