Marie-Hélène Prémont, who is set to travel to Austria for the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, won the 97-km race with a time of 4:52:59, dominating the women’s field in attendance. Prémont took the title with a whopping 23-minute lead over second place Heather Gray. Kaarin Tee posted the third fastest time of the gruelling race to grab the bronze medal.
On the men’s side, the race was much tighter, with a 4-way sprint to the finish line for the win. At the end, after more than 4hours and 16 minutes of hard racing, Antoine Caron won the exciting sprint to the finish line. Caron edged in the sprint Jamie Lamb, second, and Kris Sneddon, third.
The 2012 Canadian Marathon Mountain Bike Championships were organized by Horizon 5, and the event has been a staple on the long-distance Mountain Bike calendar dubbed as Raid Bras Du Nord.
Many of the riders registered for the inaugural Canadian Marathon Mountain Bike Championships will be heading in the next days to Austria, for the 2012 UCI Mountain Bike cross country World Championships in Austria.
The event was one of Canadian qualifying events for the 2012 UCI Marathon Mountain Bike World Championships.
Results (brief)
Elite Women
1. Marie-Hélène Premont (Rocky Mountain) 4:52:59
2. Heather Gray (Angry Johnny’s/Cycle CC) 5:15:35
3. Kaarin Tae (Java Blend Racing) 5:32:18
4. Nathalie Godbout (Charlevoix) 5:39:00
5. Christine Soucy 5:41:48
6. Josée Heppell (IRIS) 5:46:36
7. Caroline Villeneuve 5:53:57
8. Annick Chrétien (Advanced Fuel Ste Julie Cycle) 5:57:29
9. Audrey Julien 6:18:08
10. Noémie Julien 6:18:09
Elite Men
1. Antoine Caron (CVM Subway-Genetik) 4:16:14
2. Jamie Lamb (Cyclesmith) 4:16:15
3. Kris Sneddon (KONA) 4:16:15
4. Jérémy Martin (Rocky Mountain Factory team) 4:16:18
5. Peter Glassford (Trek Canada) 4:21:25
6. Marc-André Daigle 4:32:11
7. Mathieu Bélanger-Barrette (OPUS/OCG) 4:39:06
8. Patrick Chartrand (Les Yables) 4:44:06
9. Jean-Philippe Thibodeau (Specialized Québec) 4:49:09
10. Marc Plante (Vélo Zone) 4:52:46