August 24, 2009 (Penniac, NB) – 26 year old Matt Hadley has raced his mountain bike all over the world but as Dorothy said to Toto “There’s no place like home.” Hadley is back home in Penniac NB for a small break from the Canada Cup Mountain Bike Circuit and so in honour of his visit, he and his dad Eric designed and organized a race on the trails the Hadleys and other Fredericton area mountain bike enthusiasts have built. Titled the Hadley Challenge the race offered a demanding 26 km circuit but also featured a couple of slightly less grueling 20 km or 14 km events. Race day was set for Aug 23 and as an extra challenge riders had to contend with the edges of Hurricane Bill as well as the tough terrain. Still not even threat of a hurricane can keep mountain bike racers away and organizers and officials were please to see 46 intrepid riders from NB and NS mostly but included a visitor from Germany, Thorsten Heidrich and Ontario’s Catherine Vipond and Sarah Frey. The 14 km circuit had the younger crop of future stars featuring 7 young riders of 14 to 16 years of age.

When the race bears your name and the finish line is at your house there’s a certain pressure to perform and Matt did not disappoint finishing the 26 km event in 1 hour, 25 minutes, over 4 minutes ahead of second placed Jamie Lamb, another former national level mountain bike racer. Jamie hails from Dartmouth NS and despite being semi-retired from racing still gives a great showing at any event he rides. Third place went to Fredericton’s Brain McKeown, which was also an impressive ride, as McKeown is just home from the Canada Summer Games in PEI where he was the team coach for NB’s cycling team and so would not have had a lot of training rides in over the past week.

In the 20 km race Jonathan Clayton took top spot followed by George Versloot and Andrew Steeves. In the 14 km event young Neil Symington from Sussex roared into first place in just over an hour and more than five minutes ahead of the next rider, Justin Mallet of Dieppe. Third place went to Julien Roussel also of Dieppe.

All 46 riders ended the day at the Hadley homestead and it was a mud caked crowd who enjoyed a barbeque and social time post-race. Winners of the various races were awarded edible medals, made by a Hadley family friend – the gingerbread medals must have been delicious as none could be found after the presentations and many a rider was seen sporting an empty ribbon around their neck.

Results

26km race
1. Matthew Hadley (Xprezo) 01:25:09.25
2. Jamie Lamb (Cyclesmith) 0:04:19.82
3. Brian McKeown (Radical Edge) 0:05:51.83
4. Adam Hadley 0:07:08.93
5. Simms 0:07:42.29
6. Justin Theriault (Radical Edge) 0:11:06:72
7. Martin Austin (Cyclesmith) 0:11:10.68
8. Mike Davis (Radical Edge) 0:13:59.87
9. Catherine Vipond 0:15:42.53
10. Adam Douthwright (Radical Edge) 0:16:35.56
11. Jonathan Arnold 0:18:05.05
12. Rene Julien (Mike’s Bike) 0:22:20.29
13. Jeff Sparkes (Radical Edge) 0:24:29.72
14. Mark Miller 0:24:54.18
15. Nick Russon 0:26:26.46
16. Marc Levesque 0:29:21.85
17. Antoine Arcand 0:32:01.45
18. Andre Landry 0:33:16.03
9. Shawn Hamilton 0:33:53.85
20. Kelly Murray (Radical Edge) 0:37:21.13
21. Greg Violette (Radical Edge) 0:39:17.21
22. Tom May 0:39:38.04
23. Serge Belanger 0:44:17.51
24. Thorsten Heidrich 0:49:19.30
25. Tristan Farnham 0:51:10.68
26. Sean Ritchie 0:51:57.94
27. Andrew McNair 0:52:01.26
28. Joel Bragdon 0:52:01.73
29. Annik Belanger 0:55:27.12
30. Dexter Van Dam 01:01:22.25
31. Daniel Noel 01:02:23.92

20 km race
1. Jonathan Clayton 01:41:03.64
2. George Versloot, 0:00:26.25
3. Andrew Steeves, 0:08:37.98
4. Sarah Frey, 0:08:56.21
5. Graham Smith 0:16:36.21
6. Josh Smith 0:18:06.73
7. Todd Arsenault 0:23:45.49
8. Ben Mersereau 0:25:48.68

14 km race
1. Neil Symington 01:00:37.62
2. Justin Mallet (Mike’s Bike Shop) 0:05:36:10
3. Julien Roussel (Peter Wedge) 0:05:54.07
4. Marc Evers 0:06:30.45
5. Cole Denovan 0:12:23.11
6. Benjamin Green (Darlings Island Race) 0:24:37.32
7. Chris Arsenault 0:44:17.39