March 11, 2011 (Sovereign Lake, BC) – 2011 UCI MTB XC World Cup Champion, Catharine Pendrel (Can) Luna Pro Team, made the most of the fast snow to win the gold medal in the women’s 30km Freestyle women’s F01 (30-34) on Thursday at the Sparkling Hills Masters World Cup featuring over 1,100 master skiers.

“I had a good day on the skis,” said 30-year-old Pendrel who finished with a time of 1:35:07.6 to win her category with a lead of 5:59 over second place. “I pushed hard, but wasn’t able to go as fast as I had hoped so it was very nice to know the two women that put around 10 minutes into me were Olympic Nordic skiers twice before.”

Pendrel won the 15km event in her age group as well – read more with video interview here.

Full 30km story and results here