November 17/08 5:37 am - Team Wedgewood Receives Cycling BC Awards, Cross(Port)quitlam report and results

Posted by Editoress on 11/17/08
 

Team Wedgewood receives Cycling BC Awards
Courtesy Philip Meyer, Team Wedgwood

On Saturday November 15th 2008 Cycling BC held their annual awards dinner at the BC Sports Hall Of Fame and we would like to congratulate all our members of the Wedgewood Cycling Team on the recognition that team has earned this year.

Cycling BC Road Club Of The Year 2008 - Wedgewood Cycling Team
Cycling BC Race Organiser Of The Year - Jonathan Wornell
Cycling BC Volunteer Of The Year - Philip Meyer
Cycling BC BC Cup Women's Champion - Sarah Stewart

We would also like to thank all our sponsors and supporters without whom our fundraising work for the BC Cancer Foundation would not be possible.


Cross(Port)quitlam - Cyclo-cross BC Cup #7 November 15th, Port Coquitlam BC

Report by Colin Campbell, Team Escape Velocity

On Saturday November 15, Team Escape Velocity hosted Cross(Port)Coquitlam! at the beautiful Lions Way Park in scenic Port Coquitlam. Lions Way Park is a new BC Cyclocross Cup venue and based on the great racing it will be a welcome addition in future years.

The course itself was a "classic" cyclocross venue: a grassy park with lots of corners, some off camber portions, three sections of pea gravel with some non traditional cross features including a set of speed bumps in the cement BMX/skate Park. The course also snaked through the kid's playground, but the course designers ensured that the swings and slides were roped off to allow the younger spectators to enjoy the racing. Although race day was pleasantly dry, the rain earlier in the week had waterlogged the grass in many areas along the course, so the racing wasn't as "fast" as would have been expected on this relatively flat area. As with any cyclocross race, the starting "hole shot" was important, but the race wasn't over if you weren't the 5th person through the first corner.

If you liked the venue and the racing, please let the City of Port Coquitlam hear from you! Escape Velocity has some difficulty securing ‘cross venues this year so please send the City of Port Coquitlam Parks a thank you message for letting us use Lions Park (parksrec@portcoquitlam.ca).

Men's C
First out of the gate on Saturday morning was the Men's C race. A lead group of four quickly formed. The riders worked together to put a sizeable gap on the remainder of the field with Matt Kennedy finding the necessary speed (and determination) to outlast the rest of the competition for the win.

Women B and Women Masters
Is there any cycling discipline that Barb Zimich doesn't dominate? Zimich, a past world's Masters Champion in road racing and criterium appears to have figured out cyclocross in 2008, winning the Women's Master race. In the Women's B race, Sarah McMillian was able to outlast Jeanie Ball for the win.

Men's Master
The Men's Master race boasted the largest field of the day with 29 riders lining up at the start. Now don't get the idea that "Master" means "old" and that the racing in this field would be slow. Just because a "Master" means you are north of 30 and maybe you've got a full time job, a couple of kids, a little less hair and your stock market portfolio just crashed so you can't shell out for those Zipp 404 wheels and Spooky Carbon brake set which would surely give you the extra competitive edge to take on the young guys in A.......but I digress. After the starting whistle there was a lot of bumping and elbows being thrown as everyone had it pinned trying to be the first into Corner #1. After the usual first lap chaos that saw pre-race favorite Graeme Martindale (Trek Red Truck Racing) taken out of the race after getting tangled up in the course ribbon, a lead group of six including Brad Collins (Sugoi), Sean Howie (Reps West Racing), Roy McBeth (Local Ride), Clayton Sansbury (Kona Adobe) and Scott McGregor (Steed Cycles) had a significant gap on the rest of the field. With three laps to go, McBeth and Sansbury dropped off the pace. However, with one lap to remaining, Collins dropped the hammer and accelerated away from the remaining lead group. Only Howie, the current BC Cup Masters point's leader was able to respond to the attack, but Collins had already established a significant gap and was able to hold on for the win.

Men's B
With only two BC Cup races remaining this year and Cycling BC's new strict upgrading rules, the Sandbaggers or rather "skilled riders" had all been upgraded to Men's A, Masters or were just sitting/wussing out, so the Men's B race was wide open. Ryan Newsome (Local Ride) continued his late season heroics by winning the race. Gord Ross (Escape Velocity), who's riding skills and raw power are well suited to this type of race course, crossed the finish line second and required first aid to close a nasty gash on his knee, a testament to a hard fought race. Rounding out the top five were Colin McArthur, Ben Jackson (Escape Velocity) and Andrew Lea (Team Coastal). A special mention goes out to David Broemeling (Escape Velocity) who managed to race even though he was on his "stag". We all wish David happiness and the best of luck in his upcoming marriage.

Men's A:
A stellar Men's A field was on hand and included the current BC Cup leader Kevin Noiles (Trek Red Truck Racing), 2008 Single Speed Cyclocross World Champion Drew Mckenzie (IRC p/b Robert Cameron Law) and Canadian Junior National Cyclocross champion Evan Guthrie (Total Restoration Cycling Team). The race quickly settled into a lead group consisting of Noiles, McKenzie, Kevin Calhoun (Rocky Mountain Different Bikes), and Nick Berry (Mighty Cycling). In the end Noiles technical skills, fitness and strong running prevailed with Mckenzie close behind in second. Berry, riding in his first year of A races finished an impressive third.

Women's A
A relatively small field lined up for the Women's A race, but for the second time in two races, Jean Ann McKirdy pretty much lead from start to finish with Kelly Jones (Sugoi) and Melanie Vaughn (Steed Cycles) rounding out the top three.

Men A
1 Kevin Noiles
2 Drew McKenzie
3 Nick Berry
4 Kevin Calhoun
5 Zack Garland
6 Sven Sturm
7 Dan Macdonald
8 Ian Young
9 Evan Guthrie
10 Mike Berkenpas
11 Rob Gosselin
12 Basse Clement
13 Kevin Thorpe
14 Steve Devantier
15 Sebastian Sleep
DNF Andrew Kyle
DNF Joe Wessel
DNF Carsten Ivany

Women A
1 Jean Ann McKirdy
2 Kelly Jones
3 Melanie Vaughan
4 Joele Guynup
5 Karen Todd
DNF Kelsey Miller

Masters Men
1 Brad Collins
2 Sean Howie
3 Scott McGregor
4 Chris Sayers
5 Colin Campbell
6 Roy McBeth
7 Clayton Sansbury
8 Rick Rodland
9 Brian Griffin
10 Steve Murray
11 Dave Cerbgaun
12 Matt Drown
13 Patrick Beckstead
14 Tyler Dumont
15 Brent Hambleton
16 Bob Chew
17 Iain Mant
18 Ray Lachance
19 Bary Nakano
20 Bryon Enns
21 Tyler Jordan
22 Rod Dagneau
23 John Irvine
24 Andy Eunson
25 Dave Cressman
26 James Thompson
27 Mark Walker
DNF Graeme Martindale
DNS Rob Mulder

Masters Women
1 Barb Zimich
2 Heather King
3 Leslie Trivett
4 Kathleen Negraeff
5 Inga Ivany

Men B
1 Ryan Newsome
2 Gord Ross
3 Colin Mcarthur
4 Ben Jackson
5 Andrew Lea
6 Jeff Hanninen
7 Ted Martin
8 Erik Mulder
9 Hayden Dygas
10 Scott Mulder
11 Dave "The Stag" Broemeling
12 Ryan Cousineau
13 Dan Spry
14 Steven Herbert
15 JP Baron
16 Darrin Grund
17 Nicholas Cowan