September 26/99 9:34 am - Cheakamus, North Shore Woes

Posted by Editor on 09/26/99
 

Cheakamus Challenge

We just received top results for the famous west coast Cheakamus Challenge, courtesy Claire Bonin (bonjour Claire!). Roland Green took first place, followed a couple of minutes later by Marc Sonntag and Jesse Keefer in third. Geoff Kabush was doing well until his third flat put him out of action. Apparently a disgruntled local spiked the trail. Nice.

Lesley Tomlinson was the top woman, followed by Nikki Kassel. Also, the course was as poorly marked as usual. Another famous face, retired pro Warren Sallenbach, finished second in the Citizen race.


North Shore Woes

Pippin Osborne (one of the co-founders of Syncros) was at the Toronto show, and filled us in on some of the troubles the North Shore trails of Vancouver are facing. Apparenly, they are perilously close to being closed entirely.

Pippin says that the fragile nature of the trails, combined with constantly increasing usage, are affecting the ecology. Particularly sensitive are the salmon streams - a political hot potato in B.C. right now. Pippin is worried that the lack of proactive action on the part of the mountain bike community will mean that the trail system is closed by groups that have no input on alternative courses of action.