November 4, 2008 – With back to back races last weekend there is a lot of information to get out with results and reports. One more report to follow this one in the next day… hope we are not clogging up your in boxes too much.

Coal Cross in Cumberland Report – November 1
– Conditions: Rain. Spots of no rain, and about 12c.
Cross in unique in that almost all the courses that you do are different in some way. A crit is pretty much a crit with a few exceptions (Fairhaven in Bellingham had I think 12+ corners in 1 mile… sweet). A road race… well there are some different road races for sure. BUT cross is where the variations really start. With so many different surfaces, types of turns, venues, parks, etc. etc., the number of permutations increase exponentially.

Coal cross is VERY unique for cross. I can not think of another cross course that I have done in Canada or the US that is run right in the middle of a urban setting. Using both the roads, alleys and parks as close as 2 meters from Main street. This course starts at the historic Number 6 Mine Park and then heads east through a dirt colliery road before winding back on two sections of grass alley ways with road connectors then into the No. 6 mine park where a maze of ribbon narrows you onto cobbles, dirt, gravel, grass, roots, cement, a small creek that developed through the day and one of the key man made featuresÅ .what we called the Lighthouse Brewery 6 Pack of barriers.

Dave Nowack and the United Riders of Cumberland (UROC) had the course dialed and marshaled well in conditions that were truly cross worthy.

How it all unfolded.

Race #1: Beginner Men’s and Women’s (4 Laps)

The Comox Valley has been destroying in this category with Amanda Wakling and now it was time for the boys to take a win. Young 13 year old Jordan Duncan (Comox Valley Cycle) in his first cross race dominated the proceedings from start to finish. Piloting his MTB over what was truly a road oriented course he held off a fast charging Duane Drobot to win by only 13 second at the line. Getting his first podium in beginners in third was 10 year old Brodie Hay (Harbour City Flyers).

1st Lap Lighthouse Brewery Prime: Jordan Duncan’ Parents

If Amanda wasn’t 13 years old we would “politely” ask her to move up to the open women’s categoryÅ .but she is 13! I think she just likes to take it to the boys a bit as she did for the first 2 laps of Coal Cross. Mixing it up with Jordan and Duane until she took a little wipe out and struggled to get her chain back on. This caused her to fall back a few places before making it back up to just over a minute back of the 2nd place boy. Making their first appearances on the beginner podium were Nikki Light (Fig Rolls Racing) from Comox in 2nd and Healthy Habits sponsored rider Charlene Hay from Parksville in 3rd.

1st Lap Lighthouse Brewery Prime: Amanda Wakeling’s Dad.

Race #2: Intermediate Men (7 Laps)

Matt Dawes (Oak Bay Bikes in Nanaimo) is making up for lost time. After getting his eye scraped by a branch at Diver Lake he sat out round 2 in Victoria because of work commitments. At round #3 in Duncan he placed well but not quite back on his game. Word is that after that race he has gone into secret training in NanaimoÅ .Karate Kid/Rocky 4 style and could not wait to get on the start line at Coal Cross. He did not disappoint himself as he rocked the first lap of 7 in under 6 minutes and then proceeded to knock the next laps off all within 5 seconds of each other even with a lap 3 crash that sent him right to the ground. A wire to wire win.

With Matt up a head the rest of the race was far from over. By this point in the day a small drainage in the No. 6 Mine park was turning a section of the course after the barriers into something quite special. The rest of the course was getting a bit greasy as well. To add one of the local residents decided to take ownership over the public alleyway and added a few other obstacles to the course in the form of wheelbarrowsÅ .also unique to this venue.

In racing action it was turning into a battle between the series points leader, Michael Harvey (Simon’s Cycles) and the series best dressed leader, Jamie Emery (Action Motorcycles).

We thought that the rain and mud might slow Emery downÅ .not wanting to dirty up his mainly white skin suitÅ .and it seemed to as he started conservatively with a 4th fastest opening lap. Once the suit was dirty though there was no point in holding back any further as he moved up to behind Harvey on lap 3 of 7. They stayed in this order until the last two laps where attack after attack came right to the finish sprint where Emery took his highest placing in the series to date just ahead of Harvey.

1st Lap Lighthouse Brewery Prime: Matt Dawes
Converse Chuck Taylor most aggressive rider: Jamie Emery

Race #3: Master Men (8 Laps)

The masters race is becoming one of the most if not the most exciting category to watch. With all the older boys intermixed with the open women’s category… there is double the drama. The series is getting tighter and tighter so the points are as important as ever… and there is a surprise.

The surprise of this race was that our very own “Fluffy” as he likes to be called, Aaron Dusseault (Russ Hayes) has suddenly learned to race cross in his second season… on the 4th race of the series. He is now a factor. But before we get to the end of the race we back up to the start.

There seems to be only one way that the Oak Bay Bikes-Nanaimo boys like to race and that is from the gun to the finish. They like to lead the whole way. Sean Lunny (Oak Bay Bikes-Nanaimo) has made this his signature style this year. In all of his Masters wins he has lead from lap one. In Cumberland this was achieved my laying down the fastest 1st lap of the day at 5:57 from the gun. With the same style as Matt Dawes, Lunny just knocked off the next 7 laps without looking back and without slowing downÅ .much; Lap 1: 5:57. Lap 2: 6:00. Lap 3: 6:03. Lap 4: 6:03. Lap 5: 6:10. Lap 6: 6:07. Lap 7: 6:07. Lap 8: 6:05. And it was over!

Behind him Lunny’s main rival for the series title, Steve Bachop (Island Racing Club), suffered an untimely flat on Lap 3 which required running about 500m to the pits to get a new wheel. The puncture put him back in 9th place at the end of the lap. He salvaged the race by making it all the way back up to 4th place only 30 seconds back of 1st. With that effort he earned the Converse Most aggressive rider award.

