March 31, 2019 (Victoria, BC) – The 2019 Canada MTB Cup XCO season kicked off at the Bear Mountain Bike Festival on Saturday with a record number of entrants, including top pros and Olympians, for the now traditional first round of the legendary series in Victoria, BC.

Amidst near perfect weather conditions the powerful Norco Factory Team saw Haley Smith win the Elite Women’s 5-lap race while her teammate Peter Disera was unstoppable in the Elite Men’s 6-lap competition. The weekend of racing featured UCI C1-sanctioned Canada Cup competitions along with age group categories ranging from Under-13 to 50-plus.

Smith continued her strong start to the season having earned recent victories in Greece and at the US Cup in California. She opened a gap on the rest of the field and soloed to victory beating three-time defending champion Catharine Pendrel (Clif Pro Team), with Laurie Arseneault (ACQ) in third.

“You know what’s fun? Racing in Canada, in March, in SHORT SLEEVES, with a great community of riders. Being able to take the win today was just the cherry on top,” tweeted Smith.

Sandra Walter (Liv Giant), who is also having a solid start, suffered an untimely flat while sitting third but battled back on the final lap to finish fourth as Jennifer Jackson (AWI RaceFace) settled for 5th.

The Elite men’s 6-lap race saw defending champ, Peter Disera, take control early as Raphael Gagne (Equipe du Quebec), Gunnar Holmgren (Hardwood Nextwave) and Leandre Bouchard (Pivot-OTE) formed a strong chase group. But Disera would take no prisoners en route to victory as Gagne claimed second and Bouchard third as a fading Holmgren took fourth with Marc-Andre Fortier (Pivot-OTE) fifth.

Emilly Johnston (Can) Pendrel Racing won the 4-lap Junior Expert Women’s race while Carter Woods (Can) Rocky Mountain Factory Team took home the Junior Men’s 5-lap win. The Under-17 event saw Nicole Bradbury (NCCH p/b MGCC) win the women’s title and Erik Ashton (Trail Bicycles) take the men’s. Results here.