August 10, 2018 (Carleton, ON) – The first event of the inaugural West Carleton Gravel Series was held on August 5 and despite the heat warning which caused some to wish they had brought three waterbottles it was a huge success. Drawing rave reviews from the participants for its scenic course and for being well organized it left everyone asking, “When is the next one?” Answer: Sept 8th & 9th.

Twenty-two participants (including 4 women) set off at 9am to tackle 87km of the best gravel West Carleton has to offer. For awhile it stayed together but as the kilometers went by there was a gradual race of attrition. Marc Boudreau (The Cyclery) was the most animated launching the first attack and being a constant presence at the front keeping the average speed at 40km/hr for the first half of the race.

The most decisive moment as expected happened on the Needhams Side Road unmaintained climb. Charlie Gorman (nine2fivepro) unaware of the climb’s difficulties attacked leading into the ascent but was quickly passed by Boudreau, Osmond Bakker (nine2fivepro) and Steve “White Panther” Proulx. At the top Proulx was leading as he tackled the flat unmaintained section skillfully while Boudreau and Bakker were hanging on.

With the rest dropped the three leaders shared the pace over the last 15km ensuring Gorman couldn’t bridge up. At the end Bakker took the sprint from Boudreau with Proulx coming in for third. Even with the heat and a challenging gravel course the average speed for the leaders was 37km/hr over the 87km.

In the women’s event all the women decided to ride together until the very end when Layla Prieur (Euro Sports) edged ahead to take the win. Along with Mike Bennett (Euro Sports) the last five riders had fun riding in a group and enjoyed riding on the well maintained gravel roads of West Carleton.

Overall the day was a resounding success. Originally the West Carleton Gravel Series was going to be just two events in September but when a race near Toronto was cancelled we decided to add another event on Aug 5 – despite it being the long weekend. Turns out it was a great prelude to our upcoming September Double Header. For now we’re just extremely pleased with how the first West Carleton Gravel Series went and with the feedback we received. That’s exactly why we do it! Hope to see you in September!

Final results of the West Carleton Gravel Series – Race 1

Men
1. Osmond Bakker (nine2fivepro) 2:19:50
2. Marc Boudreau (The Cyclery)
3. Steve Proulx (The Cyclery) 2:19:58
4. Charlie Gorman (nine2fivepro) 2:21:53
5. Nic Bundza (Tekne) 2:23:51
6. Jim McGuire (Tekne) 2:26:00
7. Jarrod Forrest (Rebec & Kroes)
8. Olivier Mouyau (RWR) 2:29:24
9. Richard Grieve (Tekne)
10. Dave Weir (nine2fivepro) 2:34:18
11. Mark Rousseau (613cycling)
12. Juha Metsaranta 2:34:24
13. Stuart Theron (613cycling) 2:39:20
14. Adam Killick (nine2fivepro) 2:52:12
15. Kevin Voekler (nine2fivepro)
16. Carey Dedo (Gearheads) 2:55:18
17. Mike Bennett (Euro Sports) 3:33:38
18. Gerald Chen (nine2fivepro) DNF

Women
1. Layla Prieur (Euro Sports) 3:32:47
2. Christine Horton (Euro Sports) 3:32:52
3. Christine Ficker (Gearheads) 3:33:24
4. Angela Beauchamp (Euro Sports)