Back to Fluffy… reports from the masters field are that Aaron has brought out some top secret 70’s tubular gold rims… and a new attitude! The main observer of this new threat was past Masters series champion, Sean Cruickshank (Aviawest) who was locked into a battle with Dusseault for the full race eventually holding him off by a slim 3 seconds at the line. Look out for Aaron in the future….

1st Lap Lighthouse Brewery Prime: Sean Lunny
Converse Chuck Taylor most aggressive rider: Steve Bachop

Race #3: Women (8 Laps)

The past few races the women’s field has been asking for a smaller and smaller time gap between them and the Masters men. Better racing they say… more fun to catch the guys etc. etc. With the masters started we were ready to start the women but there was a member of our field missing… so we waited… 1:00. Then 1:30 and finally with a slight rolling start the girls were away at 2:00. With every race so far this year Dawn Anderson (Oak Bay Bikes-Everti) has taken the lead from the gun and played catch and release with the masters for the next 50 minutes. This time it was slightly different as local favorite from Cumberland, Lisa Ludwig (Oak Bay Bikes-Victoria) sucked onto Anderson and the two rode together in search of their masters pray.

Behind the duo a second lap flat tire took Jaymie McGowan (Oak Bay Bikes-Victoria) out of the top five and playing catch up to finish 4th . Kristen Magnusson (Arrowsmith) practiced her TT skills riding solo for almost the entire race to score another podium with a 3rd.

Up front the two leaders were smiling, chatting and generally having a great time. Ludwig took the lead on the 4th lap and carried a small cushion of 3 seconds to the finish line to her first victory of the season over Anderson.

1st Lap Lighthouse Brewery Prime: Dawn Anderson
Converse Chuck Taylor most aggressive rider: Jaymie McGowan

Race #4: Expert Men (10 Laps)

A meager race field of 7 starters was quickly down to 6 after the 2nd lap departure of Graeme Martindale (Trek Red Truck Racing). Small fieldÅ .but some solid racing!

The main battles in the race were for the win between series leader, Russell Anderson (Oak Bay Bikes-Everti) and Johnathan Fokkema (Aviawest). The second battle was for the last spot on the podium and that was between Dan Scott (Oak Bay Bikes-Victoria) and Normon Thibault (Frontrunners).

Leading through the first lap with a 5:58 opener it was Anderson. He was followed closely by Fokkema, then Martindale then Thibault and Scott. Scott clearly more comfortable on the greasy corners of the fast-open part of the course made his first move of the day on the Colliery road. Moving into 3rd Scott was closely followed by Thibault. These two stayed together until Lap 4 where Thibault passed by Scott who claimed, “I’m Done”… yeah right!

Up front it was a ding-dong battle between Anderson and a hungry Fokkema. Back and forth with Anderson leading through the lap point… until lap 5 where Fokkema started to take the lead a bit more. This forced Anderson to push a bit harder and retake the lead for Lap 6 and 7… but then a crash took him down through the No. 6 mine park and Fokkema punched it to the end to win by only 3 seconds.

The final podium spot seemed to be sealed up by Thibault until the 7th lap when Scott came back from the dead and caught then passed Thibault. They went back and forth trading the lead and attacking each other until 1 lap to go when Thibault laid out a huge attack through the start finish which Scott was not able to close.

In a historic 1st the “Applause-o-meter” was used to determine the winner of the Converse Chuck Taylor most aggressive rider award… coming out with the loudest fan club for a great ride was Dan “Never Die” Scott.

1st Lap Lighthouse Brewery Prime: Russell Anderson
Converse Chuck Taylor most aggressive rider: Dan Scott

Race Notes

– Eatmore Sprouts donated a very nice box of mixed green vegetables (I had to ask what they were as I really don’t have any vegetables in my diet when Wendy is away…). In one of the most coincidental occasions… the winner was Dave Shishkoff!

– We awarded a pair of Race Face Shin pads from Cycles Lambert to the person that hit the Lighthouse Brewery 6 Pack of Barriers the hardest. The shin that made the largest bang belonged to Rick Theissen from Victoria… we could hear it a long way away.

– Jeremy and Alice Grasby from the Riding Fool Hostel made a delicious soup and had a great post-race spread going… unfortunately Alice said she never wants to peel another potato in her life… too bad as it was really good!!

– I love fireworks so it was excellent to be serenaded by screaming bottle rockets over my head during the expert race from the nearby townhouse complex… nice touch!

Thanks again to:

– The Village of Cumberland and the No. 6 Mine Park Committee for allowing us to use this venue.
– Our host Cycling Club; United Riders of Cumberland
– Our Local Bike Shop Sponsor; Trail Bicycles and Jeff Beeston
– All our volunteers, marshals and post pounders

Series Sponsors

– Converse All Star
– Lighthouse Brewery
– OakBay Bikes in Nanaimo and Victoria
– Cycles Lambert
– Crankbrothers
– Kona
– Full Speed Ahead
– Frontrunners Nanaimo
– Aviawest
– Howard Johnson Harbourside Hotel
– eNVy Chainrings and Chainring Protectors

Next and last race on Vancouver Island :: Island Championships at Beban Park Nanaimo November 22nd. Double Points. Series Final! HUGE draw prize table. Last chance to race cross for a full 10 months in Canada!!!!! Free Beginners Race (with GRMBA License). Kids race. Oldest venue on Vancouver Island.

Full results for this event and the series are posted here.

Contact: normont@islandnet.com
Web site: www.island-multi-sports.com