September 24, 2013 (St. Catharines, ON) – Well, I have raced in all types of horrendous conditions over the years but the hardest thing I have done is set up a cross course for five hours in unrelenting rain. We had 6-8 of us out there hammering stakes and setting up the tape and usually with this crew it takes us 3-5 hours to be finished. Then I sit there and relax and wait for all of the park users leave for the night.
By dusk it was me and two others as I sent most home as they had turned into popsicles due to the temperature drop – and we only had 80% of the work done. Well we hit the course at dawn and got it mainly set up for the early pre-riders and then the sun came out and the course was pretty much dry as the drainage in the area is excellent.
All the races had excellent conditions and the course only got faster through the day as the lines were a bit smoother and corners dryer. The M3 race had local media baron Dan Dakin of team 905 take a 30-sec win over team CHCH’s Patrick Elliott and rolling for third was a racer who Ben Perry has described as “the world’s most awesome Dad,” Jeff Perry of SCCC. The senior 4 had Mark Winfield take another tight 40-sec win over Gabhan Chalmers.
In the U17 men and women Graydon Staples took the U17M win in convincing fashion as did Ruby West in the U17Female category. The closest race was Campbell “Chicken Legs” Lee who eked out a 37-sec win in the U15M after having the most spectacular last lap explosion… (but he did also set up in the rain then played a hockey game that night). He won the Hard Cyclist of the Day award.
11:30 Starters
The women’s race was one of the more exciting races of the day with local Antje Thamm overcoming a slow start to catch the front runners of Laura Bietola and Ashley Barson and power on for a slim 16-sec win. The Master Women had the tightest race of the Day with Lori Kofman shaking off Anne “Sandbag” Guzman (2nd) and Micehlle Kordy (3rd) for a 9-sec win.
The elite 3 men and junior lined up along with the M2’s for a huge field. Tyler “ mustard Tiger “ Lee took the holeshot and never let up only Grahame “Ulrich” Rivers was able to catch Tyler and ended up the first Elite 3 and 2nd in the start behind Tyler ( 1st junior). The M2 Race had a great 2 way battle for the win with Greg Bishop narrowly beating out Bob bergman for the win and Mark Sugita coming on for 3rd.
1pm Starters
We have all heard the saying don’t bring a knife to a gun fight (well one should not be involved in such activities in the first place) So, let’s say Ben Perry had the gun and everyone else had putty knifes. I knew it was a bad idea to lend him my other race bike and to start 3rd row but I was like…what could happen? Well, he took off and put 20-secs plus into the field on the first lap then proceeded to smile at us trying to chase him down each lap.
After Ben there was a chase of four that finally established itself with me, Marco Li, Austin Skomra and Derek Hardinge. On lap 4 of 8 Derek made a great inside pass and hit the gas. I tried to go with him but could not close him down. This did separate the chase group as now with three to go it was Derek in 2nd with me chasing in 3rd , both on our own and Ben up front with a comfortable lead. We rolled in that order for the finish with Austin taking the sprint for 4th over Marco. The M1 race had Robert Holmgren take a convincing win over the field of 17.
It was an awesome end to the day with the TEAM CF kids race – 15 or so (at this point in the day I could count past two) little racers lined up to tackle the full course as we delayed tear down to give the kids a full kick of the can.
It was a fair course that saw lots of good hard clean racing and hopefully we can have another great year in 2014.
Also, I would like to thank Belgian Ale O-Cup prizes courtesy Cyclingphotos.ca for providing some extra prizing for the eilte men, although Ben Perry has 50 less reasons to like the beer prizing post race.
Thanks to all who came out.
