November 6/01 3:04 am - Espoir Bursery Awarded, Nova Scotia `Cross, U of T MTB Team Story
Posted by Editoress on 11/6/01
National Capital Region - Espoir Cycling Bursary
Courtesy Ross D. Knight
On Saturday November 3rd at the 10th annual Bikers Banquet hosted by the West Quebec Wheelers at Camp Fortune, Seenite Sports presented Espoir bursaries of $1000.00 and $500.00 plus free entry into the 2002 weekly criterium series and tickets to the Bikers Banquet. This year we had received 4 times the number of applications compared to the previous 2 years. Some came from athletes outside the National Capital Region or from athletes recently (2months) relocated to the region and thus where not eligible this year. After careful review the $1000.00 bursary was won by Alan Reain whereas the $500.00 bursary was won by Lynne Wolfson. We know these athletes will make good use of these funds to pursue their athletic goals.
The two athletes and myself would like to thank the financial contributors to the busary: Jamie Sunderland & Full Cycle, The Ottawa Bicycle Club, George Toffold, Anthony Prior, Paul Smeulders and Seenite Sports (entry fees from the mid week crit series).
Nova Scotia `Cross - Kona SuperCup
Courtesy Cyclesmith
November 4 - Sunny 18 Degrees Celsius
Open Men
Position Name Laps
1 Ed Rushton 10
2 Kevin Noiles 10
3 Jamie Lamb 10
4 Mark Foster 10
5 Mike Lawrence 10
6 Mark Campbell 10
7 Tim Farmer 10
8 Greg Kerr 10
9 George Inglis 9
10 Bob Bustin 9
11 Bruce Hickey 9
12 Bill Campbell 9
13 Steve Mitchell 9
14 Mark Wood 8
15 Steve Gallant 8
16 Trevor Morrisey 8
17 Norman Lai 7
18 Craig de Gier 3
19 Jim Trussler 3
20 Steve Parkinson 3
Junior Men
Position Name Laps
1 Martin Austin 10
2 Kyle Swain 9
3 Adam Purcell 8
4 Kyle Gallant 8
5 Max Snutgen 7
6 Mark Trussler 7
7 David Murphy 7
8 Guy Sicard 7
9 Leigh Mitchell 6
10 Thomas Parkinson 3
11 Richard Parkinson 2Thanks to Series sponsors Cyclesmith and Kona
On top of the mountain: Mountainbike team sweeps team and individual championships for U of T bikers
By Blair Sanderson, Varsity Newspaper - University of Toronto
The U of T mountain biking team left the competition in their dusty riding trails, handily winning the University Cup, by finishing more than 500 points ahead of second place Queen's after the four race season.
The Blues also won both of the Expert division individual championships with Celine Foreht taking the women's championship and athlete/coach Walt Bayless capturing the men's title.
Carrie Cartmill also won the Sport division title which acts as a developmental circuit for novice racers. For Bayless, the individual championship this season comes after being honored by U of T last year with the awarding of the George M. Biggs Trophy for his contribution to the growth of mountain biking at the intercollegiate level. Bayless outdueled a surprise contender from Queen's to capture the individual title.
"He won the second race and I won the other three, but each race was kind of a back and forth depending on what the conditions were," said Bayless who recalled his first encounter with his main competition in the first race of the season. "He had actually shocked everybody and came out of nowhere and appeared on my tail."
Another impressive performer for U of T was Antonia Gawel who managed a third place finish in the women's Expert division standings. Gawel's final position was made even more impressive by the fact that she started the season with an old, outdated bike.
"When I got a newer, lighter bike that was equal to or maybe even exceeded my ability I felt like I was able to race closer to my potential," said Gawel, who explained how a poor bike can affect performance.
"If you have a lower standard bike it kind of gets to a point where your ability exceeds where the bike can take you."
David Wright, who works with the U of T team, and is the chairman of the Ontario University Mountain Racing Council (OUMRC) which organized the University Cup race series, gave an example of the adverse conditions bikers sometimes have to overcome.
"Sometimes you need nerves of steel to take a 24 pound bike 40 kilometers per hour through wet logs and over rocks," said Wright.
Evidently, the U of T racers steeled their nerves effectively en route to winning their third team title in four years of competition.
mtnbike.sa.utoronto.ca
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