July 14, 2008 (Mont Ste Anne, Quebec) – Andrew Mitchell (BC) Cove Bikes) and Sheila Morris (ON) Cycle Solutions/Angry Johnny’s Racing took home the senior elite titles at this year’s Tim Hortons Canadian National Downhill Championships in horrific conditions at Mont Ste-Anne de Beaupre Quebec. Yann Gauvin (QC) Equipe du Québec/Mathieu Performance and Anne Laplante (QC) Equipe du Québec/Équipe Grounded took home the junior titles.

To say the mountain at Mont Ste Anne has storied history is an understatement as the renowned site has hosted over a dozen MTB World Cup downhill events the MTB World Championships, and multiple Canadian Championships. Riders know when they head to this venue, they are in for a treat, and a beating. And this year was no different as a sunny week of downhill practice quickly became a rain-drenched competition in a hurry when the skies opened up on Sunday morning and the rain let loose in biblical proportions. Hundreds of amateur level riders began the day taking to a course that was already falling apart, and tore it to pieces as the day wore on. When the Elite riders headed to the gate, the wind was howling, the rain was falling, the fog was in deep, and champions were ready to be crowned.

Junior and Senior riders competed in the same category this week so the juniors could earn valuable UCI points in order to compete in world cup events.

Laplante was followed by Vaea Verbeek in the junior expert women’s category with Miranda Miller (BC) Marin Bikes/Mad March Racing/ Team Squamish rounding out the podium while, and Gauvin led the Junior men’s charge followed by Dylan Morley (DH Racer) and Emmanuel D’Aoust (Transcend Magazine Orange) in 3rd.

The senior Elite women headed up the gondola under cloudy and drizzly conditions, but as they took to the gate the rain started to fall more heavily. Gusty wind in the upper part of the course was especially difficult to deal with, as were huge holes that had developed in the race line from the morning’s Quebec Cup races.

Micayla Gatto (BC) Commencal crashed multiple times in her run and was unable to defend her 2007 title and top seeding run from Saturday morning. She was bested by Morris, winning her first Elite National title. Marie-Eve Marcotte (QC) Equipe du Québec/Primary-DeVinci who lives just up the street from the mountain, rounded out the top three.

When the elite men finally rolled out of the gate around 2:15pm, the rain was coming down in buckets making visibility extremely poor as goggles fogged and got covered in mud. There is little room for rest on this course, so pulling tear-offs became a distasteful chore for many riders.

Quebec’s Charles Antoine Dube (Dh Racer), who seeded late even stopping on the course for a full minute in order to leave the gate early on Sunday, hoped to beat the rain. Dube had a great final run and a long stay in the hot seat (good enough for 3rd place in the end), but nature won the battle, as he left in some of the poorest conditions of the day. Justin Brown (Dh Racer) came down in the top 20 and slid into second place and waited for the final riders to make their way down the mountain.

Vancouver Island racer Andrew Mitchell managed to put in the fastest time of the day with only a handful of riders to go. None of them could touch his time, with favorite Luke Kitzanuk (QC), 2007 defending champion, going down hard in the final woods section. This is Mitchell’s second National DH title and a sweet end to a miserable day.