Results
Elite Men – 8 Laps – 26km – Average Speed 25.3 km/h
1. Benjamin Perry (Team Chch – National Cycling C) 1:01:34
2. Derek Hardinge (Independent) 0:41
3. Nathan Chown (Independent) 1:52
4. Austin Skomra (Tbs Racing P/B Plan2Peek) 2:06
5. Marco Li (Beaches Cycling Club) 2:09
6. Peter Mogg (Stevens Racing P/B The Cyclery) 2:46
7. Isaac Smith (Blacksmith Cycle) 2:46
8. Craig Burbules (Toms Pro Bike) 2:54
9. Jacques Cormier (Bikes On Wheels) 2:57
10. Michael Aston (Adrenalineracer/Towheels) 3:20
11. Stephan De Lisle (Independent) 4:31
12. John Stewart (The Hub Race Team) 5:38
13. Jon Winfield (Team Bikeland) 5:42
14. Scott Fitzgerald (Blacksmith Cycle) 6:56
15. Nathan Poulton (Independent) 8:21
16. Adam Poll (Waterloo Cycling Club) 8:50
17. Chris Barson (Coachchris.Ca/Ted Velikonja) 9:01
18. Jeff Moote (Realdeal/Gears P/B Fieldgate) -1 Lap
19. Tommy Waldeck (Reactivated Racing) -1 Lap
20. Niles Vaivars
M1 Men – 7 Laps – 22.75km – Average Speed 24.1 km/h
1. Robert Holmgren (Velocity Cycle And Ski) 0:56:40
2. Robert Pinet (Esteemtraining.Com) 1:10
3. Scott Buschlen (Euro-Sports) 1:11
4. Lance Johnson (Mvp Health Care) 1:12
5. Jamie Schuman (Team 905 P/B Steelmark Busines) 2:05
6. Mark Brusso (Lapdogs Cycling Club) 2:27
7. Brian Truman (Novofit-C360R) 2:34
8. Angus Botterell (Morning Glory Cycling Club) 2:42
9. Mike Patte (The Hub Race Team) 2:45
10. Chris White (Esteemtraining.Com) 4:26
11. Ted Ingram (Erace Cancer Cycling Team) 4:49
12. Alex Cojocaru (Dark Horse Flyers) 6:09
13. Steve Deboer (Team 905 P/B Steelmark Busines) 6:10
14. Neil Armstrong (St. Catharines Cycling Club) 6:30
15. Kevin Tearle (Nacsworld.Com Norco) 7:56
16. Len Delicaet (London Phoenix) -1 Lap
M3 Men – 5 Laps – 16.25km – Average Speed 21.9 km/h
1. Dan Dakin (CMMA.3) 0:44:32
2. Patrick Elliott (CMMB.3) 0:30
3. Jef Perry (CMMB.3) 0:48
4. Ken Heydrich (CMMB.3) 0:49
5. Ciprian Scriuba (CMMB.3) 1:14
6. James Cook (CMMB.3) 1:15
7. Richard Thomas (CMMB.3) 1:32
8. Alex Avdyushin (CMMA.3) 1:48
9. Chris Cuylle (CMMB.3) 1:57
10. Marc Joanisse (CMMB.3) 2:29
11. Gary Wright (CMMB.3) 2:34
12. Pary Bell (CMMB.3) 3:04
13. Robert Lucchetta (CMMB.3) 3:19
14. Ian Chambers (CMMB.3) 3:32
15. Charles Ozon (CMMC.3) 3:35
16. William Ross (CMMC.3) 4:11
17. Chris Carella (RMMB.3) 4:49
18. Joe Accardi (CMMB.3) 4:49
19. Pierre Perrin (CMMC.3) 5:53
20. Philip Robinson (CMMC.3) 6:03
21. Jorge Cabezas (CMMB.3) 6:29
22. Francis Morrow (CMMD.3) 7:07
23. Mike Osborne (CMMB.3) 8:24
24. Jason Rodrigues (CMMA.3) 8:31
25. Denis Racine (RMMD.3) 9:20
26. Don Gilroy (CMMC.3) 9:41
