September 17, 2006 – Just a quick note to all of you who helped make the Fourth Annual Nawash Invitational Mountain Bike Race a great success. We absolutely could not have done it without you. Just a summary”¦

We made the sign-up signs at Cape Croker the day before and an inventory of Niish Nobbie bike repairs, so mechanics John Cameron, David Robinson (Dave the Barbarian), Dave Latremouille (David of Fish), and Bill Mortiarty could get started first thing Saturday morning. Dave the B and Dave of F actually started Friday afternoon as they (especially Dave of F), worked from late afternoon to 8:30 fixing bikes at Saugeen the night before so those kids could race well the next day. John C. picked up the extra parts for the Niish Nobbies of Nawash Friday evening while Dave of F picked up more parts Saturday morning before arriving at Nawash.

Also on Friday, Judy Nadjiwan and Laura Robinson sorted prizes and loaded them and all other race paraphernalia into Judy’s van, and then Laura and Nathan Keeshig, warden of Cape Croker Park, did a ride and drive through of all race courses. Nathan had set up four fabulous courses-1 km, 3 km, 9.3 km, and 12.2 km., the last two being very challenging with three single track sections, and ending with a climb from the beach, into the woods, and back into the finishline area. All turns were clearly marked with colour-coded road arrows. Nathan also went out early Saturday morning and chain-sawed a large deadfall on the 12.2 course.

The mechanics set up the bike maintenance venue by 9:00 am, and fixed bikes constantly until the awards ceremony at 5:00 pm. Meanwhile, Sonya Nadjiwon and Virginia Lavalley set up and did registration. Jessie Stanish, who also raced in Girls Age 8-9, put the race packages together and helped post signage, which included hammering many nails into posts as Paula Rogers, of the RCMP, had beautiful signs made for all venue locations. While this was happening, Doug Jones, who raced in Boys Age 12-13 and Laura R. posted distance signs on the race course. They were greatly assisted by Derrick from Cape Croker Fire Dept.

At 11:00, coaches Rich Fletcher and Fred Zottel, and Canadian mountain bike championship silver medalist, KK Mitchener, arrived with a trailer of twelve Rocky Mountain Fusions, helmets, and put on a fabulous pre-race racing clinic for all participants. Anyone who didn’t have a bike did now as they zipped around on the Fusions””as if some kind of 10-year-old’s dream had come true. They kids thought the microwave and tool drawers inside the trailer were the coolest possible.

We had lunch catered and Joyce Johnston of Nawash NADAP provided plenty of water and energy bars. The stage was set for a fantastic day on the race course when all of a sudden, top Niish Nobbie racer in the Boys Age 10-11 category, Dakota Cutting, was reported to have gashed his leg with his own pedal during one of his stunt riding quests. Clearly stitches would be needed so the ringer of that event was out of the race, leaving the door wide open for those who have chased him all summer.

Shortly after 2:00 pm, the Under Six Category went to the line with two-wheels, training wheels, and tricycles. Great excitement, especially since Nathan designed the course so 90% of it was visible from the startline. All went off without a hitch until the 10-11 category when we had a rider down on the first turn who, after Dakota, was our second hospital visit. It was at this time when we also started realizing that a few cyclists were lost on the 9 km course. Sarah Riley, of Chippewa of the Thames, crashed and hit her head in this race. She walked over the line and became our third hospital visit. We need more marshals for next year!!!

Owen Sound Cycling Club, please don’t have a time trial the same day as our bike race! We need experienced marshals on the more intricate and technical parts of the course. But most cyclists made the right turns, some with scraped elbows and knees, and in the end we had quite a finish in the Boys 10-11 category as Kirkland Jones came across the line first, with Anthony Lavalley chasing right behind him.

As the 12-13 and 14-17 Boys and Girls lined up, two cyclists from Age 10-11, who had missed the turn at approximately the 2 km mark in their race, lined up again to do the course one more time. I rode with these boys from Kettle Point and Saugeen and they were absolutely amazing. The boy from Kettle Point had a broken bike from his first attempt at the rather steep hill on the course, and borrowed another one to attempt the race again. Once again, without a marshal at a crucial turn, he got off-course. But both drank some water, calmed down and did the entire 9 km course in amazing fashion. Definitely winners of the stay-with it, and never give up category. They also rode very hard and with excellent technique on the single track. Watch for these two in the future.

We finished up with a very competitive 14-17 Boys category with four racers from Manitoulin, Derek George from Kettle Point, Travis Jones from Nawash, and more of their teammates making for, in the end, a Manitoulin sweep of first and second, with Travis taking the bronze. Travis has done very little cycling this season as he has played Select Lacrosse, but he’s such an athlete, he can just hop on a bike and place in the medals. Travis also lent his own bike to a boy in the Age 8-9 category whose family came up from Toronto to camp for the weekend, and realized they were in the middle of a bike race. Last winter when I asked his six-year-old sister Naomi how she had learned to ski so well, she told me her big brother taught her. (Naomi won her race yesterday by a wide margin, following in her brother’s tire and ski tracks for sure).

Prizes for everyone and medals for top three in each category were given out during the BBQ. We really enjoyed having everyone visit and hope to have a bigger, better bike race next year.