Green, Sydor on top in Cheakamus Challenge

Veteran champions set pace for up and coming Canadians

Although it looked like it might rain on the parade, the 19 ^th annual Cheakamus Challenge Fall Classic mountain bike race Sept. 22 finished under sunny skies before a welcoming crowd of hundreds.

Aside from a few competitors who looked like they spent some time face down in the mud, the conditions were almost perfect for the 70 km race, which is a combination of road, logging road, double track and single track.

Victoria’s Roland Green – wearing the world champion’s rainbow jersey he won the week before at the World Mountain Bike Championships in Vail, Colorado – looked like he could have gone for another lap when he crossed the line with a time of 2 hours 52 minutes 38 seconds. It was his fourth Cheakamus Challenge win.

Not that it was a flawless race. Green followed another racer down the wrong dirt road at one point, and had to sprint back to the course to get his lead back.

"It’s always a fun race, always a little unpredictable," said Green. "You look forward to this every year because it’s the end of another season. It’s good to win, but it’s also good just to finish.

"Four of us rode together for the first part, until the base of the climb. It was like a training day that way. We didn’t really start racing until we started going uphill."

Green’s journey to the top of the very international and very distinguished heap took 11 years by his reckoning. He was a successful road racer before making the move to the pro mountain bike tour, where he has improved every year.

"It’s a steady climb. The top five mountain bikers in the world are so close to one another in ability, in the top half a per cent of the sport. If you can make that jump into that group, you have to find something that will give you an extra little edge. For me it was diet."

Green also credits his performance last weekend to his winter training. "I put in a lot more hours of training this winter than ever before with my training partner, Ryder Hesjedal. It’s wet and cold, and you don’t feel like going out, but if your partner’s willing to get wet, you get wet too.

"We push each other that way, and it’s produced results for both of us. Ryder was second in Vail (in the Under 23 race), which is huge for him."

Green always works with young racers whenever he can, donating his time on the Sunday after the race to help coach the Cheakamus Challenge Ride01 clinics for kids aged 10-16, alongside Canadian teammate Alison Sydor, a three time world champion herself, and a silver medalist at Vail.

"People like Alison and Lesley Tomlinson have done so much for youth riders, taking them out and showing them what the pro lifestyle is like, how hard you have to work to get ahead," said Green, who split his Cheakamus Challenge prize money between the top junior male and junior female in the race.

"There are so many good riders coming up behind us, and we have to support that any way we can. We have to give them races to ride in, and support their development."

Although he acknowledges that the sport has a long way to go in terms of media coverage and corporate support, Green believes Canadians are more aware now.

"Alison was a trailblazer for the rest of us at home, and the awareness is increasing. I saw that by the amount of fan support we got this year at Grouse Mountain during the World Cup."

Some 30,000 fans turned out to cheer on the Canadian team on July 8. Green and Ontario’s Chrissy Redden won silver medals at the Grouse World Cup.

"Everybody credits California for inventing the sport of mountain biking, but it was B.C. that really took it to the next level," Green said. "No country had as many trails, or as hard trails as we did, and the races that those pioneers had in the ’80s and ’90s were super tough, two or three hour epic rides that are still harder than a lot of the races today. Those are our roots, and we’re seeing the benefits now with all the competitive Canadians on the World Cup circuit."

The season isn’t over yet for Green, who will travel to Portugal next month to compete in the time trials at the road world championships. Although mountain biking is his main focus, he is still active in road racing.

Next year, with the mountain bike season starting months later than the road circuit, Green plans to race road events in Europe.

Six minutes and 19 seconds after Green made the climb to the finish Saturday, Ricky Federau of Abbotsford crossed the line in second place. Jesse Keefer of Vancouver and African mountain bike champion Mannie Heymans were neck and neck on the climb for third, but Keefer pulled ahead at the last second to beat Heymans by a second. The pair finished 12 and 13 seconds back of Federau respectively.