27. Martin Franchi (CMMB.3) 9:50
28. Donald Perry (CMMD.3) 10:10
29. Mike Chalovich (CMMC.3) -1 Lap
30. Ian Macqueen (CMMD.3) -1 Lap
31. Jeff Kielley (CMMC.3) -1 Lap
32. Vince Londini (CMMB.3) -1 Lap
E4 Men – 5 Laps – 16.25km – Average Speed 22.2 km/h
1. Mark Winfield (CME.4) 0:43:50
2. Gabhan Chalmers (CME.4) 0:39
3. Tim Mcclure (RME.4) 0:45
4. Nigel Roedde (RME.3) 1:11
5. Tyler Boucher (CME.4) 1:56
6. Matthew Dempster (CME.4) 2:10
7. Ian Gartley (CME.4) 4:53
8. Brandon Livingston (CMU23.4) 5:29
9. Darek Kocan (CME.4) 6:53
10. Dustin Lashbrook (RME.4) 7:36
U17 Men – 5 Laps 5 – 16.25km – Average Speed 22.3 km/h
1. Graydon Staples (CMU15) 0:43:45
2. Gunnar Holmgren (CMU17) 3:40
3. Noah Simms (CMU15) 7:27
4. Brody Sanderson (CMU17) 8:10
5. Ruby West (RWU15) 10:22
6. Campbell Lee (RMU15) -1 Lap
7. Farleigh Creswicke (CWU17) -1 Lap
8. Max Chalovich (CMU15) -1 Lap
9. Charlotte Creswicke (CWU15) -1 Lap
10. Max Holmgren (CMU13) -1 Lap
11. Finlay Macewen (CMU13) -1 Lap
Junior Men – 6 Laps – 19.5km – Average Speed 23.3 km/h
1. Tyler Lee (CMJ) 0:50:10
2. Connor Nevin (CMJ) 3:07
M2/E3 Men – 6 Laps – 19.5km – Average Speed 23.2 km/h
1. Grahame Rivers (CME.3) 0:50:25
2. Greg Bishop (CMMB.2) 0:21
3. Bob Bergman (CMMC.2) 0:37
4. Raymond Auger (CME.3) 1:15
5. Mark Sugita (CMMA.2) 1:50
6. Andrew Auld (CMMA.2) 1:59
7. Paul Beit (CMMB.2) 1:59
8. Christopher Bozek (CME.3) 2:00
9. Doug Richards (CMMB.2) 2:01
10. Eric Johnston (CMU23.3) 2:49
11. Greg Marshall (CMMA.2) 2:53
12. Stephen Cheung (CMMB.2) 2:53
13. Mark Stuart (CMMB.2) 3:05
14. Brian Lee (CMMB.2) 3:13
15. Joel Rose (CMMB.2) 3:24
16. Robin Watt (CME.3) 3:26
17. Brad Hunter (CMMA.2) 3:32
18. Kevin Simms (CMMB.2) 3:35
19. Scott Farrell (RMM.2) 4:52
20. Chip Schug (RMMB.2) 4:55
21. Thomas Hughes (CMMA.2) 4:56
22. David Labancz (CMMB.2) 4:58
23. Paul Dean (CMMC.2) 4:58
24. Jack Sasseville (CMMD.2) 4:58
25. Andrew Botterell (CMMB.2) 4:58
26. Derek Koops (CMMB.2) 5:55
27. Rob Macewen (CMMB.2) 6:29
28. Rob Visser (CMMC.2) 7:02
29. Warren Blatt (CMMB.2) 7:17
30. Ron Spencer (CMMC.2) 8:20
31. Don Macphail (CMMB.2) -1 Lap
Women – 5 Laps – 16.25km – Average Speed 21.3 km/h
1. Antje Thamm (CWE.3) 0:45:47
2. Laura Bietola (CWE.2) 0:03
3. Ashley Barson (CWE.2) 0:51
4. Lori Kofman (CWMB) 1:30
5. Anne Guzman (CWMA) 1:39
6. Michelle Cordy (CWMA) 2:23
7. Briana Ingram (CWE.2) 2:26
8. Alyson Armstrong (CWMB) 2:28
9. Kathleen Macewen (CWMA) 2:35
10. Vanessa Stauffer (CWMA) 2:58
11. Sandra Deegan (CWMB) 3:26
12. Siobhan Kelly (CWJ) 3:49
13. Lisa Holmgren (CWMB) 6:53
14. Leslie Greene (CWMB) 9:42