When all was said and done in Fernie, Bailey Goldstone of Squamish and Pemberton's own Lucas Cruz emerged as queen and king of the 2023 Canadian Downhill Championships.
For Goldstone, it is her second career (and second consecutive) victory at nationals. She clocked a time of three minutes and 9.46 seconds, putting her ahead of Emmy Lan from Comox (3:12.70) and Ainhoa Ijurko of Brackendale, B.C. (3:14.12) in the UCI elite women's race.
The 'Cruz Missile' was likewise in fine form this past weekend, sprinting to the finish line for gold (2:33.60). In so doing, he led a medal sweep for Norco Factory Team in the elite men's category, edging out Sechelt's Mark Wallace (2:33.73) and Kirk McDowall from Anmore, B.C. (2:35.46).
"It was an amazing day for me and it was extra special to have all three of us on the podium with the new Norco DH bikes!" said Cruz on his Instagram account after the race. "The engineers and team got to witness all of their hard work put to the test. Thank you all friends and family, fans, teammates, coaches and competitors for giving me the best birthday yet! I cannot wait to wear this sleeve with pride!"
Results roundup
Plenty of other Sea to Sky athletes came home this week with hardware. Anthony Shelly continues to do nothing but win, prevailing in the U17 expert men's event (2:41.29). Nanaimo native Ryder Wilson (2:42.86) and American contestant Luke Mallen (2:43.75) rounded out that particular podium.
Fresh off her Canada Cup win in Silver Star earlier this month, Sophi Lawrence rode to second in the junior women's race (3:13.68). Joy Attalia successfully defended her native soil in Fernie (3:12.09), while Natasha Miller from Coquitlam settled for bronze (3:16.91).
"Had the best time ever at Nationals this weekend!" said Lawrence on social media. "Pumped to grab second! Huge congrats to our national champ [Joy Attalia]!"
Shelly's Instinct Development teammate Cami Bragg checked in for silver in the U17 women's competition (3:21.11). Kelowna rider Tayte Proulx-Royds came out on top (3:20.66) and Isla O'Connor from Kitchener, Ont. wound up third (3:32.90).
Moving along to the U15 men, we have Sebastien Harrisson who, like Cruz, represented Pemberton well. He managed a second-place performance (2:56.94) in between victor Camden Rutherfurd from New Zealand (2:55.70) and Calgary's Nick Richardson (2:57.25). Like Shelly and Lawrence, Harrisson had been coming off a Canada Cup win in Silver Star.
Not to be outdone, Caileigh Koppang kept her medal streak alive with a golden effort among U15 women (3:25.61). Squamolian Ruby Wells went fast enough for silver (3:33.30) and Jenna Foreman of Prince George earned bronze (3:39.26).
Two more Sea to Sky contenders, Dane Jewett and Tegan Cruz, ended up in the top six of the junior expert men's category. Jewett, from Squamish, was fifth (2:39.09) and Tegan, Lucas' younger brother, was sixth (2:39.54). The race was won by Sun Peaks athlete Brock Hawes (2:31.04), followed by North Vancouver's Jon Mozell (2:34.41) and Rosslander Bodhi Kuhn (2:35.52).
Full results are available here.