The top pro woman, surprising nobody, was Alison Sydor of North Vancouver. She finished an impressive ninth overall, beating out the top juniors and some of the top men in the province with a time of 3:11:39. Whistler’s Nikki Kassel was second at 3:40:57, and Krista Morrison was third by a wide margin.

In the Junior Expert Men’s category, Whistler’s Will Routley finished first, and tenth overall, for the second year in a row. His time was 3:13:43. He was followed 23:52 later by Whistler’s own James Crowe, 14, who is the national and provincial champion in the Under 15 racing category. Ryan Walton finished third, followed closely by Whistler’s Brendon Edgar.

Routley, one of the top junior racers in the country last year – and the top Canadian junior at the World Championships in 14 ^th place – is one of the up and coming riders Green was referring to.

"I guess this is pretty much the end of it for me, I’d like to take a little breather," said Routley.

A breather for him means a week or two off of his bike, then it’s back to the gym and training with his coach in Vancouver. During the winter, he doesn’t see himself taking a lot of time off.

"I had a pretty good season. There were a few disappointments, but you can’t avoid that. Some of them were mechanical, some were mental, others physical, but that’s racing.

"I’m happy with my results today. I came out and raced pretty well against the pros, which bodes well for next year when I move up into the pro ranks."

Next year he hopes to compete in a few World Cup and NORBA races, and make a few top 10 finishes in Canada Cup competition. "Of course, I’d like to get on the national team again."

The Cheakamus Challenge went well for the most part, said Routley. "For most of the race I held my own, and I felt really strong until the last 20 minutes when I had the infamous bonk. I managed to hold on, find a little more energy, and ride it out in a good position.

"I don’t know why, but I like this race. It’s the last race of the year, and you look forward to it. We must get some sick enjoyment out of suffering."

There were close races and impressive results in every one of the 20 different racing categories, but two unusual results stand out above the others.

Bart Nakano finished the Challenge in 4:02:22 with one gear in the front and one in the back to give him a total of one speed for the entire 70 km. He was the only competitor to even attempt this year.

In the tandem category, both teams distinguished themselves.

Steve Fleckenhein and his partner worked together to finish in 4:08:47. The back competitor would jump off the back in the uphill sections and push, and in the downhill sections so that the bike wouldn’t pick up too much momentum.

The team of Grant and Sue Reid finished less than 22 minutes later, actually pedalling up the last hill to the finish line.

The following are the top three competitors in every category. For complete results, visit www.myresults.com .

Jordan Marr – 3:11:24 (eighth overall)

Trevor Wurtele – 3:16:10

Justin Harvey

Evano Masini – 3:35:52

Gray Taylor – 3:44:59

Bruce Luxmoore – 3:56:32

Sheldon Ore – 3:45:10

Kenneth Johnson – 3:52:23

Peter Weiland – 3:59:58

Adam Quiring – 3:50:33

Chris Parr – 5:18:19

Ryan Worrod – 5:54:32

Tom Stewart – 3:23:08

Dave Johnston – 3:35:08

James Shellard – 3:38:41

Eric Crowe – 3:20:13

Randy Rutherford – 3:21:01

Tony Routley – 3:21:28

Nels Guloien – 3:23:29

Mike Fitzmaurice – 3:34:50

Barry Leroux – 3:40:28

Charles Mulder – 4:08:47

Jim Martiniuk – 4:09:28

Sean Lambert – 4:39:34

Lesley Clements – 4:04:12

Jill Vale – 4:31:11

Jen Dawkins – 6:48:26

Kim McMullen – 3:58:57

Elizabeth McDonald – 4:12:28

Sarah Greenwood – 5:05:33

Ashleigh McIvor – 4:39:06

Teresa Cheng – DNF

Brook Baker – DNF

Sara Neil – 4:14:27

Calla Barras – 4:21:54

Christine Moric – 4:32:32